$4,000, Two Gifts, One God: Answered Prayer

SPEAKER A 00:00:01 - 00:12:56 It is all too often said that there are no miracles performed these days. Well, I'd like to challenge this idea with my story of when God heals. Welcome to Miracles in the 21st Century. I'm Celia Moncrieff. You know, one day when I was teaching, I got some news I didn't like very much. So I'd been to the doctor because there was a small lump that I had, and he said, oh, I think it's nothing, it's going to be okay, don't you worry. He even took it out and said, it's going to be fine, I'm 97% sure it's fine. He goes, I'll ring you. Well, I waited and I waited, and day after day he didn't ring. I'm thinking, what's going on? So in the end, I got on the phone and I rang him after about a week. And he said, I'm sorry to tell you that this is bad. You have got this cancer. And I was honestly, my knees just went to jelly because I thought I was Miss Fitness. You know what I mean? I was a runner back in my young days. And it's like, what, me? I couldn't believe it. Anyway, I would like to tell you that I was so strong and I wasn't upset and I knew everything would be all right, but I wasn't. I will tell you, I was a big sook. Anyway, he said to me, I think we should do more surgery. I think we should do radiation and chemo. I said, no, I don't think so. I said, I think I'm just going to go the health route. So for 1 year, I ate no sugar. I did everything that I knew that was right. I went to a health retreat. I tried to keep my life very balanced. But do you know what? After 1 year, it came back. And this time it was worse news because this time it had gone into my lymph nodes. Now, do you know that is not good news? Once cancer gets into your lymph nodes, this is very serious. So I'd been anointed the first time. And I said to my brother-in-law, Tim Kingston, who was a minister, I said, would you anoint me again? He said, yes. Because this is a different scenario. And so Tim and his wife, who is my sister, Heather, came down for the anointing. We invited a few friends. And so we're sitting there in my lounge room. And I said to Heather, do you think we could maybe have a verse to read before everyone comes? And she said, sure, let's read a verse. And I was going to read a verse. And then I said, no, no, no, you read a verse. So she got out her big Bible, her big brown Bible. She opened it up and something fell out of her Bible onto the floor. So she bends down and picks it up and she said, I had forgotten all about this. She said, months and months ago, a man who I don't even know came up to me at church and he took out of his pocket A card. I think it had Psalm 46 on the front of the card, and he got his pen out and he started writing something. She said, then he gave it to me, and he said to her, I have no idea what you're going to need this card for, but you are going to need it. So Heather looked at the card and she thought, what on earth is going to happen to me? I'm going to tell you what it said on the card. It said, I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Surely I will heal you, says the Lord. Well, for me, that was it. I knew I wasn't worried anymore, not one bit. I didn't even ask the doctors what chance I had of living because I said, To my sister, I don't care if they say 1% chance of living. I am going to be healed because God said so. Because that little card she'd had stuck in her Bible for months and months. She hadn't even remembered it was there. And why did it fall out on the floor when she opened her Bible, which she probably opened many days? So I became much more cheerful. Even though I had previously been a big sook. So we decided that we would put God to the test and I would go for all the X-rays and whatever else, and that if God had not removed the lump, which I prayed he would, then I would go ahead and do the treatment, trusting God that he would use the treatment. So I remember going into the place where they did the fine needle biopsy, and sure enough— What did they find? It was saying no good. I remember going for the X-ray thinking maybe God's made it go, but he hadn't. But do you know what? God did use doctors to answer my prayer as well as his healing ability. So I went through the whole chemo treatment. I can't say it was fun, but I knew God had me in the palm of his hands. I can tell you that I would pray and say, God, I need help today. And I'm telling you, I would get sometimes 3 promises a day, the same message. So someone would come and tell me a promise. I would have read the promise in the Bible. And then someone else would come and tell me a promise, all meaning the same thing. They might have been different verses, but all meaning the exact same thing for the day. So God spoke to me over and over again. Now, I would like to tell you something else really amazing that happened. So after I'd finished the chemo, the doctors said to me, we now want you to do radiation. I sort of was a bit here and there whether I wanted to do it. It's like, well, I feel like, okay, maybe I should. They were telling me it gives you this more, you know, this more opportunity for healing. And so I decided, okay, I will. Still not feeling quite sure. Now, all of this treatment costs money. Operations cost money. Everything costs money. And my credit card was stacked up to the hilt. And so the radiation, if you go private, it costs more money. I think they told me then it was $2,000. Today, that doesn't seem so much, but this was like more than 15 years ago now. And so I said to God one day when I was actually at school doing some preparation, I said, God, I don't have the money to go private, but the doctors have told me that if I go public, I might be put on a waiting list. And they— the doctors had said, if you wait too long for this radiation, you may as well not do it. It's not going to work. But I said, God, You know I don't have the money, and so I'm just going to tell you now that unless you do something, I'm going to go public and put my name down on the list. And I had not finished the prayer for probably 2 or 3 minutes, and the phone rang. It was a friend of mine who I'd known when I was a kid and later on in life as well. And he said to me, so what is going on with your treatment. What's going on with you? Is everything okay? I said, oh yes, yes, yes, but I'm probably— I'm going to do radiation. He goes, oh yes. I said, well, I'm probably going to go public. He goes, what for are you going public? You shouldn't be going public. You need to get private. What are you talking about? He said, listen, how much is it going to cost? I said, well, $2,000. He goes, don't you worry a thing. I'm going to give you the money. So it's like, oh, Are you sure? Like, really? Yes, he said. So he sent someone else along to my house with the money in— I think it was in $50 notes piled up on top of each other. And I was given the money. You know what? If that was the end of the story, that would be absolutely amazing. But that's not the end of the story. Because maybe about 5 days later, I had a phone call from from one of my very good friends, Karen Muirhead, who at the time was working at Macquarie College as the chaplain. She told me this story. She said, I was not feeling great this day, and it was cold and windy, but the athletics carnival was on, and I thought to myself, oh, I probably should go. I guess I should go. I don't want to, but okay. I'll go. So she got up and she went to the sports carnival. She's going around talking to the children, and then off in the distance she saw someone she'd gone to school with, and I'd also gone to school with because we went to the same school in Hawthorn in Victoria in the day, and we'd gone to college. I think it was at college we met this person that she was talking about. And she said, oh, hello. And he said to her out of the blue, I don't know if he knew anything about me or what was happening. He said, oh, and how's Celia Moncrieff going? She goes, well, not so absolutely wonderful. And she just explained that, you know, I'd had breast cancer and I was going through the treatment. She didn't. tell him that I needed money. She didn't say anything like that. And he said, oh, that's no good. Listen, can you please just wait here? I'm just going to the car to get something, and then I'm coming back. So just wait here, will you? So he went away, and he came back with something folded over in half, and he said to her, listen, I want you to give this to Celia. He said, I don't— you must not tell her who I am. I don't want her to know who I am, but I want you to give her this. So Karen said, I then went back to my car, and she said, I couldn't help but open it, and there was a cheque for $2,000. So ladies and gentlemen, you can't tell me that wasn't God. Because I was a little bit like, I didn't know whether I should be doing the treatment or not. And God said, here's $2,000. Oh, and just in case you doubted that that was me, here's another $2,000, which could help me, of course, to pay off some of my credit card debt. And you know what? God is amazing. Sometimes we do go through things that are tough. and that are hard. But God promises, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Do you know God says, I know how many hairs are on your head, and I love you more than your father or your mother. I love you with an everlasting love. And I am always blown away with how many times God has spoken to me He has spoken to me through his word over and over again. He's spoken to me through other people. He has spoken to me through praying. And I just want you to know that God has got you. He has got you in the palm of his hands. And you know, that story just made me so excited to connect with God. What an incredible God we serve. He has so many things going on in the world. Who am I, little me? Do you know what I mean? To receive such abundant gifts from God. And I think God was telling me, I am not finished with you yet. And so God has taken me to some amazing places. He has given me an amazing work to do. I'm a teacher. And you know, teaching children is the biggest blessing. It is the most lovely work. Sure, it's hard work, but you know what? Connecting children with Jesus and seeing their hearts change, there is nothing like it. I am just saying to you all, if you are going through a hard patch, please get on your knees and connect with God. Because he is there for you.