“Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck your hand (fist) out of thy bosom.” Psalm 74:11

Guest Blog Post by my Friend and Brother-in-Christ, Gary Corde

On April 2nd, 2019 I was taken to the ER with symptoms of a stroke. The thought of a stroke had always terrified me. I lost my mother to a massive stroke when I was only 17, leaving me traumatized with deep and lasting wounds. Now, laying on a stretcher in the ER, all I could think of was dying or at best being left paralyzed.

After all the testing the doctors reported that there was no evidence of a stroke, no clots, and no blockages. Whew! What a relief to me, my wife Janet, and my family. However, our relief was short-lived with the doctor’s utterance of that dreaded three-letter word, “But”.

The doctor somberly acknowledged that they had found “a large mass” the size of a fist in my left lung. Ugh!

I didn’t go home that night as they continued to run more tests to confirm what the mass was. Further testing revealed what appeared to be a hole in my heart. The bad news was piling up.

And it didn’t get better. At the conclusion of their testing the pulmonary doctors surmised that the mass was most likely cancer, and probably advanced. In order to confirm the diagnosis, they had to get tissue samples and it was decided that they would perform a bronchoscopy the following week.

The thought of the bronchoscopy test is not very pleasant. It involves sending a device down my throat, down the windpipe and into my lung. It allowed them to take tissue samples from that area, and even the lymph node tissue. However, it was not able to access the entire area, as some of the mass was on the other side of my aorta.

After the procedure, it took over an agonizing week to get the results. Finally, my primary care physician called to tell me that the samples were, “negative.” Thank you, Jesus! This sounded like great news!

Here’s that dreaded word again. “But,” the following day when we saw the pulmonary doctors, we were told that the samples they had taken were not taken from where they needed to get them. The bottom line was that they were still pretty certain it was cancer – an advanced stage. The next step was a needle biopsy. The biopsy procedure was scheduled for the next week.

Janet and I have been Christ-Followers for many years. The roller-coaster ride we were on was taking its toll. We got married later on in life and have often talked about how long God will give us in this life together. Now, we were faced with the very real possibility that I would not be around much longer. Would I even choose to undergo treatment as the treatment is often worse than the disease?

I’m a big believer in the power of prayer, regularly attending and sometimes leading our Church’s Wednesday night prayer meetings. My Sunday school class and the entire church, for that matter, were praying for me. The Sunday before Easter I went into the Prayer Room at church to have the Elders and the Prayer Team pray over me. It just so happened that Elder Jim had been moved to bring a small bottle of oil into the Prayer Room that particular morning. In adherence to James 5:14, they anointed me with oil and prayed. It was a great time of prayer but I honestly didn’t feel any different when I left – no lightning bolts.

The next week was an emotional one. Janet and I struggled to avoid discussing the future. We tried to adhere to Jesus’ instructions to his disciples: “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for today has enough worries of its own.” It really was the only way we could keep our sanity.

One of my favorite memory verses is Hebrews 12: 1-3, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

I realized how important it is for me to fix my eyes on Jesus, and not to lose heart. So, on to the needle biopsy!

The Biopsy That Wasn’t

I didn’t know what to expect of this. I knew that there would be some sedation, but that I would be awake. The thought of a needle going into my back to reach my lung was not very appealing. First, I had an IV put into me and then they took me to the CT scan table. I was positioned on my stomach, and strapped down. (Good thing as I might have considered jumping off to run away!)

The doctor said that they were going to do a scan as a baseline before the procedure. They did the scan, and then I laid still waiting for the next part. I waited for 5 minutes, then 10, and it seemed to go on forever. In the position I was in, I was not able to lift my head up. After the longest 15 minutes of my life, I looked down and suddenly there were 4 or 5 sets of feet gathered around me. One of them said, “Mr. Corde?” I quizzically answered, “Yeah?”

The doctor sounded tentative. “Things have gotten better.”

“Really?” I was confused.

I could almost hear the rattle as he shook his head in wonder declaring, “Things have gotten dramatically better.”

The words, Thank you, God! Thank you, God! circled in my head.

“We see no reason to put a needle in your back today.” The doctor concluded, “So, we are going to have you come back in four weeks for a follow-up scan.”

I told them, “But I have an appointment for a PET scan in the morning, and then with an oncologist in the afternoon.”

The doctor replied, “You might want to cancel them.”

Wow! That sounds good to me!

By the time they got me back to Janet, the doctor was already in the room with her. She smiled at me, and I returned it with the same one that was plastered on my face since they had told me upstairs.

I heard Janet ask the doctor, “Three weeks ago you saw a mass the size of his fist. What did you see today?”

He responded, “There was no mass. I saw a little white line.” He shook his head, “Lung cancer does not behave like this. It never gets better on its own.” He clearly could not explain this, and clearly seemed uncomfortable trying.

Janet responded, “Thank you God!”

The mass was, in the infamous words of boxer Roberto Duran, “No mas!” (No more!)

There were no discharge orders for me, so I simply put my clothes back on and left wondering, Did this all really just happen?

The Aide who walked us to the door was also a Christ-Follower. In our semi-dazed condition God used her to reinforce the reality of what God had just done, and how uniquely wonderful it is that God did this for us.

I walked out into the warm sunshine and I felt different. The weight that had been hanging over me was gone. We were both shell-shocked over this, and to be honest, it’s still hard to take in. Especially, since all of this took place in less than a month.

I can’t tell you how much fun it has been telling people about this – giving testimony to how unbelievably good our God is. When anyone starts to tell me that the doctors messed up, I stop them in mid-sentence. I tell them that I saw the scan, I clearly saw the mass, it was impossible to miss. Then I tell them that I was healed by God. They too find themselves at a loss for words.

If that all is not amazing enough, I have since had another cardio test. It unequivocally ruled out there being any hole in my heart. I figured that with all the prayers for healing offered up to God, that God must have also healed that for good measure.

I’ll admit that I have struggled with, Why me? Feeling that, I don’t deserve this. All I can say is that God is not finished with me. He still has stuff for me to do. Now I know that much more tangibly, what my God is capable of. I just need to remain willing and allow Him to show me what He has in store for me next.

By God’s amazing power and grace my adventure continues!

---

Postscript

It’s not unusual for people who experience a miraculous healing to continue to have some lingering doubt. Did this all really happen?

After Gary provided the above testimony he asked that I hold off posting it until the follow-up CT scan was performed – just to make certain that there was not some technical error involved. He received the results from the follow-up scan yesterday.

The Doctor confirmed what Gary had grown to fully expect saying,

“This scan looks even better than the last scan!”

In essence our God was allowing no room for doubt, improving on the miraculous healing He had already performed!

Whose God does this kind of stuff?

Our God!