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After Mum was diagnosed with cancer, she went through what I call a “full faith I’m going to be healed” phase. In all honesty, I found it really tough. 

I’m not sure how familiar you are to Christianity but there are many schools of thought around this subject, and it can be a bit of a touchy one. So, I’m going to talk about what I experienced around God’s healing through Mum’s journey, and how I navigated my way through this tender topic. 

Mum’s full faith that she’ll be healed…

For those of you keeping up with my writing, you’ll already know that my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2022 and chose to take the alternative route in treating it. Approaching cancer alternatively, involves looking at different avenues of cancer treatment, and often watching a lot of videos online. 

My mum has always been a Christian (perhaps more on the lukewarm side of Christianity) and so during her cancer research she came across a lot of videos talking about God healing people’s cancer. 

In choosing to treat her cancer naturally, Mum was already approaching her illness with faith. Trusting in God and recognising the world that He’s made, and many of its healing properties. However, the videos that she came across, to me, seemed like a different level of this. 

In October 2022, Mum was watching a video about a woman that declared a date that God started healing her and then lived in “full faith” that she was going to be healed. Mum also started doing this. 

Just to say, it sounds like the lady from the video has an amazing testimony and that God very graciously healed her. (Hallelujah). 

However, it felt difficult Mum doing this. She started declaring that the 8th October was the day that God had started healing her. She said that she would live for many more years and would be able to see me get married and have children, and be a grandmother to them. She had “full faith” that she was going to be healed.

I really struggled with this. I, of course, wanted Mum to be healed, but I was already trying to wrap my head around the reality that she may not live to meet my future children or see me get married – so her saying that she would, felt very emotionally confusing.

She was also asking me to pray in “full faith” that she was going to be healed – and this is something that was difficult for me. I was scared that it could affect my own relationship with God if she didn’t get healed, and I also wanted to understand the biblical standing behind having “full faith” that God would do anything! 

The Biblical premise of healing

In both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible is scattered with healing, and, of course, Jesus revealed Himself as God through miracles, many of which were healings. The Bible is clear, God can heal. 

Jeremiah 33:6: “Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.”

Isaiah 57:18-19: “I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners, creating praise on their lips. Peace, peace, to those far and near,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will heal them.’”

Mark 5:34: “He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’”

Mum, understandably, took a lot of comfort in verses like these. She was listening to similar ones on repeat through YouTube videos such as, ‘Powerful Healing Scriptures with Music‘. Her favourite verse to quote was Matthew 17:20, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Furthermore, when I was at a Bible study in Bath during this time, we were looking at James 5, which has the following verses: “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.” 

My conclusion was that God can heal, and it’s right to pray for healing but I still struggled to do it in “full faith”.

Why was I sceptical?

I think my issue was just because God can heal, it doesn’t mean He will heal – otherwise there would be fewer Christians dying! And although the Bible talks a lot about healing, I don’t believe that it is something that God promises… in this life. 

So I started looking into what the Bible does promise. 

Many of the Bible verses around healing also include peace, restoration and forgiveness. Often, when the Bible talks about things, there is a physical and spiritual meaning. Although God can physically heal, and says we should pray for it, I believe He promises a spiritual healing of peace, rest and forgiveness to those who seek it.

Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

And in all honesty, I didn’t know where Mum was with this. Although she always knew who Jesus is, she didn’t necessarily live for Him. So I decided to pray for her spiritual healing too. 

The rest that is to come…

Now, many of us are all too aware of the pain and suffering of this world. Where the Bible promises peace, we may ask ourselves will we ever really experience it? As soon as life feels good and peaceful, something happens to disrupt that and we once again face sorrow. 

We live in a broken world. You just need to look around and see the war, hatred and craziness to confirm this truth. But Revelation 21 promises something better: 

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 

‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”

I believe that when the Bible promises “abundant peace and security”, it is pointing to this new heaven and earth spoken about in Revelation 21 – the place where God dwells with His people. 

This is a place of eternal healing – where there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain”. I think this is why the verses around healing often speak of forgiveness too, and why when Jesus was here, so many people were healed and “freed from suffering” because it was a small snippet of what was to come when He eternally dwells with His people. 

So when I was praying for Mum’s physical healing, I knew that I needed to, more importantly, be praying for her spiritual healing. Because God could have healed her from her cancer, but death is inevitable. In order for her to receive the eternal healing promised in Revelation 21 – she needed to be at peace with God, one of His people.

A spiritual healing 

I am delighted to say that I believe God granted this spiritual healing, and I think it was amazing how He did it. 

All the time that Mum was asking for physical healing, listening to Bible verses around this, and spending more time with Him in prayer – I think her faith was growing. She believed she needed to let go of emotional trauma and that in order to heal, she needed to be more forgiving. She started showing more signs of Jesus working in her life and in her general attitude and demeanour.

And when she lived her final week at North Devon Hospice, she had such a peace about her. Her smile was radiant, and she said that she was ready to go and be with Jesus. 

I sometimes wonder if I should have been more faithful in prayer for her physical healing. But I am so thankful to God that He healed her spiritually. I’m thankful that, although I do miss her a lot, I can have peace because I believe she is now with Jesus. I’m thankful that I can have faith that when there is a new heaven and earth, Mum will be one of God’s people that He lives among. 

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

If you have any thoughts or would like to learn more about this topic, and what I mean when I say “to be at peace with God”, please do email me on poppyreesevans@gmail.com.