When healing is not immediate and becomes a journey, do we give up on the scriptures and prophetic words we have and succumb to our reality, or even reject our faith, or do we hold to Him and stand? How do we respond and maintain faith?

Nothing of my reality of voice loss and cancer lined up either with Scripture or the prophetic words I had been given. I wrestled with God as things got worse while others had breakthroughs. I don’t know why God heals some immediately, others through the process, and some not at all, but I do know we can do things in the waiting.

I use STAND as an acronym, from Ephesians 6: 13b: “having done everything stand”.

• S: Stand, Sit, Stay
  • STAND on the Word of God, it is medicine to our body and life-giving to your soul (Prov 4v20-22). It guides us in those dark places (Psalm 119: 105), teaches, encourages, and provides hope (Romans 14: 4). You can never overdose on it. Stand on the prophetic words God has given you, print them out, and hold onto them. The prophetic speaks to your preferred future, to a future beyond your current reality. It is powerful.
  • SIT in His presence with your questions, your hurt, your struggle, and be honest like David was. Allow the Holy Spirit to minister to the deepest parts of your being. In His presence IS fullness of joy regardless of circumstance.
  • STAY in His ways, connected to the body of Christ, don’t stray into offense. It is also tempting to blame and play the victim, but victimhood is a choice with far reaching consequences.

T: Take control of your thoughts. It is easy to panic and worry and allow negative thinking to take hold of us when we don’t see the breakthrough, but as my friend Madz says, ‘if you can worry you can meditate’, in other words you can exercise control over your thinking.

Be good gatekeepers of those 60 -  90 000 thoughts per day, 80% of which are negative. No wonder the Word says to take our thoughts captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10v5) and to be transformed by renewing our minds (Romans 12: 2).

Don’t deny what is happening, speak about it, but regulate how much time you allow difficult thoughts to occupy your mind.

Setting a time limit of 5 – 10 minutes to talk allows you to express fears, anxieties etc, but it book-ends the process. Then focus on what the Word says and live in hope and expectation. One of my favourites promises is Psalm 27:13 “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”, and oh how faithful Jesus has been to that promise.

A: Attitude determines your altitude, choose a good one

• One way of adjusting attitude is through gratitude and worship; it shifts our focus from the struggle to the Creator. Gratitude doesn’t change what we see, but how we see things. Embark on a gratitude journey of identifying 1000 things you are grateful for and see how your attitude shifts.

N: Never give up hope.

• Hebrews 11: 1 says that “faith is the confidence in what we hope for, the assurance about we do not see”, and encourages us to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who has promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10: 23). The hard journeys are where we grow in faith and character, dig deeper, and discover Jesus in a way we never would have otherwise. Are you able to love the Healer, not the healing, and continue to place your hope and trust in Jesus regardless of the outcome?

D – Dare to dream

• People without vision perish and I have certainly seen the power of envisioning a future beyond the reality of the now. Ask God to give you His God Dreams because His plans for you are good, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiad 29: 11).

When healing is a journey, it is tempting to let go of His promises and give up hope. I encourage you not to. God's ways are higher than our ways, and His timing may be different, but it is always perfect (Isaiah 55: 8-9). Though we may not understand the delay, we can trust in God's sovereignty and goodness, knowing that He works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).

And having done all else continue to STAND –

• Stand on His Word, sit in His presence, stay in His ways,
• Take control of your thoughts
• Adjust your attitude
• Never give up Hope and
• Dare to dream beyond the now.