by Ola Uchendu

Created on: December 26, 2008

In the year 2000, my husband was diagnosed of cancer of the large intestine. I am a Christian and I believe in prayers and miracles. But my kind of prayer then was this type you knelt down and talked to (not with) God. I would kneel down and give God a catalogue of all that I needed Him to do for me. I now realize how one sided my relationship with Him was. I simply talked to Him and didn't bother whether He had anything to say in return. For me, prayer was more of a ritual than any real relationship with a real person. It was like giving God His due every morning. But all that changed when I was compelled to seek God and reason with Him.

In a place like Nigeria, a diagnosis of Cancer of any type means an irrevocable death sentence.
When this death sentence came to my husband, it was like the end had come for me. I began to imagine what life as a widow would be like for me. My husband has always been my best friend and the love of my life. Two of my kids were in junior secondary schools, while the last one was in primary school. The idea of having to lose the love of my life and raise the kids without their father was such a terrible thought. I was scared!

For the first time in my entire Christian life it occurred to me that I could actually hold a discussion with God. I should say it was actually God Himself who mercifully gave me the invitation to come talk with Him by taking my mind to the Bible where it is written, "Come now let us reason together."
Says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Then I said, " But Lord the problem is Cancer not sin.
You dealt with my sins and my husband's sins at Calvary. Now we have this dreadful disease called cancer". In response to that He said, "I am the God of all flesh; is there anything too difficult for me?" It was then that my understanding opened and illumination dawned on me. It was actually more difficult to deal with sins than to deal with diseases, for without blood there is no forgiveness of sins; which was why Jesus went to the cross. But to deal with diseases He can simply command, "Be healed".

My husband took a surgery to remove the cancer and completed the chemotherapy which took 12 months.
It has been eight years since. He is in good health. It was my talk with God that gave us the strength and confidence that we needed to survive that period. And I learnt to talk with God everyday of my life. In my prayers, I no more talk to Him; I talk with Him.

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