Faith and Hope

Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

I want to share with you some things I am trying to work out in my heart and mind. I have a loved one that has been going through the fire - we have prayed and the diagnosis keeps coming up "no" and becomes worse than we thought. Since we just finished the Bible study - Believing God, I pulled it out and found some thoughts that are helping me understand and know how to pray. Most of the following is either directly from my workbook or notes I took during the video - some of it will be in my own words. Hope this helps -
If something that I ask for God says "no" - we have to believe no matter how God answers He is working on our internal (some suffering comes with being a new covenant christian, we are being purified from the inside out and God is working internally) or He answers with an external (a healing we see).

Hold tight to Mark 9:23 -"'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." we must hold tight to the thought "everything is possible" please don't let others take your hope. We cannot separate faith and hope - we believe and have faith that God can do what He says He can do, then we must never stop believing and hoping for that.

You can't lose when you earnestly seek God. Even if you don't find the answer, you find the Author.

In all honesty we just do not know why God physically heals some and not others. We can know without a shadow of doubt that the issue is not a lack of divine love or kindness. In the study book she refers to John the Baptist and how he must have felt in the jail cell wondering when is Jesus coming through for me? Then the reminder that John saw the promise fulfilled, he just had a seat in heaven instead of earth.
We must not be afraid to pray, afraid God might not live up to our expectations. We must remember that all throughout the Bible we read of prayers that got a yes, and prayers that got a no. Even the prayer that Christ prayed in the garden of Gethsemane.
God sees the bigger picture and we must never forget He loves us.
Ok here is my favorite part:
Read Psalm 103
vs. 3 - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
the Hebrew word for heals is rapha' - "to mend (by stitching) is one of the definitions. I love the thought of God bringing wholeness and restoration to a life as someone would mend by stitching. A seamstress cannot mend a fabric she does not hold in her hands. Likewise, God cradles us in His careful hands as He stitches our broken pieces back together again, forming a new and far more beautiful garment. The thought of knowing that stitch-by-stitch we are continually in His hands.
We are reminded that God is not a genie in a bottle or only someone we call on in times of trouble, He is God.

I think we would all do good to remember that God is far more interested in our knowing the Healer than He is in the healing.
God can be vastly glorified through either objective: showing His supremacy or His sufficiency.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.
I am so glad that God is God and he promises to hold us tightly in His hand.
girl, I love you and I am still praying.