ABSTRACT
My personal experiences with the healing benefits of prayer led me to hospital ministry. The most dramatic test of my response to healing prayer occurred in my Junior year as a student at San Francisco Theological Seminary. I agree with Dr. Dossey's premise about testing prayer in one's own life, "People test prayer in their individual lives, and one's life is the most important laboratory of all." Nine years ago, on April 7, 1988, my gynecologist diagnosed me with ovarian cancer. He told me I needed urgent life-saving surgery due to a fast-growing tumor. One week before my surgery, I prepared to die. I shared the bad news of my cancer diagnosis with my friends, family, students, and professors. I prepared a will and wrote goodbye letters to my three daughters. My outlook was grim.
