God's Healing Grace

by Sylvia Ardona

Dear One, 

The greatest thing happened to me this early 2008.  God healed me of cancer! 

After 6 cycles of chemotherapy that ended last November 29, 1997, my med oncologist asked me to come back after one month so he could order me to go through all the tests to determine if there were still cancerous cells in my body.  So last January 10 and 11, 2008, I went through all the tests and on the 12th I got all the results.   I was like floating on air and just kept saying “Hallelujah” when I saw the negative results.  I was ashamed to shout and praise God because of the many people at the Makati  Medical Center, but my heart was screaming inside for the overwhelming gratitude that I felt. 

I only shared it with a couple of friends because I wanted the declaration to come from my med oncologist who would yet see me on January 14.  So when I went to see him that Monday and he saw the results, he just said, “I told you will be okay.  Go and be happy.  Help others.”  That to me was a pronouncement of blessing.  I almost broke down.  Again, I praised God and thanked all of them: my med onco, the nurse and the secretary of the Philippine Cancer Society, who all showed me a tremendous amount of care, concern and bedside manners all those months of consultation and treatment. 

From the time I entered the hospital on May 2, 2007 for surgery up to now, I had entrusted my body and my fate to God.  The few times that fear and worry occurred, God always covered me with love and the negatives would always fail to subdue me.  I commandeered the men and women of faith (relatives, friends and former and present churchmates, high school batchmates) to intercede in prayer  for me every time I would take the chemo meds.  So I knew that I had an army of prayer warriors storming the gates of heaven for God to heal me.   

While waiting for the chemotherapy to be finished, I got blessed to be part of a wonderful support group, The Carewell Community, a cancer resource and wellness center, headed by an equally wonderful man, Robert Suntay, whose life is dedicated to the cancer community.  I met cancer patients like me and there developed a different kind of love and bond that one will never experience if she did not have cancer. 

Then, in January 6, to culminate my appeal to the Lord for healing, I went to the God So Blessed church in Timog, Quezon City, where Christian missionaries from Mozambique were to conduct their healing ministry.  After hours of praise and worship and exhortation of God’s Word about His healing power, I, together with a couple of hundred worshippers, were prayed over.  When some of the missionaries learned that I was a cancer patient, they focused on me and interceded mightily in prayer.  I felt and I knew that God healed me.  It was just a matter of confirming it in the lab tests results. 

Now I realized that God used cancer to get me in the ministry that my heart has been longing for:  to inspire, comfort and encourage persons with cancer and their loved ones.  The talents that He had given me, oral and communications skills, human relations and whatever He will equip me with will be used to bless others for His greater glory.  Hallelujah! 

Thank you for being part of my life and my cancer journey.  May God richly bless you! 

In Christ’s service, 

Sylvia