When God Says “You First”

By: Candance Voyles

James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you…”

“Confess your faults one to another…” Ok. Here we go. Confession. 

You know how you pray about personal things and ask the Lord for help, and sometimes, He answers you right away? Well, He answered me recently right away. And not how I expected. 

After my battle with breast cancer in 2023, I was overwhelmingly thankful for the healing of the Lord. I am happy to say I am in my second year of remission, with three years to go. I’ve had a few bumps in the road, and treatment certainly left its mark, figuratively and literally. Lately, I’ve struggled with pain from the scar tissue from surgery and radiation, as well as some fluid and swelling from the loss of my lymph nodes under my right arm. I was praying on a particular Wednesday. I was asking the Lord sincerely for help with not feeling well, the pain, swelling, and fluid. “Oh Father! Please, help me. Please touch this. Please fix it.” 

Clear as a bell in my soul - it was impressed upon me - “I will touch and help it when you help yourself.” 

Well.  That was humbling. And in my heart, I very sheepishly and quietly said, “Yes, Sir.” I knew what that meant. Change some things. Change your lifestyle. Eat better. Get that inflammation down. Be wise about it. 

Sometimes I have prayed knowing that there wasn’t a thing in the world I could do about it except throw myself on the mercies of a Sovereign God. But other times, like last week, He lets me know- He will when I will. I have to be willing to do what I can and then trust Him with the rest. If you are not careful after going through dark valleys and in helpless places, you will go there again in your mind, even in times when you are not completely helpless. You always need His help. But growing in grace means there are times when He expects you to help yourself. Then He enables you to do it. How often have I asked Him to “fix it” and He says - “You fix it, then I will fix it”?

Prayer changes things, whether it be the situation we are praying about or us in the situation, or both. 

I cut out the sugar and junk food. (No judgment! I love it too. I just knew what I needed to do.) I immediately dropped 7 lbs of fluid in five days. The pain has been significantly better. Sometimes, when we need Him to move on our behalf, He expects us to make the first move.