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CBN.com – “When I went to the bathroom, I looked down and sure enough… it was red, it was blood,” says John.
Noreen remembers, “After the biopsy, the doctor came out and called me into the hall. He said, ‘Well, we did it and it looks bad. I think you need to prepare for the worst.’”
John says, “I’m sure you’ve had a bad dream, and you’ve finally wake up and everything’s okay. Well, suddenly you pinch yourself a couple times, and you’re not waking up. This is not a bad dream; this is for real.”
John Lowris had been diagnosed with grade 4 bladder cancer.
Dr. Gulick says, “A grade 4 tumor is the worst kind of bladder cancer you can have. Without any treatment, his prognosis would be very poor. It would spread to his lung liver or bones and probably kill him.”
Despite all the bad medical reports, John refused to give up. John was determined not to let the cancer in his bladder get the best of him. So he decided to pray like he’d never prayed before, and John asked God for a miracle.
John says, “There’s only one person that could help me, and that was going all the way back to my religious background and the things that I’d experienced.”
As John thought back to his religious roots, he realized he hadn’t been putting Jesus Christ first in his life.
“I got three months, and I kept thinking He’s going to ask me, ‘Well, what did you do for me?’ I hadn’t done anything for the Lord at that point except token prayers. All that rolls back in you. All things I could have done with my life for the Lord Jesus, instead it was for John.”
At this point, John was finally ready to surrender himself to Christ. So he prayed for healing and a changed life.
“I slept with my Bible, I read my bible, I repeated healing quotes,” he says. “I remember hearing someone say one time if you pray in the Word, that’s so much more effective than just praying. So I’d [pray], ‘Heal me, oh Lord, and I will be healed. Save me oh, Lord and I’ll be saved. For thee, oh Lord is my praise.’ I just repeated Scriptures like this over and over. Then I went to James 5:14…”
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
John did this but knew that according to the Bible, if he wanted to be healed, he had to confess all his sins. When it came to his wife, this wasn’t easy…
John says, “I guess that everyone has that sin in their life that they don’t want anyone to know. I didn’t have that mindset. I believed that if I didn’t confess these ultimate sins that the Lord wasn’t going to heal me because it says ‘all.’”
So, John came clean with Noreen.
Noreen says, “I said to him, ‘Have you been unfaithful to me?’ And he cried and said, ‘Yes, I have.’”
Not only did John confess his infidelity, he also shared his struggles with pornography.
“It was just a habit, it was a habit,” says John. “It was a hideous habit and one I would never want anyone to know.”
After John confessed, he completely turned from his sin. With God’s help, Noreen forgave him.
“When she forgave me, it brought a love out of me that I had never really experienced. Other than Jesus forgiving me, I can’t think of anything I’ve appreciated any more than my wife forgiving me.”
Without secret sins choking him, John felt freer than he ever had. He could worship God and love his wife with his whole heart.
Now, John knew that he had done everything he could to pave the way for healing. His life and his bladder cancer were completely in God’s hands.
John trusted God so much that he asked that his entire bladder not be taken out, only the infected area. John’s doctor agreed to the request, but other doctors thought the decision would allow John’s cancer to spread through his whole body.
Noreen told John, “If we’re believing God for a healing, we can’t back down and let Satan rob you of something God wants you to have. We’re in a battle here. If you give the devil an inch, he’ll take a yard. If you give him your bladder, he’ll try to get your life.”
John finally went into surgery. Meanwhile, Noreen sat in the waiting room and came across some interesting information…
“In this Life magazine article it said that the survival rates for almost all cancers are not appreciably better than they were 20 years ago, so I just thought this is even more reason to focus on God.”
Noreen kept believing that everything would be okay, and at last, John’s doctor came out. The doctor told her, “The surgery went well. John breezed through. Everything looked good. I didn’t actually see the cancer. I took the tumor out.”
The doctor admits that results such as John’s are very uncommon. “He’s completely cured. You have to think here, just how strong is the power of prayer and faith here?”
There was no need for chemotherapy or radiation. The miracle John had asked for happened…
John says, “Here I am, Here I am…The Lord healed when He walked on the earth, and He heals today through the presence of the Holy Spirit and the belief of His Word.”
John says the key to his healing was to give Jesus His life, believe the Word of God and do what it says.
“You’ve got to confess it all. I don’t care how bad it’s going to hurt. I think it’s a key to healing. Confession. Confession.”
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
