God, help me be more empathetic when I hear prayer requests for the sick.”
It was a spontaneous prayer, breathed silently from the back pew as a litany of requests spilled from the pulpit. Had I paused to consider how the prayer might be answered, I would have censored myself. After all, isn’t experience the best way to gain empathy?
Physical Illness
Within a month of this prayer, my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and only weeks later I began feeling symptoms signaling a rare blood disorder that left me unable to work. Suddenly it was my family everyone was praying for.*
Before my prayer, I felt inundated with requests for the sick. There was a list of strangers’ names read each Sabbath; then throughout the week there were online requests for my friends, their neighbors, and even other far-flung associates and relations.
I started wondering why getting sick suddenly made a person deserving of so much mass prayer. Sometimes I even felt jealous. After all, I was dealing with “stuff” too. But my problems were of a more personal nature. I imagined that with a diagnosis of a severe illness, other problems vanished as family and friends banded together to cover the afflicted with prayer, thus diminishing all other concerns.
But it doesn’t quite work out that way. With Mom’s cancer diagnoses, relationships that were already somewhat strained did not improve. With my illness, finances that were already tight became desperate. Illness didn’t make our other problems smaller. Instead, they were magnified.
But what surprised me the most was the spiritual battle I found myself in—a battle I thought was unique to me until a conversation shared with another ill friend.
“Sometimes I have thoughts that if I weren’t a Christian, I wouldn’t be facing this,” she said quietly. “That if I were to denounce Jesus, all this would go away.”
I looked at her in shock. “I have those same thoughts,” I almost whispered. We stared at each other quietly. It was so evident the devil was working like a predator—going after wounded victims for the kill, kicking us while we were down.
Spiritual Healing
But there was a flip side and a much greater outcome. As a “prayed-for” sick person, I would also have moments of unexplainable peace. Though feeling weak, I would suddenly be lifted to the point of spontaneous singing. I can only assume that this spiritual CPR was the result of someone remembering my name in prayer.
By the time my mother passed away, thousands were praying for her. As we sat with her in her final hours, the room seemed to overflow with a heavenly presence unlike anything I have ever experienced. Prayers were being answered, not with physical healing, but with a spiritual balm.
Yes, praying for physical healing is important, but praying for spiritual strength is even more vital. And that notion led me to consider something else: We need to pray fervently for those who are “well” just as much as we do for those who are not. We all have “stuff” going on, and a little extra spiritual strength is often just what is needed.
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* I don’t believe my mother and I got sick because of prayer. Instead, my prayer was a result of God working in my heart, preparing me for the spiritual lessons He was going to teach me through our illnesses.
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Lori Pettibone Futcher is a freelance writer and proofreader from Cleveland, Tennessee. This article was published April 26, 2012.
