June 23rd, 2005

[.se3ker.]

Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

-James 5:16 (NRSV)

THE wall clock at the hospital showed that it was four o'clock in the afternoon. I had been lying on a hard stretcher for almost four hours, waiting for surgery to remove a tissue mass for biopsy. My doctor suspected I had cancer. I was scared, not of the operation but of the test results. Then my surgeon came in to tell me that the operation had to be postponed until the following day because the anesthetist had left and could not be reached. All the courage and hope I had gathered remained in that waiting room. I spent the rest of the night sobbing.

The following morning, I sat on my bed and picked up the only reading material I had brought to the hospital, The Upper Room. I opened to the devotion for the day and noted the prayer focus: Those diagnosed with cancer. There I was! Knowing that millions of people would read or had read this devotion and were in prayer for me gave me hope. I was no longer alone; the many faithful who read The Upper Room were praying for me and for many other people in my situation!

Beatrice M. Vuhugwa (Eldoret, Kenya)

Prayer:

Dear Father, thank you for the many friends and prayer partners you give us through The Upper Room. May your love and healing reach through these pages to those in need of your calming touch. Amen.

.seek.