Praying for a miracle

Tonight, I am tired.  I have had very little sleep during the past five nights due to my sweet son being very sick.  When I placed him in his crib tonight, I laid my hand on his belly and prayed for his fever to break, his nose to clear of congestion, his cough to ease, a long night of sleep, and much-needed rest for his Mom and Dad.  That was 30 minutes ago and he's already been up three times...  woo-sa....woo-sa....

In much more worthy news..... a woman who reports to me is dying.

I type that out in hopes that I will somehow be able to believe it.  Wrap my mind around it.

I have known this sweet woman, Maria, for eight years and she's been on my team for almost two.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 1/2 years ago, had chemotherapy and a mastectomy and was on the road to recovery.  This past year she was told she might have 15 years to live (how do doctors predict these things?).  Then a few months ago she was told it was now months to live...if that.  The cancer has spread everywhere and she's in significant pain.

My heart breaks for her. For her husband.  For their daughter.

She is beginning a leave of absence so she can take one more shot at chemotherapy.

Today, another woman on the team brought in a prayer shawl for Maria.  She asked me and another person who reports to me if we could give it to Maria together and pray over her.  It was 11:00AM and the time of prayer was set for 2:15.  Room NCD-03-100W.

Imagine my surprise when I walked into the room and saw approximately fifteen people from our broader team.  Folks that I didn't necessarily know were believers.  I started turning around, thinking I had the wrong room, until they said I was in the right spot.

The shawl was placed on Maria.  We all crowded around her and placed fifteen hands on her broken body.

Linda started praying.  Once she was done, I began.  I prayed for wisdom and clarity for her doctors, I prayed that Maria would have a voice in this process, I prayed for comfort and relief from pain, and most of all, I prayed for a miracle.

Maria joined in next.  There was hardly a dry eye in the room as she called out for mercy and healing.

When the prayers were over, she went around to give grateful embraces. I told her we love her.

She left the building to go to a doctor appointment where she would receive an injection in her eye (she has a tumor in her right eye).  The rest of us went back to our desks, to return to our meetings and emails.

How amazing. To come together as believers in a place such as Tar.get Headquarters and pray alongside our co-workers. I'm thankful.  And I'm awfully sad.  And I'm remembering that one way or another, God will have the victory.