This has been one of the hardest testimonies for me to write, with Satan attacking from every direction and hindering me when I try to write it. A few weeks ago I arrived home from a trip to Jeffersonville, and for two days I was lying on the couch, lethargic.
The third day I felt the onset of a UTI (urinary tract infection), so took an over-the-counter remedy. I'm not prone to UTIs, so felt this would be a quick fix. The fourth day I knew I needed to be seen before the holiday (Veteran's Day), so called my doctor's office. They were not open to patients, but a few of the female staff members were there rearranging furniture. The nurse practitioner told me to come ahead and drop off a urine sample, and if it was positive. If so, she would have the doctor write a prescription.
Leaving her office, my husband suggested having lunch before dropping him back to his office. No sooner had we sat down to eat, his phone began to ring. It was the doctor's office, and the nurse was upset that I had not been answering my phone, which I had left in the car. She then said, "Go directly to the ER. Your urine sample is very bad!" I explained we were having lunch, then I was dropping my husband to work, then I would go to ER. She then said, "Brenda, finish your lunch and do not go anywhere else. Go directly to the ER! Your urine sample is very, very bad!" I could get no further details out of her at that time, but her final words were, "Brenda, please call me and let me know what they say."
Getting into my car I noticed a few missed calls; three of them from the nurse, and one from Sis. Barbara Mitchell, whom I had just seen a week earlier, so I knew the Lord had placed me upon her heart. My first clue I had cancer was the abnormal concern the nurse kept expressing over the phone. They are trained to be calm, but it seemed I was the only calm one there. The second clue I had cancer, was Barbara's call. I knew the Lord was already moving on the scene, and He put it upon Barbara to pray for me.
Arriving at the ER, when I mentioned my doctor had sent me over due to an abnormal urine specimen, they took me right back for another sample. A few minutes later they came and brought me back for a blood sample. I asked why I needed this, and he said, "We are sending this out for more extensive testing." I asked for the results of my urine sample, but he said, "I didn't check it yet. Your doctor will do that."
I knew he had not been truthful with me, when he placed a permanent needle in my arm, and told me to "wait" in this room for a doctor. Third clue: The doctor arrives and asks if I have a history of cancer. Fourth clue: Thirty minutes later another doctor arrived, and said he was "helping" the other doctor, and then asked the same question, "Do you have a history of cancer?" Then he wanted to know if I had driven myself to the hospital. I told him my husband was in the waiting room, and he asked his name, and for a description of him; that was clue five.
When I questioned his motives he said, "Oh, I just like to meet the spouses of my patients." My husband told me that no other doctor came and met family members the entire four hours we were there. He was the only one, and it scared him, but caused him to go to prayer. I'm not 100% positive, but I somehow believe he was a cancer doctor that was called in. The doctor came back and said they wanted to do a CAT-scan.
I'm sitting there in an empty hallway, with a dead-phone, and thinking. Before my phone went dead I managed to call my sister, Marcaline, and tell her what was going on, and asked for prayer. By this time I knew it was cancer, but I felt no fear. I kept thinking back on the "fear" in the nurse's voice when she called me, then I thought how the Lord had put me on Sister Barbara's heart to call, the needle in my arm, the "we need more tests," the "do you have a history of cancer" comments, and the "did you drive yourself here alone?"
All of this was adding up to bad news, but many other comments came running through my head also, "That was odd timing for Barbara to call," and "every footstep is ordered of the Lord." "He's healed me MANY times before." "Marcaline and Nels are praying"... And then I decided that since I was in the ER, maybe I needed to just pray for those around me who were really sick, and that's what I did.
It was sad to sit there looking at them, some very sickly looking, and think, "How sad! I have nothing to fear, and most of these here probably don't even know who Jesus is." I was able to place a few witnessing cards on different tables, in each room I went to. Four hours later, the doctor I nicknamed the "cancer doc" came in to tell me that ALL my blood work, and CAT scan, had come back negative. I never thought to ask him what they had seen in my first urine sample, which caused all these other tests. Due to the lateness of the hour and the holiday, I left a message for the nurse to call me back.
On Friday, I was at a friend's home telling her my testimony, when the phone rang. It was the nurse, and her first words were, "What were the results?" I told her, "Every test came back negative, and if you will tell me what you saw, I'll tell you the rest of the story." She said, "Brenda, we all three saw cancer." She then went on to say it was so bad, there was no doubt in any of their minds it was kidney cancer. So then I shared with her the above details, and how I believed the Lord had healed me, and she said, "I know what we saw, and I'm so happy the Lord healed you!" I won't go into the details here, but she listed “three stages” they saw in my specimen, that pointed to cancer. Four times before I had symptoms pointing to different types of cancer, and each time the Lord healed me. This was the fifth time. Five is the number of grace, and I know I will NOT be seeing any more cancer symptoms! Once more, Lord, thank you for healing me.
God bless you all.
Sister Brenda