Let us go on...

2:41 p.m. Today's project was to pray most urgently, along with family members and dear friends Jeff and Monica, for an answer that holds the key to our daughter's future. Our future son-in-law Pavel was to have a full medical exam for the renewal of his social worker's license at 7:00 a.m.

Normally this would be a snap for a 27 year-old, but Pavel's low vision made the outcome of the doctor failing him a distinct possibility. I asked for prayer late into the evening and spent a weepy night, waking and praying almost hourly. The wedding is in three and one half months--what if he was not able to work? Driving is part of his job as he ministers to hurting families.

To build my faith, I recalled that my husband Steve was fired from a company he started with in high school, shortly after we became engaged. We didn't even consider changing our plans, and praise the Lord, a headhunter agency found him a much better job, and Steve was consistently employed for thirty-five years until stricken with Alzheimer's.

Heidi and I prayed together, she went on to work and her mom waited tensely at home, and prayed for him with Steve. I had already notified my Facebook friends of an urgent prayer need by 6:45 a.m., but gave no details. We always pray in faith for one another, whether we have the facts or not! Psalm 116:1-2 was what I texted Pavel:

I love the LORD, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.

The wonderful praise report came from him at 9:11, and from Heidi at 9:25!!!

As I ran upstairs to enter the praise in my prayer notebook, a verse kept coming to me, "let us go on..." What, Lord? I kept hearing, "Let us go on..." but couldn't figure out the rest of the verse! Then it gradually dawned on me that it was from Hebrews, about believers learning the basic elements of the Christian faith, but going beyond that to maturity. Having once been lead by the Lord to memorize the first 9 chapters of that incredible book, my favorite, I looked and found Hebrews 6:1a:

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go to perfection...

What could this mean? We are all mature believers, active in prayer, study and teaching of the Word, and a prayer of faith had just been answered. Then it dawned on me--Pavel's successful exam was just the beginning, not an end in itself! It is now time to GO ON praying in faith, for his absolute and permanent healing, for normal eyesight! Whoa--that's big, Lord. But after reading of one miracle in world prayer and evangelism after another in The Purple Pig, by Dick Eastman; hearing of scores of healings from my son Steven because of his prayer ministry at Fresno Pacific; and knowing that his own torn bicep is now 100% healed, I see the limited vision I have had, and am determined to go on praying for an ultimate answer of healing.

Restoring sight to the blind is one of the reasons Jesus came to this earth, according to Luke 4:18. And when John the Baptist's disciples asked if Jesus was " 'the coming One, or do we look for another?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go tell John the things that you hear and see: the blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.' " (Matthew 11:3-5)

So then, I will pray as the Lord has laid on my heart--"going on to perfection," not stopping until He answers as only He can!