Prayer Cures 16-Year-Old Girl’s Cancer
By Andrew McChesney
Sharp pain shot through Marina’s stomach, causing her to double over in agony.
The next day, the stomachache grew worse. It hurt so much that the 16-year-old teenager wept in her home in the Cambodian village of O Mony.
Father put Marina on his motorcycle and drove her and Mother to the hospital in Battambang, Cambodia’s second-largest city, located about 4 miles (7 kilometers) away.
The physician ordered an ultrasound test to seek the cause of the pain. The initial results worried him, and he ordered a second test. With those results in hand, he grimly approached Father.
“Your daughter has a tumor,” he said. “It has to be taken out.”
The physician filled out some paperwork and instructed the parents to bring the documents and $300 USD for the operation in three days.
At home, Father gathered the family — Mother, Marina, and three other teenage children — for a special season of prayer. The family prayed again on the second day. On the third day, the family met one last time before heading for the hospital.
“Father in heaven, my youngest daughter has a sickness that requires surgery,” Father prayed. “You know, we are worried because we don’t know what exactly the doctor will find. We don’t have money for the surgery, and we’ve had to borrow it.”
As Father prayed, rain began to pound against the house roof. Marina was in severe pain and crying. All the family members were weeping with her.
“Father, You are the God who has the power to do all things,” Father said. “Please heal my daughter. I know that You have the power to do that, and she won’t even need the operation. You know that the rain is falling so hard that we can’t go to the hospital. So, we are asking You to help us so our daughter won’t need the operation.”
Twenty minutes later, the rain stopped and the sky cleared.
As Marina climbed onto the motorcycle, she noticed that she felt better and suggested canceling the trip to the hospital. Father insisted on going to the hospital.
Marina’s sister and two brothers promised to keep praying at home.
At the hospital, Father realized that he had forgotten to bring the required paperwork. The physician couldn’t operate without the documents, so he ordered a new ultrasound test.
“I can’t believe it,” the Doctor said as he examined the results. “Everything appears normal.” He ordered a second test. The results were the same: no tumor. A third test was taken. Finally, the physician said in disbelief, “There is no need for you to stay here. You don’t need the operation. Go home.”
Marina was overjoyed. “I knew it!” she exclaimed. “I believed in Jesus, and I believed He would do something so I wouldn’t need the surgery!”
The miracle prompted big changes at home, said Sokhom, who related the story. She and her three siblings, who earlier had shown little interest in giving their hearts to Jesus, began to study the Bible and were baptized. All four children, along with their parents, are now faithful Adventists.
Andrew McChesney is editor of Adventist Mission. This story was originally shared with Adventist Mission and has been reprinted with permission.
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World Church Prayer Requests
July 8-15, 2018
• PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray for those who were recently baptized in the evangelistic series and Total Member Involvement meetings across Japan and Zambia. Pray that they will remain faithful and continue growing in the Lord.
• PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray for the Total Member Involvement events preparing to take place across the Philippines this month.
• PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray for the Holy Spirit to fill God’s church as a whole. Inspiration tells us, “The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the church is looked forward to as in the future; but it is the privilege of the church to have it now. Seek for it, pray for it, believe for it. We must have it, and Heaven is waiting to bestow it” (The Review and Herald, March 19, 1895).
• PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit in your local church and for your local pastor. “When the church awakes to the sense of her holy calling, many more fervent and effective prayers will ascend to heaven for the Holy Spirit to point out the work and duty of God’s people regarding the salvation of souls” (1 Selected Messages, p. 116).
• PRAYER REQUEST: Let’s also pray for the Holy Spirit to live in us daily. Inspiration tells us, “Will we wrestle with God in prayer? Will we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit? This is what we need and may have at this time...If we will walk humbly with God, God will walk with us” (Prayer, p. 87).