Below is update and request for prayer posted on Facebook by Elisheva, Jacob Damkani’s wife, on July 24, 2018. Damkani underwent a dangerous heart surgery in the beginning of July.
Dear friends, shalom
Please forgive me for letting you wait. This time it took me longer to sort all my thoughts and feelings and to put them into words. Jacob didn’t wake up as I, many of us, had hoped, believed.
What can I say?
Did I not have enough faith? Did I not pray according to His will? Did I pray in a wrong way?
I know that the Lords wants our faith, He wants it for Him to act… but I also know that He doesn’t need our faith at all in order to do what He wants to do. He would be very powerless if what He did was limited to our faith. He is bigger than that!
At times I simply don’t know what exactly His will is and honestly, I never pray good enough. I am eternally thankful that He does not limit Himself or punish me because of my incompleteness! So thankful!
Yes, I see many examples in the Bible where faith is the key to miracles, but I also see that the Lord honours small faith, incomplete faith…
Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” Mark 9:24
…the Lord healed this father’s boy!
Yes, I had faith that Jacob would wake up on Tisha beAv. A few times he has almost made it, he almost came out, to the surface (it does look a bit as if he is diving deep and slowly coming up to get his head above the water. And then he stops, just a few millimetres before he is out).
And then, after another big effort of trying hard to wake up he is so exhausted and seems to collect strength again, sleeping deeply…
Was I disappointed? In a way, yes.
Did I lose hope? No!
Am I still believing for a miracle (which becomes bigger and will bring more glory to our Almighty God with every hour that passes and Jacob is still sleeping). Yes, I am!
I know that the Lord is a good God. A merciful God. And I know that He has a perfect plan for our lives. For Jacob’s life, for mine and for all of your lives. That doesn’t change because of a prayer not answered or rather, answered differently.
For a few days already Jacob is stable. His body is becoming stronger, the chest they have opened a few times heals, he overcame that fever; his lungs, his liver, kidneys, heart… they all do their work well. Two weeks ago some doctors said this would not be happening. But God…!
They often allow me to stay longer than only half an hour now, which is great, often it takes quite a while to reach Jacob, his spirit, his soul. I am thankful for those wonderful nurses that do their very best for us. May God bless them richly for everything they do and renew their strength daily, and most important: may He give them faith, saving faith!
So, please, let’s take a deep breath, thank the Lord for who He is, for His love and mercy, for all the good things and miracles He does in our lives, and let’s thank Him for the things we don’t understand (yet), since they also come from His loving heart, let’s gird our loins (that’s one of Jacob’s favourite expressions) for the good fight that continues. We should not and will not question our amazing God in His doing. He knows what He is doing. His thoughts are so much higher than ours.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9
Beloved friends, thank you for holding on to our Almighty God – in full faith and no matter what is happening in our lives,
He is good, all the time!
Much love to you
The text on the picture below is in German… A dear friend has sent it to me today. It is so true…
Why we pray
We don’t pray to inform God –
That would mean He doesn’t know anything.
We don’t pray to motivate God –
That would mean, He doesn’t want.
We don’t pray to activate God –
That would mean He can’t.
Instead we pray
because we need the conversation
with our Father
to lay our will into His will. S. Kettling
