Upstream Praying

What cancer taught me about physical healing.

“You have cancer” ushers in a crippling kind of terror that stays on “low simmer” for years. The urologist pronounced sentencing three years ago, and lately, it’s been a cat-and-mouse game of, “Is the cancer back?”

Insight: Learning to pray upstream

As I pray for healing, I think, "What's upstream of the affected organ?" (In this case, upstream of my bladder). Blood is upstream, carrying all kinds of messengers (healthy and harmful).

It turns out having Long Covid left behind some things in my blood—

• "spike proteins," (Who wants spikes with their protein?)

• potential viruses and bacteria,

• and debris—actual chunks of damaged cellular material floating in the blood.

So, praying in tandem with biology, I'm going to pray for God's dialysis of my blood.

There's good reason to do this:

“Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you ... By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. -- John 6: 53-56 The Messege Bible

Going deeper

Why does Blood heal blood? Through the Spirit, we have unison with Jesus' body; not just his spirit. Jesus' death and resurrection isn't detached metaphor. It's gritty, earthy and practical:

• (B)ody heals (b)ody.

• (S)pirit heals (s)pirit.

• (M)ind heals (m)ind.

Jesus’ blood, that collected ALL the toxins—but overcame them—can heal my toxified blood. Foul becomes flourishing. It’s part of the Gospel’s “benefits package.” It’s part of God’s priority to “make all things new.”

“and forget not his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases”
—Psalm 103

So, Jesus, I'm ready for dialysis.