Does God heal?

Published on 12th May 20249th Sep 2024 by Poppy FairLeave a comment

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.

The author's mother sat smiling in the sun thanks to the wonderful care at North Devon Hospice.

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.

Answered Prayer: Finding a life partner

Published on 28th Apr 20242nd Aug 2024 by Poppy Fair1 Comment

True story: In November 2022, during a night of lots of crying, I prayed that God would send me a family. Two days later someone from church asked me on a date. Ten months later, I married said someone.

I’ve promised you the highs and lows of the past two years, and I’m delighted to say that this is the happy story of how I found my life partner, Shem Fair.

A God that hears prayers

“And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.” (Luke 7:13)

A little background behind why I was crying out to God in that November 2022. I haven’t seen my dad since I was three years old, and he passed away in 2020. My mum, at this time, had Stage 4 cancer and it was only so long until she passed away too. Family relations with others were fraught and difficult. It felt like the little family I did have was slipping away.

And so I cried out to God. I told Him that I was ready now, ready to have my own family. I needed something to look ahead to, everything was feeling very dark.

I am so thankful for the power of prayer. God doesn’t always answer prayer in the way that we expect but He always listens. He is our refuge, an ever-present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46).

But this time, He did answer my prayer – quite quickly and quite miraculously. Within two days of this emotional, late night scene, Shem asked me out on a date.

Feeling like an Israelite

Now, you’d think that after the prayer I’d prayed, I would have been very happy about all of this. Well actually, it sent me into a bit of a mini-break down. I didn’t know what to do and it all seemed rather scary.

I did like Shem, very much. We’d grown closer and become quite good friends, often spending most of our Sundays together. I was happy about his request to get to know each other better, and yet I still felt fear.

I reminded myself of the Israelites in the Old Testament. God had just freed them from being poorly-treated slaves in Egypt (you may be familiar with the story), and they were wandering in the desert on their way to the Promised Land.

In Exodus 16:3, the Israelites complained, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted.”

So what did God do? He rained down bread (manna) from heaven to feed His people. But the Israelites still weren’t happy, in Numbers 11:4-6 they cried out, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.”

Although God was hearing and answering their prayers, the Israelites were still miserable and distrusting of God! This is a bit of a digression, I know, but I wanted to just highlight that sometimes when God is answering our prayers, we don’t always notice it. It’s our natural instinct to run in fear or complain, rather than stand firm and trust in Him.

A Timeline of Shem

The following days after Shem’s proposition, I spent time praying around making the right decision. I had just prayed for a family, and the timing of his asking felt very apt. But I didn’t want to get too carried away. I decided that whether Shem would be the one I married or not, it was good to take that first step and go on a date with him.

One of the reasons for my fear and anxiety was because I had a lot going on with everything happening with Mum. I, understandably, wasn’t sure if it was the right time to get into a relationship.

But Shem was very patient and understanding of this. We decided to do regular check-ins to determine our feelings around the relationship. In January 2023, we officially became ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’.

As Christians, we both felt that you date to marry. If you don’t want to marry the other person then it’s best to let them know ASAP to not waste each other’s time. Shem was always very forthright about this, and it often meant a direct line of questioning. On our second date, we were discussing marital roles and how we envisage the future.

A snapshot from the happy couple's engagement. The author is showing her engagement ring on here finger with two glasses of champagne and a sunset in the background. The location of the picture is a field on Kelston Round Hill in Bath.

By April 2023, the conversations around marriage turned into conversations around our marriage and what that could look like. On 29th May 2023, Shem proposed at Kelston Roundhill, as the sun went down.

Finally, we needed to decide on a wedding date – this came with a lot of difficulties, which I’ll talk about another time. We wanted Mum to be at the wedding but her health was rapidly deteriorating. We decided on 23rd September 2023 – sadly Mum died before this time.

But God had answered my prayer. Amongst the sorrow and grief of losing my only parent, God had provided me with a new family, a fresh start, and a brighter future to look forward to.

God has taught me so much through my relationship with Shem, and I’m really excited to share with you all. He has been so gracious in offering me a life partner that has helped me through the last few months since Mum passed away. And thank you also to Shem, for your love, support and ongoing patience.

There is so much more that I could say around this so I think I’m going to have to break this love story down – keep an eye out for more posts around this.

“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.He fulfils the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.” (Psalm 145:18-19)

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Learning to love, even when it’s hard

Published on 14th Apr 20242nd Aug 2024 by Poppy Fair2 Comments

As humans, we have an innate habit of responding selfishly. We naturally look at a situation through a blinkered lens that focuses on our own feelings and not others. When faced with challenges, we react rather than think.

One of the biggest things I’ve learnt, and am still learning, over the last couple of years is learning to love especially when it’s hard. I still haven’t perfected this, and it’s something I’ve really been struggling with this week, so I thought I’d put down some of my thoughts around the topic.

So first of all, how can we define love?

What comes to mind when you think of love? Motherly love? Brotherly love? Puppy love? It comes in many different forms, and I think our definition of love is greatly influenced by films and songs.

Very Well Mind describes love as “a set of emotions and behaviors characterized by intimacy, passion, and commitment. It involves care, closeness, protectiveness, attraction, affection, and trust”. They claim that it is one of the most studied behaviours, but the least understood.

Similarly, most dictionary definitions describe love as a “strong feeling” or “passionate affection”. It’s all very ‘feeling’ based. But what if love is more of an action than an emotion?

The Bible talks a lot about love but I think it is summarised well in the famous verses of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

When I am struggling to love, I look back on these verses. How can I be patient and kind? Are my feelings coming from envy, pride, or selfishness? Am I trying to honour this person, or am I self-seeking?

But most of all, love delights in truth. This means that sometimes, being loving means saying truthful things that are difficult to say. But not saying them from selfish ambition, but because you want what is good and honourable for that person.

Now, I don’t always do this well. Often, when in the heat of the moment, I am easily angered, I do think about all the ways a person has wronged me, or sometimes I just want to give up on someone and not persevere in love. But it’s helpful to remember that this is not what we’re called to do.

Under the heat

I think when facing trials is when we can be the most unloving. In the first few months after Mum was diagnosed with cancer, there were some rather rocky times. Getting such a scary diagnosis is hard. There were times when Mum really lashed out at others. It was also tough for family and friends, sometimes we lashed out at each other too.

God sees, knows and understands the difficulties we face, the Bible often refers to these as “burdens”. When facing trials, the human in us wants to lash out at each other, but what does God call us to do? Love one another through them.

“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9)

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.” (Romans 12:9-10)

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

Showing love when it’s hard

This is all very easy to say but when you’re in the thick of it and strong feelings of anger, hurt and pain are present, it’s a lot harder to love. I’ve been in situations where I think I’m showing people love and yet I’ve been hurting them, or the loving thing isn’t what they want to hear. What then?

Well, when I’m finding it hard to love, that’s when I think about the love of Jesus, and His command for us:

“Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-23)

Now, it’s not often we’re in a situation where we actually have to die for each other. But how about: lay down one’s pride; lay down one’s anger; or lay down one’s envy. If Jesus died for us and showed the greatest love in that, and that’s the way we’re called to love, is it really that difficult to put aside our selfish ambitions?

Well the answer to that is yes, it is – because we’re human! But thankfully, by recognising the difficulty to do this, and asking God to help us, we can respond in love, even when it’s really tough.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6)

But sometimes we really don’t want to show love to someone. They’ve hurt us or wronged us, and we want to harbour that discontent towards them. And that’s when I also think of Jesus, I don’t love for me, I don’t love for other people, “I love because He first loved me” (1 John 4:19).

So, there are my thoughts. This was all rather Bible verse heavy, I know. But when I’m facing such a challenging issue, I’m so very grateful for the wealth of help and knowledge that’s offered in the Bible.

I’ve definitely felt challenged writing this, and it’s been really helpful to reflect on. So just one more verse that I want to take away from all of this:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4).