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A Witnessing to God's Healing Power in My Life by Kenneth, St. A's Member
Preface: It amazes me that I am writing this, considering that I spent the first 17 years of my life going to church but not getting any concept of God, and then the next 38 years placing God "on the shelf, over there." But my recent reflections on the multitude of ways in which God has been healing me, has led me first to share it with the Rev. Joyce Stickney, and secondly, to write this testimonial. God's Healings: In September, 1993, my wife Lynda and I joined St. Augustine's, thinking that life was on a pretty even keel. The fact that we did this, after 31 years of married life away from any church, was in itself a miracle. God snuck up on us through the medium of our daughter's wedding at St. A's in July, 1993. In December, 1993, Lynda was diagnosed with brain cancer, and in June of 1994, she died. God helped us to become integrated into the St. A's community while Lynda was still well. This meant that, as Lynda sickened and died, God, working through the support and love of people at St. A's, was present for us. Then, as I struggled to grieve and to comprehend what had happened, I was surrounded by the love and support of a parish community, the like of which I had never experienced in the first 55 years of my life. God knew I was going to need this, but I sure didn't (as of July, 1993)!! In August, 1994, two more life-changing things happened. First, during a routine physical which, after a hiatus of four or five years, my dying wife Lynda had insisted I get, I was diagnosed with severe prostate cancer (throughout the prostate). Had I not promised Lynda, I would have most likely procrastinated until it was too late. Second, I was helped by people at my job to enter an alcohol treatment program in September, 1994. I became active in Alcoholics Anonymous thereafter. I had been concerned about my drinking problem for some years, but on my own could never get sober. God finally had enough of me doing it my way, and arranged a work intervention. That finally got me started on the path of sobriety. One of my characteristics was (and to a degree still IS) procrastination. Since I had become sober, with the support and encouragement of others, I did not procrastinate: I immediately entered into the necessary treatment cycle for the prostate cancer-which began with a prostectomy operation in October, 1994. I was told by a new oncologist, in December of 2001, that my prostate cancer was a particularly virulent sort, and that I would have been dead in two to six months had I not had that operation. God had intervened once again. From the time of the operation until about June 1996, I believed the prostate cancer was gone. But then the cancer marker (called a PSA) began to rise. And now I was newly married to Susan Mackensen. The re-emergence of the cancer was a shock to us both. It had metastasized into my bones. God was making me more open-minded about things I wasn't familiar with, AND was making me a little more comfortable in seeking help. Through Susan's suggestion, I (reluctantly, at first) commenced using aspects of Eastern medicine: herbs, and regular acupuncture. I began using meditation and visualization. We also both joined support groups at The Wellness Community in Santa Monica. (It is a cancer support organization which is free to cancer patients and their loved ones.) None of these behaviors was either typical of me, in the past, nor was it comfortable, initially. I also engaged in regular treatment from a Western medicine standpoint: first, hormonal treatments, and eventually chemotherapy. Slowly the cancer became resistant to the hormonal treatments. Four different traditional chemotherapies had either not worked or worked only briefly. Then something of note occurred. One day in January or February, 2003, I was praying (as I do daily) about my cancer. In the midst of my prayers, a sentence appeared in my mind (in capital letters twelve feet tall!): "GOD IS THE HEALER." I was familiar with the Biblical text in which Jesus speaks to an ill person and basically says "Your faith has made thee whole." But, until that moment I had not wholeheartedly turned my cancer over to God (my alcoholism, yes, my cancer, no). So I did turn the cancer over to God right then. Within a week, the oncologist discovered a chemotherapy drug (seldom used for prostate cancer) which has been working. My PSA, though still quite high, has declined to one-third of its highest point. To date, I can report other ongoing miracles. Cancer in the bones typically produces a lot of pain: I have had absolutely no pain. Chemotherapy produces different degrees of side effects (often VERY severe) in different people: I have had only minor side effects which have interfered very little with living my life in a normal fashion. Conclusion: God has been very patient with me. God has helped heal me even when I didn't know that was going on. God has "prepared a way for me," in the sense of enabling me to become part of many supportive networks, and has made me open to new kinds of input and information. God has given me my wife, Susan, who has been stalwart in her love and support throughout these years. And when I finally surrendered, first my alcoholism and much later my cancer, God has taken charge in ways which I find wonderful and amazing!!
Copyright © 2003 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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