Scripture Reading:
JOB 42:7–17
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
JAMES 5:16
OTHER THAN ONE troubled relationship, life couldn’t have been better for Tracy Black. She and her husband, Paul, had three children and a beautiful home on three acres, and she loved everything about her life. But thoughts of her broken friendship with Anna Ritter had often haunted her over the past five years.
As Tracy worked in her garden that summer afternoon, she again wondered how the two of them had let a friendship as golden as theirs fade away and die. Then without warning a sharp pain sliced through her stomach and she dropped to her knees. “God, help me!”
She could hear Paul’s voice, then he helped her get to the hospital. Within an hour she was in emergency surgery. When she woke up, her entire family was in the room.
Tears in his eyes, her ten-year-old son, Skyler, took her hand. “I thought you were going to die, Mom.”
“Everything’s going to be fine, sweetheart.”
“Promise?” Skyler looked doubtful.
Tracy smiled despite the tears in her eyes. “Promise.”
But the next morning her doctor told them she had a tumor the size of a grapefruit in her abdomen. “Preliminary tests don’t look good. If it’s cancer, Tracy will need extensive surgery and chemotherapy. We should know more by tomorrow.”
Tracy’s immediate thought was her promise to Skyler. She was only thirty-eight. This couldn’t be happening. Tracy and Paul held hands and asked God for a miracle.
“Take a nap,” Paul told her. “God will work something out.”
Tracy nodded. She was exhausted. She fell asleep praying, and almost immediately she began to dream she was calling out to God. Then, she heard God tell her what to do.
Have Anna come and pray.
When Tracy woke up, the words remained strong. But the idea was impossible. It had been five years of silence.
Tracy’s thoughts drifted back to her freshman year of high school when she and Anna first became the very best of friends, sharing in every part of each other’s lives. After college, they each married and settled only a few miles apart. They shared in each other’s weddings and the births of each other’s babies and the trials and triumphs of raising school-age children.
But then Anna had come to Tracy for a small loan. Their family van had given out, but with Anna’s husband between jobs, borrowing money from a bank was not possible. Because of her friend’s obvious need, Tracy checked with Paul and easily agreed to help. Anna promised payments once her husband, Ken, got a new job.
With the loan for five thousand dollars, Ken bought a van and got a new job that paid even better than the one he had lost. Finally, five months after the loan was made, Tracy and Paul invited Anna and Ken over for dinner. After a pleasant meal, Paul said, “You remember that loan. We were wondering if this would be a good time to set up a payment plan.”
Anna and Ken exchanged a strange look. She kept her eyes away from Tracy, focusing on only Paul. “What loan?”
The conversation turned stilted and tense. Ken denied knowing anything about the loan. Finally he snapped at Paul that yes, he would pay the money back, but their friendship would never be the same again. However, no payments came, only silence.
Eventually, Tracy and Paul agreed to forget about the loan and call it a gift, but it didn’t matter. Weeks became months. Occasionally Tracy would call Anna, asking her out to lunch or over for coffee. But always Anna had an excuse. Nearly a year later, Anna told Tracy, “It’s time to go our own ways.”
Tracy was stunned and angry and filled with sorrow all at the same time. She and Anna had been closer than sisters, but it was all gone for reasons that made no sense.
That had been five years ago. So why now? Lord, surely it’s not you telling me to call her, right?
Yes, daughter. Make the call. Anna needs to pray for you.
The thought seemed outrageous, but Tracy picked up the phone and dialed Anna’s number from memory. Through choking tears, she said, “Anna, this is Tracy. I’m in the hospital and I’m sick, and… I think God wants me to ask you to come pray for me.”
There was a long pause, then Anna said, “I’ll be right there.”
An hour later, Anna walked into the hospital room crying and said as the two hugged, “I’m sorry, Tracy, I didn’t know what else to do. Ken left me a year ago.” The announcement gave Tracy insight into the death of their friendship. After an hour’s discussion, the air between them was clear once more.
“You wanted me to pray? What’s wrong, Tracy?”
“I have a tumor the size of a grapefruit.” She placed her hand over her abdomen. “They think it’s cancer.”
Anna nodded and placed her hand over Tracy’s abdomen. “God, my dearest friend needs a miracle. Please remove the tumor from her body and make her well again.” Anna’s voice cracked. “You see, Lord, I’ve been sick in my heart over the loss of Tracy. And now I’m healed. So please, do the same thing for Tracy.”
The two talked for another hour, then Anna left with promises to call the next day. “I believe tomorrow the doctors will find that a miracle has happened.”
The next day, Paul arrived early. He was stunned by the news of Anna’s visit, the reconciliation, and the prayer.
But when the doctor came in, he said, “It looks like an aggressive cancer. We need to take more tests.”
The blow was more than Tracy had imagined. She had clung to Anna’s parting words—that God might work a miracle and heal her. Now, she felt she’d been handed a death sentence.
Tests were done that morning, and two hours later the doctor was back again. He entered the room with a strange look on his face and through Tracy’s gown he carefully felt her abdomen. “It’s gone.”
“What do you mean?” Paul was stunned.
“The tests showed absolutely no signs of the tumor. I’m feeling the same place where the tumor was yesterday, but it’s completely gone. Tumors that size don’t just disappear.” But additional tests reaffirmed it was true.
Tracy’s heart swelled within her at the miracle God had given them. She went home to a welcome that included Anna and her children. When the two friends had a moment alone, Tracy thanked her for having the faith to pray for a miracle.
“We were both healed,” Anna said. “You of your tumor and me of my guilt and shame.” Her eyes shone. “God didn’t give us one miracle, he gave us two.”
His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him.
ACTS 28:8