Post #7: Laying Hands

May 18, 2026

Day Before First Chemo Treatment 

The day before my first chemotherapy treatment began the way every day does: Johnny sitting in his chair doing his morning routine of a variety of devotions. I’m at my table nearby doing the same. All of a sudden, Johnny shared with me part of a devo he had just read from Jesus Calling:

 “Drink deeply from the living water, and your strength will well up within you, and you will soon fear no challenge. Find your strength in me. Lift again your head, stare deeply into the dark and fear not it’s darkness.” 

 These are the verses that support the statements above: John 16:33, Isaiah 41:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, Deuteronomy 31:6

And then I received a text from a friend with just a simple but powerful verse:

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up.” James 5:14-15

 God was already sending me all sorts of comfort and affirmation that all is well. He has got this! Then the afternoon brought something even more powerful to prepare me for the journey ahead:

 At 5:30, a group of twelve women who love me gathered on my back porch. My mother, sister, daughter, daughters-in-law, nieces, and four friends, three of whom make up my Discipleship Band (small group) had come together on a moment’s notice to lay hands and pray prayers of healing and comfort. I sat on the low, round coffee table and they gathered all around me. This whole thing was instigated by my niece Sadie who had visited me the day before and expressed that she wanted to come by sometime and lay hands on me to pray. She had been to prayer retreats where they went deep into this type of healing prayer. I felt the timing needed to be tonight before my first treatment, to call on the Lord to heal me through prayer before the chemo even touches me. I believe in the power of prayer. I’ve seen it at work before with Johnny, with my mom.

 We started with Sadie explaining that there is intercessory prayer and then there is declarative prayer. It was the declarative prayer that was her focus tonight. She opened with an explanation and then began to pray. She was followed by seven others and then Jill closed.

 It was the most incredible thing I have ever experienced. They surrounded me laying hands on me, taking turns praying from a place of deep love – a love for me and a love for the Lord. During the praying, my entire body was heated from head to toe, inside out. There were tears, but I was less tearful and more energized. I felt strengthened. When it was over, I huddled us up and said one-two-three GO GOD! I was ready to run through a wall. I had no fear. No anxiety. I am ready. He has prepared me.

 LESSONS I’VE LEARNED

 I am constantly learning more and more about prayer, too much to even begin to put it in writing here. But this experience specifically makes me reflect on a few important points:

·      We are called to stand in the gap for others in prayer. Praying on behalf of others is called intercessory prayer.

1 Timothy 2:1 tells us “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.”

 ·      Declarative prayer powerfully proclaims God’s promises and truths over our lives.

Job 22:28: "You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways." This is a foundational verse for the concept of making declarations.

 Psalm 91:2: "I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.'" (The psalmist declares aloud their faith in God's protection).

 Mark 11:23: Jesus said, "Whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says."

 Romans 10:9: "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

·      The power of praying WITH someone – not just for them. It is always good to tell someone they are in your prayers and to actually pray for them, but it is even better when you have the chance to stop in the moment and pray WITH them. It may be in person or over the phone, but let them hear your petition to the Lord on their behalf.

 ·      All prayer draws us all closer to God.

Psalm 145:18: "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth."

 Hebrews 4:16: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

 ·      In those times when we can’t find the words to pray, we can count on the Holy Spirit to intercede for us . . . Romans 8:26 tells us  “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

 PRAYER

Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals, we lift those we love to you in prayer for healing. For it is by your stripes that we all are healed. You heal us of all our diseases, those of the mind and the body. Thank you, Jesus, for telling us yourself that when we tell this mountain to be cast into the sea without doubt in our heart, it will be done. Let us come to you humbly yet boldly with confidence that we may find mercy and grace in our time of need. And Lord, in thse times when we simply cannot find the right words, thank you that Your Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Amen.