Healing

Scripture: Matthew 9:22  Jesus turned around, and when he saw her he said, "Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well". 

Duke Ellington:  Every man prays in his own language, and there is no language God does not understand.

My 29-year-old daughter Becca is at the Mayo Clinic, where she had all three of her liver transplants for a disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).  She has spent the last couple of years living out a dream in South Korea, where she met a Korean veterinarian who donated part of his liver to his mother for transplant.  They married a year ago.  This summer she was hospitalized for sudden abdominal pain, fevers, and infection that caused enough inflammation in her liver that the ducts stopped working. 

After a month of IV antibiotics in Korea, the doctors recommended that she consider interventional radiology or transplant.  Her father and I flew her back here, and she has been treated with continued IV antibiotics and blood transfusions, as well as procedures with interventional radiology that have involved installing and periodically manipulating a drain to try to clear infection and open up ducts.  We are in the midst of a long process of trying to kick a non-working liver back to functioning despite some failure. 

I put a plea on Facebook for prayers, and have continued to ask for specific prayers relating to Becca's urgent needs.  At the same time, I have encouraged all of us to pray for one another, and for all those in need.  The supportive response has been overwhelming, and all my hopes have been fortified by others' faith.  The doctors even noticed some positive small changes in Rebecca's situation that they couldn't really explain after studying before/after scans and ultrasounds. 

My daughter is going through a very demanding and difficult process, but she is bolstered by the kind thoughts expressed to her or prayed over her; we have renewed and strengthened old friendships as well as made new friends through this experience.  After my initial shock and despair at the Korean doctors' diagnosis, I have walked a steady pathway of outrageous hope, and others are walking with me. 

People of all faiths have prayed for us, and the intention behind all this is powerful.  When people pray from their hearts, the effectiveness is undeniable.  When someone cradles your child, you know you have a friend for eternity.  I did share one prayer on facebook, from the Taize tradition. My daughters and I have all been Taize musicians together, so that speaks deeply to us, and I thought others would like to share in that form of worship with the prayer, which I pray with you below.  I hope you find whatever healing you most yearn for.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Living God, You breathe in us on all that is inadequate and fragile. You make living water spring even from our hurts themselves. And through You, the valley of tears becomes a place of wellsprings.  So, in an inner life with neither beginning nor end, Your continual presence makes new freshness break through.  Amen.

Mollie Manner