Do Miracles of Healing Still Occur?

Mary Bukowiec

Midland SDA Church

August 5, 2006

Last August I learned that I once again had developed breast cancer.  My first bout with the disease was back in 2001.  Anyone who has ever been faced with cancer knows what a terrifying experience a cancer diagnosis can be. I felt a strong sense of time urgency and decided on conventional treatments without fully considering the nature of the disease,available treatment options or the associated risks involved.  Every decision I made regarding treatment was fear based and I relied entirely on my doctors to guide me.  

At the time, I was unaware of the Adventist health message or the relationship between lifestyle choices and disease.  Shortly after starting treatment I began a process of analyzing my life to identify what factors may have causedthis to happen and a quest to learn as much as I could about cancer.  Looking back I can tell this process was God’s providence.  It was this quest that eventually led me to join the Adventist church.

At first I dismissed every suggestion of alternative approaches – how could something as practical and unsophisticated as awhole foods diet have any real power to combat incurable degenerative disease!  I focused strictly on established legitimate scientific explanations for the cause and treatment of disease.  But this whole pesky diet/lifestyle connection theory was hinted at in every publication I read.

Finally I opened my mind and began learning about the value of a vegan diet.  I also learned (to my deep regret) the reality of conventional treatments for cancer.Comparing the “sugar coated” brochures given to cancer patients with the real situation as presented in medical journals was very enlightening.  I felt betrayed and mislead by the conventional medical establishment.  I was surprised by how much is not known about cancer and how little progress has been made in this field of medicine over the past 20 years. From a patient standpoint cancer treatments are still extremely barbaric.

Once diagnosed with cancer you are immediately among the highest risk for developing it again.  Conventional medical treatment is considered successful if the patient remains cancer free for five years after the initial treatment.  Since I was automatically at such a high risk, I vowed that if I ever faced cancer again, I would give the wholefoods, vegan diet a whirl.  I made it a little over four years.

The alternative approach focuses on the things of nature that God has provided which are freely available to everyone, fresh air,sunshine, exercise, trust in divine Guidance – and – whole plant foods nutrition.  There are few statistics to support its value because there is no pharmaceutical company profiting from it.  Consequently, when I informed my Oncologist that this time I intended to forgo conventional treatment and switch to a vegan diet he was very distressed about it. 

I told him I know what caused the recurrence of cancer.  He was curious, so I explained that I had allowed stress to get the best of me and made some unhealthy choices in my lifestyle over the past 8 months.  He refused to believe lifestyle choices had any significant bearing at all and proceeded to present a very grim prediction of what would happen if I didn’t’ agree to some form of conventional treatment.  He encouraged me to apply the lifestyle change I had in mind, but not to rely on it alone.

My mind was made up - I knew I could never forgive myself if I didn’t try God’s divine health plan.  I’ve lived with regret the past 4 years and refuse to be manipulated by fear.  2 Tim. 1:7 kept coming into my thoughts, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."  And another scripture that spoke to me was 1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.  But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. "

Furthermore, I knew that if I combined conventional treatment with this approach any favorable outcome would be attributed to the conventional treatment.    After everything I’ve learned over the past 4 years (including the lessons learned from Bible prophecy that God is in control) I had faith that God’s divine health plan could not only prevent disease, but reverse it as well.  I sensed that this was a spiritual battle. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places."  Eph. 6:12

It occurred to me that much of the stress I’d been going through might possibly be spiritual attacks.  I was drawing closer to God, learning how to reach out to people with the gospel and Satan was angry.  Satan wanted me dead.   I Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."  So I prepared for battle and took courage from Gods word.  I John 4:4 "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." 

I realized that it would be presumptuous to expect a healing after practicing unhealthy habits and repented immediately.  I asked God to reveal anyone to me that I needed to set things right with and He did.  I did not give myself time to question it, but acted on it immediately.  I began a three week fast and dropped 20 pounds.  I was sure the weight would return once I ended the fast, but it didn’t because I broke the fast with a vegan diet.  The soreness and swelling in my body also disappeared.  I enlisted an army of prayer support and requested that the elders of the church pray the prayer of the sick and anoint me.  Pastor told me “The safest place to be is in Gods will.”  Which was very comforting, I dwelt on these thoughts many times when I felt fear and doubt creeping up on me.

Ps. 139:13–18 was also a great comfort, and I would meditate on it often.  "You formed my inward parts; and covered me in my mother’s womb.  I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.  My frame was not hidden from God, when I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought…  Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, whenas yet there were not of them.  How precious also are Your thoughts to me,   How great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.” 

I prayed everyday for Gods guidance concerning my health according to His will and expressed confidence in His plan for my life.  I took the attitude that if it is my time to die and this is the means God uses then I will accept it, if not I knew He would convict me of what I should do.  If He can change the heart of Kings certainly He can change my mind. I also hoped God would use this situation to show himself strong, increase my faith and that of everyone involved in my case – the doctors and their staff as well as the people praying for me.  One of the first scriptures the Lord impressed on me was Jer. 29:11  "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  I practiced thankfulness by starting each day taking inventory of the many blessings He’d lavished on me.  I soon realized I had much more to be thankful for than to be worried about. 

I remembered and dwelt upon some decisive battles in the Bible that God won for his people.  David and Goliath for example, following Gods divine health laws must have seemed just as powerless against cancer as five smooth stones and a sling shot were against the Philistine giant.  I have always believed that God takes bad situations and makes something good come of it.  Look how creatively and beautifully He has dealt with the whole sin controversy.  Many scriptures were coming to my recollection and I know it was the Spirit of God speaking to me as in Genesis 50:20 where Joseph tells his brothers after Jacobs death …you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. 

I prayed before every doctor appointment and had to battle fear and doubt each time.  My Oncologist simply refused to accept my decision and sent me to a couple of specialists to try to convince me.  One was very interested in seeing me and even agreed to waive her fee saying she received a two page letter from him!  I argued that cancer is caused from an overwhelmed immune system and if what ever caused it is not identified and dealt with, the cancer will return no matter how many times you cut, burn or poison me.  It seemed to make more sense to do the things that would build up and support healthy immune function.  I also felt that if the outward symptoms were improving (like the soreness, swelling and rash that had disappeared) this was a signal of an internal improvement.

I know my doctors meant well, but I also suspected that unseen forces were working against me.  The Bible says that our bodies are the temple of God and mine was in serious disrepair.  I had not heeded the apostle Paul’s advice to the Corinthians when he admonished them, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  1 Cor. 10:31.  What was needful for me to do was what the remnant did in the book of Nehemiah when they encountered resistance to their rebuilding effort.  Neh. 4:17 "Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon".  So I put on the spiritual armor God provides us and persisted in the rebuilding process.

After four months an MRI scan showed that even though the cancer was still there, it appeared to have slightly diminished.  I was excited, but my oncologist was not impressed.  He still insisted I consider conventional treatment and when I refused he threw his hands up in frustration and asked me why I was coming to see him.  He said, “You won’t do anything I recommend!”  I tried to make him understand that I realized the predicament I put him in and explained to him that I needed his help to track my progress.  I threw him a bone by saying that I reserved the right to change my mind.  With that he agreed to work with me, but begged me to give some serious thought to what I planned to do when the cancer gets worse.  He then scheduled a PET scan in six months.  I was relieved.  That would give me more time to work on restoring my health. If the cancer had diminished slightly after four months hopefully six months would be even more productive. 

June 5th my husband and I met with my Oncologist.  We were nervous.  My husband and I were trying to stay positive, so while we waited we talked about our dog and his funny antics.  .When the door opened and the doctor came into the room he saw us laughing and said, “Oh, you’ve gotten the results of the PET scan already?”  And I said, “No, I haven’t, what was the outcome?”  He smirked and said, “Well, you’re perfect.”  I thought he was being a smart alec and asked to see the report, as he flipped through my file to find it he started to comment on how good my blood work was.  I thought that was strange, he’s never complemented me on my blood work before.  Then he showed me the results – Negative.  Specifically, no local or distant metastatic/recurrent breast cancer identified on this exam!

I really wasn’t expecting it to be completely gone!  I thought the most I could hope for was that it would have diminished a little more or at worse that it might have progressed.  Jay and I just stared at each other, then I looked at my doctor expecting him to ask me to provide a detailed explanation of what I did, but he was silent.  So I asked him if he was surprised.  He said no, but he answered too quickly and his interest in my blood work betrayed him.  I think when he saw the PET scan results he immediately checked my blood work to confirm it.  He did acknowledge however that sometimes doctors do learn from their patients.

I will continue to follow up with my Oncologist just as if I had received conventional treatment and I am actually looking forward to my next MRI.  I’m praying that the doctors who did the initial MRI last August will be amazed when they see me again and realize that like the Hebrew children who came through the fiery furnace without so much as the smell of smoke on them, I came through my fiery ordeal without disfiguring surgery, toxic radiation or poisonous chemotherapy.

There were a couple of things that were different this time compared to the first time I faced cancer.  First, I had a tremendous amount of prayer support.  Your support was for me was like what Aaron and Hur provided for Moses.  (Ex. 17:8-13)  "Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.  And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek.  Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.”  So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek.  And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it.  And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.  So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 

Another important difference this time and --  very powerful -- was the vegan diet.  Your prayer support was helpful in keeping me on this narrow way as well.  The world does not accommodate a whole food vegan lifestyle; it’s not convenient fast food, like we are accustomed to.  And finally one more thing was also uniquely different this time.  My husband was very supportive.  He came to every doctor’s appointment with me, prayed for me every day and even told my doctors he stood behind my decision.  He did everything he could to accommodate me as I worked to restore my health and the trials we have been through over this past year have drawn us much closer together.

I intend to continue on this path the Lord has taken me down and I highly recommend this lifestyle to everyone.  Right now is a critical time for the Adventist health message with the baby boomer generation getting old.  The business of medicine won’t fail to take advantage of this huge demographic.  Now more than ever we have an opportunity to make a significant impact for good, but we won’t be truly effective unless we practice what we preach. 

I thank you for interceding for me and the emails, cards and inquiries about my health.  You were a part of this cooperative effort and my husband and I both appreciate it more than we can express.  Please keep us in your prayers and pray for the people who hear my testimony, I’ve seen some interesting reactions.  It’s like the parable of the sower being illustrated right before my eyes.  Some react as if it’s a common thing to be cured of cancer, others are superficially happy for me, but too concerned with worldly concerns to give it much thought, but a few of them are genuinely amazed and recognize God’s hand in it.  Pray that some of the seeds being sown may flourish and in time produce ripened grain.