He Touched My Friend!

Thursday night, December 18, 2008 [warmer, PTL!],
This afternoon I visited someone who has lung cancer and is presently living in a rehab facility. He is trying to regain the strength that both the illness and the treatment have robbed from him. The mountain he is attempting to climb is much too high, every step leaves him almost breathless; yet, he looks forward to being released from this facility and returning to his home, where he lives—alone.
When I walked into his room, he had a visitor, but he interrupted their conversation to tell me that he had been meaning to call me, but just hadn’t done it, then he motioned for me to have a seat in his wheel chair. He obviously wanted to talk about something that was important to him. To be sure, I already knew that I was there by Divine appointment because of the circumstances that led me to him, so I sat down, waiting for the other visitor to leave, so he could say whatever he need to say. He didn’t wait; instead, he started right in with his story. Soon the visitor excused himself, and I think he did so because he knew that our friend had more to say than he was saying in his presence.
As soon as the visitor left the room, my friend got up out of his bed, took the several, labored steps necessary to reach his chair, and plopped down, looking directly at me. I knew he had something on his mind, a burden that he needed to release. He was fighting tears, as if men aren’t supposed to cry. Then these words came forth: I can’t tell you when it happened, all I can tell you is that it happened; I have truth in here (pointing to his heart), but I need to know how to pray; I need to know how to pray so that I am not sounding selfish. I knew what he meant, what he was asking.
I find it so sad that so many have been taught such erroneous things about God, things that say I am being selfish, when having been diagnosed with lung cancer, I am asking God for healing; things that say I am being selfish, when I am scared to death (not of death, but of dying), and I am asking God to take away my fear; things that say I am being selfish, when my life is completely out of my control, and I am asking God to bring some sense of hope and security to me.
As you might imagine, I told my friend not to worry about sounding selfish because God already knows that he is, and it doesn’t offend Him one bit. I told him to tell God whatever he wanted to tell Him, and He would understand. I told him to yell and to scream at God, if He needed to, and He would gather him up in His big arms and hug him. I told him to tell God that he wanted Him to heal him, that he really wanted Him to heal him, and God wouldn’t see it as selfishness, but as honesty.
Before I finished that piece of this conversation, I told him that most of my prayer life has to do with my getting to the place, where I desire His will for me, more than I desire my own will, and I told him that it was hard, very hard. Then, of all things, He asked me to pray for him. I mumbled something, probably something asinine, but I know God heard me and I know that He touched my friend! I really like it when He touches my friends!
Have I told you lately how blessed I am to be able to spend my life doing this? Talk about grace!