A prayer request for a twelve year old dying from cancer By David Maddox
“Please pray for a twelve year old dying from cancer. Her name is Abby. One of the things that happens when you have cancer is that you are added to Facebook pages restricted to people with cancer. This young woman posted a heart breaking message of death before she could really live. I ask you to pray that she reads my response and that the Holy Spirit moves in her heart such that we will celebrate and spend an eternity together. Here is what I wrote back to her:
“Abby – we are all dying. Some just know when. God made that very real to me when we were invited to join Chuck Colson one Easter to share the Gospel on death row at Angola prison. It was an amazing experience – and as we share we found that we loved those who had committed such horrible crimes and had been sentenced to death – we simply could not accept that their physical death would be the end. Even as Jesus forgave the thief on the cross and brought him into paradise – we wanted all of those on death row to be forgiven and come into God’s Kingdom. Your situation is so much worse for you are so young, but eternity is forever and the free gift of eternal life is held out to you even as it has been to me (also with a cancer that will kill me unless God intervenes somehow through medical or miracle) – and to those on death row. It is simple. We are all sinners (Romans 3:23) – as a result we deserve death (Romans 6:23) – but God would not leave it there so He came as Jesus Christ in the flesh while we were still sinners and died for us (Romans 5:8) – we can do nothing on our own to earn salvation for we are sinners who deserve death (Ephesians 2:8-9) – but we can be saved and spend eternity with the Lord if we make Jesus our Lord (commit to follow Him for however long we have on this earth) and truly believe that He came and died in our place and rose from the death (Romans 10:9-10). The last passage declares that if we make Jesus our Lord and Savior we “will be saved”. That is the Biblical promise. I don’t know you but my hope is that I will have eternity with you to know you and come to love you in that place where there is no pain or sorrow.”
About David Maddox, who himself has cancer – After a legal career in both Texas and Arizona that spanned over 40 years as a civil litigator, God called David to leave his law practice and work full time as Discipleship Director for Time to Revive. That call is really the fruit of decades of prayer for revival and teaching God’s Word, writing discipleship materials and seeking to make disciples. David married Janet Whitehead in 1976 and they minister together from their Phoenix home. God has blessed them with four children and thus far seven grandchildren.
