Intercession

Prayer and fasting are the focus of this post. I’ve only called for fasting once before on Amanda’s health journey. Monday, February 16th, is the day I’m asking our friends and faith family to intercede on Amanda’s behalf. A very pointed prayer to wake her kidneys up and stave off a kidney transplant altogether. Not asking that we can handle another transplant, or prayers for me, or anything else. Prayers specifically that her kidney function will be restored and she won’t need a kidney transplant, period. 

Can we handle a kidney tanspalnt? Yes, do we want to? No! I know without a doubt that God can use a kidney transplant for good. We’ve seen Him do so much through our story, and we’ll continue to see Him do even more. However, Amanda has been through enough. She’s had a rough go of it this time around. The past year and a half has been the roughest time in our lives. With what we’ve been through that saying a lot! What I’m asking for is a miracle; I want to pray and fast for God to miraculously, beyond medical understanding, heal Amanda’s kidneys. 

God will heal Amanda’s kidneys in one of three ways: immediately through a miracle, through medicine (a transplant in this case), or eventually in glory. What I’m asking for is number one. As I heard someone say the other day: we’re not paying like Baptists, saying, “If it’s Your will, Lord, please heal,” no, we’re praying like charismatics, “Lord heal!” I’m asking for an assault on heaven on Amanda’s behalf.

If you’re already ready like “sign me up, I’m in,” you have all the info you need. But if you’d like a little more detail, I’ll dive into Amanda’s kidney issue and the fast a bit more.

Amanda was moved from acute kidney failure to end-stage renal failure back in December at the six-month mark from her heart transplant. That means the likelihood of her kidneys waking up is slim, very slim now as time goes on. She is undergoing dialysis three times a week, without fail. Making little to no urine, dialysis is essential for her survival. She is on a daily fluid restriction, and they take around three liters of fluid off with each dialysis session.

Once the diagnosis of end-stage renal failure was made, the kidney transplant team stepped in. Amanda did the extensive workup, but was told she wasn’t healthy enough at first; she needed to gain more strength. She was finally given the OK to be listed for a kidney transplant in January. Then they called with the actual “We’re ready to push the button and officially list you” last week. The caveat was that we were in Texas, and they would only push said button once we were back in Tennessee. Even though we have an insurance package that would fly Amanda via private medical plane once we get the “call,” they are still requiring her to be local.

I originally thought, “Kidneys, we’ve done two hearts, we can handle a kidney!” That was until we went to the kidney transplant orientation. Neither of us realized how long a transplanted kidney last, not nearly as long as we thought. At Vanderbilt, the average is 9 years with a deceased donor kidney and 11 years with a living donor. Also, the average wait time for a kidney is 5-8 years. We were not expecting all of that, and I was doing the math with Amanda’s age and thinking she could need multiple more kidneys, and then the wait on top of each. I was overwhelmed after that orientation. 

The wait for Amanda this time will not be the five-plus years because of a program called the “Safety Net.” Since she had kidney failure and needs a kidney within 365 days of her heart transplant, she will shoot to the top of the list. The team said that with their experience and cases like Amanda’s, they guesstimated a two-month wait time. Yes, that’s not bad, but in the back of my mind, I was thinking about all the subsequent kidney transplants that she will need.

I have been thinking about this for some time. I am believing and calling for a miracle. I had thought about asking for intercessory prayer and fasting before and was going to do so when I came back to Texas, but things changed when Amanda got the approval to come with me. I had been praying and was on the fence about whether I should ask others to fast. On our first Sunday back at our home church, YJ preached on fasting. Coincidence, I think not. I took that as God’s confirmation of what I was about to ask.

Our Nashville home church pastor, Tim, has been preaching a series on signs and wonders, the miracles of Jesus. I believe that there is no difference between now and then. The miracles Jesus performed 2000 years ago, He still does today. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He still performs miracles; He still heals today, just as He did when Jesus walked the earth. We saw a million little miracles throughout Amanda’s second transplant. Heck, we saw a huge one. She has another person’s heart beating in her chest right now. Not only that, she has pieces of her original heart, her first transplanted heart, and now the third heart all beating inside her chest. That is a modern-day miracle in itself. Some secular doctors would say God didn’t have anything to do with that, but I beg to differ. What I’m asking for in this fast and prayer is that God show up and show off, to heal Amanda’s kidneys without medical explanation so that no doctor can claim credit, only Him. So He can get all the glory for it.

For the fast, I’m asking it to happen on Monday, February 16. How long? I’ll let you decide; everyone is different. Some, like Amanda, who are on different medications, can’t fast. If you feel led to fast for a couple of days, go for it. If you feel led to fast until lunch, do that. Maybe you can’t because of health reasons, so just skip your Dr. Pepper, sweet tea that day, or maybe go without our coveted coffee. If you do that, be nice to your spouses, though! 

When I think of intersession, I think of the ones who lowered their friend down for Jesus to heal. Because of their faith, Jesus healed. I’m asking you, our friends of faith, to lower Amanda down to be healed. I’m asking that we assault heaven with pointed prayer that comes from a belief that the God of yesterday, the one we read and study about, is the same of today. I believe in the power of prayer and fasting; I believe that God will listen and respond. I’m not asking that this happen eventually; I’m asking that God show up and show off. That Amanda’s kidneys start working so well that she is perturbed about the amount of time she’s having to pee! That it happens so quickly that I’m annoyed about how many times we’re stopping for her to use the restroom on our way back to Nashville on Wednesday!

I’m lining things up with our home church so that the deacons and elders will come and anoint Amanda with oil and prayer this very prayer over her: that God move in Amanda’s life and heal and restore her kidney function beyond medical reason. When they moved Amanda to end-stage renal failure, they likelyhood of her kidneys recovering was slim. At nearly eight months out from the heart transplant, the chances are even less now. I know a guy, though, one who can do the impossible. One that I didn’t believe in and thought was a made-up fairy tale. One that eventually changed everything for me, though. One that I owe everything to. One that healed 2000 years ago as He walked the earth and is still in the same business today.