Tamela Walters Testimony of Healing
No body can convince me that God doesn't still answer prayer today. You see,
He's answered so many of mine...and I'm not more special than anyone else that
might be in need of answers.
When I was a teen-ager, I, during a very intimate time of communication with
the Lord, prayed "Oh God... I feel so useless to you. Please give me a
testimony so that I might tell others about you." As I prayed this, I wasn't
thinking about the fact that in order to have a TESTimony...you must first go
through a TEST.
My husband and I married when I was just 18 years old. About a year later, I
thought we were expecting a child. When I went to be tested, I was told that I
was not pregnant, but needed to be checked out to see what was going on in my
body.
I was scheduled to have exploratory surgery on Feb. 15, 1983, but the day
before when they did an IVP, it revealed a very large tumor resting behind my
uterus. My Doctor told me instead of exploratory surgery, he would just go in
and remove the tumor, and I should be back to normal in no time.
Sooooooo........Feb. 15,1983, as I lay waiting to be put to sleep, I thought
I would wake to a fresh new start - but that wasn't the case.
The doctor told my family a few hours later that when the he opened me up, my
insides looked like that of an elderly woman who had had cancer for many years.
When he was questioned about it, he told them by the look of things, I could
have 6 months to a year to live.
He had performed a total hysterectomy, and later, when the lab work came back,
it was determined that I had ovarian adinocarcinoma stage 4.
During the first Sunday after surgery, as I lay in the hospital bed, I knew
that all of my church family and friends would be praying for me. I was
watching another minister on TV and the beliefs that were instilled in me as a
child were STIRRED and I believed that the doctor's report was not the end of
the story.
I physically felt the sensation of a thick warm liquid flowing over my abdomen
and I knew God was up to something!
A few weeks later, I began chemotherapy treatments... wow was that harsh!
As days passed by, many people were contacted to put me on their church prayer
lists, and I received many cards, visits and phone calls from well-wishers.
As I was passing through this valley, I was all the while confident and at
peace because I knew God was somehow in control, orchestrating every process.
When I went back to church,which was at the time called The Cumberland Church
of God, now the City of Refuge, some of our precious prayer warriors wanted to
have special prayer for me - this is the key - the combination of the prayer
and faith of so many godly people, united for one cause and purpose...which at
the time was my healing. Isn't it just like God, He honored those prayers.
Close to 4 months after I began the chemo., right before I was due to go into
the hospital for a 3-day stay (which was normal because of my 36 hour
treatments), I decided enough was enough!
I made an appointment with God. I told my friends and family not to call or
disturb me in any way until I contacted them, because I was taking my Bible to
my bedroom and I was going to pray and read until I somehow received
confirmation from God whether or not I needed to continue with chemo.( because
I had some very severe allergic reactions to some of the meds.)
Just 15 minutes after I went into my room, my aunt, whom lived in the
downstairs apartment, started banging on the door and yelling" Tammy, your
father needs you to come to the phone now. He knows you didn't want to be
disturbed, but this pertains to what's going on today". In obedience to my
father(even though I was a married adult), I went down to the phone.
Dad told me that even though it was his day off from work, He stopped in to
pick up his paycheck and then did some browsing/window shopping . In the
mean-time, a woman from our church had been on her way somewhere when God
tugged at her to go to Earl's(my father) place of employment, and tell him God
said everything is OK, Tammy will be well.
Just as Dad got back to his car, the woman , whom I called Beenie, pulled into
the parking lot and gave him the message that she was told to tell him.
When I got off of the phone with my Dad, I went back to my room and asked God
if it was that simple. Was that my answer so soon? I really didn't have to beg
for days..?!
That's when an amazing thing happened! My eyes well up with tears every time I
think about it, because it was absolutely awesome! A bright light seemed to come
from nowhere and filled my room and I felt an amazing awareness that I was being
visited by a heavenly being! I heard a voice say to me" It's OK honey, I'm
taking care of you. It will be alright."
When the day came that I was to be admitted for the next treatment, I
requested a meeting with Dr. Zaman. I told him I knew I would be OK and would
not submit to any more chemo. This very much disturbed him, and he said he
could not just release me. For I was too young to just die. He requested that I
allow a "second-look" surgery to do some biopsies. I consented.
When I awoke from the second surgery, a nurse who had been in the O.R. with
the surgeon, came in just before the doctor and said" it looks good! it went
well!" The doctor came in and confirmed her report -but said he wished that I
would continue the chemo.. I declined.
As I write this, it has been 25 years since that time. We've had the privilege
,of adopting a daughter, who is now 18 years old I'm still alive, still
cancer-free, and still giving God thanks and ALL the glory for His unending
mercy. God NEVER changes. He will do the same for you as he did for me...You
just have to know and BELIEVE!!!!!!!
Tamela
