An Incredible Story of Prayer & Healing by Carol BakerCarol Baker - 15 Nov 2007

Since 1995, Peter & Jessica Wohler lead a missional community called Source in Minneapolis connected to 24-7 Prayer. They are looking at becoming a commissioned boiler room community this year and are hosting a three-way transit that has students in Madison in the Fall, Winter in KC and the Spring with Source in Minneapolis. He tells the awesome and uplifting story of his sister Cindy.

‘Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the Lord has done good things.’ Joel 2:20–22

‘Being not afraid’ is not always easy, and this is particularly true when we, or someone we love very much, is desperately ill. Thank God, then, that we know our heavenly Father has done good things, and that when we have reached the end of what we can humanly do, we can lean on Him.

My eldest sister, Cindy, spent 15 months undergoing radiation and chemotherapy to combat breast cancer. All of us, her family and friends, prayed continuously for her during this time but it seemed each positive result was short-lived and met with more negative outcomes. The cancer was aggressive, particularly three large tumors, and Cindy has had a very tough time, both physically and emotionally.

But, as is clear from the blog she and her husband Joel have been writing to keep everyone informed, their faith in a loving, all-powerful God has never faltered. ‘I know God is working in this situation because there are so many of you who believe in His healing power,’ Cindy wrote in February.

My father was a Baptist pastor for over 50 years and our large family has always been very strong in faith. However, this seems to have been our first significant crisis of belief; healing ministry had been a bit out of my experience of the Baptist paradigm.  Questions of mortality have brought the issues of God's healing, prayer, pain, and suffering to an incredible personal level, especially after seeing 15 months of disappointments. This has ultimately brought us much closer, but also has, and still does, force some awkward and vulnerable conversations that we have not been accustomed to, even though we consider ourselves a close Christian family.

In August, a doctor at the Mayo clinic where she was being treated told her there was nothing more anyone could do. Cindy looked at him and said simply, ‘Then I need a miracle.’ In desperation, Joel’s brother remembered a radiation oncologist he’d worked with in Boston, and recommended Cindy be evaluated for an extreme kind of surgery that would leave her deformed without the guarantee of a positive result.

Before she went, I asked my friends and family to pray and fast for Cindy for a week, with as many as possible praying for her at her home on the Friday. Of course, we had all been praying for her for over a year, but we felt the Holy Spirit leading us then, that very week, to pray for a full healing.

I had seen Cindy go through many emotions, including questioning whether it was ok or just selfish to ask God for a miracle for herself; as a mom accustomed to sacrificing and giving for 25 years, it didn't come naturally to start asking for something for herself.  When Cindy expressed that feeling, something rose In my own spirit; I knew that we were to stand, pray, and agree with her. It increased my faith that the God's timing had come - at least that's what I was hanging on to.

I outlined what I felt were important prayer points, including: joining Cindy in asking for a miracle; asking that the tumor be completely gone before they get to Boston; asking that any damage from radiation or chemotherapy be completely reversed; praying that Cindy would feel God’s presence with her; asking for wisdom in making decisions with doctors; praying for Cindy’s family – Joel, Heidi, Jessica, Isaac and Eli. I also prayed and fasted asking God for 20 more years for Cindy.

I encouraged the community and my own family to pray as much as we could, despite our worries and differing measures of faith for healing. It felt as though this was a significant week, and we believed there was power in agreeing and joining together in this way. By the end of the week, we really trusted that God had moved, that He had done something, but we weren’t sure exactly what.

I hadn't cut my hair for 14 years but one week later, I found myself shaving the front half of my head, cleaning off 30 inch dreadlocks. It was an act of intercession. I don't know if It was induced by the holy spirit, or my own helplessness and desperation, a feeling that I had to do something, anything to make my supplication known.

Then on Thursday September 6, 2007:  I got a call from Cindy:

‘WOW! We have our miracle! I got a call from the oncologist this afternoon. He sounded really confused initially and I was preparing for bad news. Then he said, "Well, they can't find the tumor on the PET scan from yesterday.” I told him that I knew exactly what was happening. The prayers of all of our family and friends are being heard and God is at work!’

In Cindy’s first test results since the week of prayer and fasting and shaving, not only was the large tumor gone but three others as well. Only scar tissue showed where the tumor had been. This is unheard of and totally incredible.

In one of the latest blog entries, Cindy’s husband Joel writes: ‘Cindy has so much energy now that I have to hold her back a bit.’

We praise God for the miracle – acknowledged by hospital staff and doctors – of removing 3 and a half tumors of significant size.  

At the same time, we continue to pray for Cindy’s complete healing as since then, she has undergone an operation to remove tissue as cancer cells are still detected. I am still asking for everyone to please continue praying for Cindy as she is going to complete chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and her body needs to recover from over a year of this already.

We are a bit confused – why would God perform such a miracle and yet not remove every trace of cancer from her body? – but we still thank God for what he has done, knowing that if he had not taken away the tumors, Cindy could not have had this necessary operation.

I would not wish this experience on any family, but neither would I trade what God has brought us through this last season. Even in the midst of not seeing complete healing, we are grateful for what God has done, as well as how this journey has brought us closer to our beloved creator.

Our hope is that this story inspires you to keep going, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. We give praise to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine and live in the reality that faith and prayer work.

You can continue to prayerfully follow Cindy’s journey by visiting her blog