Faith and Prayers

I have been talking to my friends about faith and this is a letter that they wanted to share with you.


Dear Blog Readers,

I’m sure you all feel much like we do as you read this blog every day. We all love Sheri and her family and want to do more. It is a desperate and helpless feeling to watch someone so full of life suffer and be debilitated by sickness. Like you, we have prayed and hoped things would turn around, but we haven’t seen real improvement in Sheri’s condition. It has gotten us thinking about faith and prayer and what we know to be true and what more we can do. As Sheri’s family and friends, we are many religions, but we have noticed one thing we all have in common: we are all praying for her. We’d like to suggest we unite our faith and prayers in a specific way in Sheri’s behalf.

As the Bible teaches in James 2:17, “Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” We all have a lot of faith, and have offered many prayers, but maybe we can combine it with some works. In thinking about faith, there is a passage in the Bible that applies to how we feel about Sheri. In chapter 17 of Matthew, there is a man who comes to Jesus Christ asking Him to heal his son. His son is vexed with a devil. This man has already taken his son to the disciples who could not cure him. After Jesus heals his son and casts out the devil, the disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast out the devil. Jesus teaches the disciples about faith: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonderplace; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Then the next verse says, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matt. 17:20-21)

We invite any of you who would like to join us in fasting and praying for Sheri on Sunday, June 28. There are many things we can pray for, but with her surgery approaching on Monday, I would suggest we pray specifically that Sheri’s surgery be successful so that her bilirubin count will come down and she can start treatment. Fasting is to voluntarily go without food or drink for a certain period of time, such as two meals (breakfast and lunch). You can begin your fast with a prayer, go without food or drink during the time of your fast, then break your fast with a prayer and a meal. When combined with sincere prayer, fasting can give added strength to those in need of blessings. In the Bible, Isaiah also talks about fasting in chapter 58:8, which says in part: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.” (Italics added).

We have both fasted and prayed many times and have seen small miracles take place in our own lives. We want so much to help the Faughts in this difficult time. Perhaps her situation is like the family in the book of Matthew that needed fasting as well as prayer. Please join us in this effort on Sunday, before Sheri’s surgery. Thank you for your faith and prayers.

Sincerely,
Anne Hyde and Julie Stockard