How Raffaela Serio Got Healed From Sacoma Cancer of The Breast: Exploring 3 important factors that led to her healing.
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Faith in action |
On a cold winter morning in 1925 in a schoolyard in
Scranton, Pennsylvania, a group of rosy-cheeked children laughed gleefully as they
chased each other around the tall oak tree.
Little girls giggled on the swing
set as they swung higher and higher. Suddenly, one little girl fell to the
ground, crying as she clutched at her chest.
Apparently, she had injured
herself, but even as she wiped her tears, the adults who were supervising were
not concerned.
Nine-year-old Raffaela Serio continued to have pain near the
“invisible” injury on her chest. Her parents were concerned, so they took her
to see one doctor and then another.
It appeared she had just bruised the area
near her left breast, but as the pain increased, a small lump formed and then
grew to the size of an orange.
Raffaela’s parents called on a friend who was a
pediatric specialist trained at Johns Hopkins University. After administering
several difficult tests, the doctor gravely pronounced the diagnosis.
Little
Raffaela Serio had sarcoma cancer of the left breast.
The grieving parents watched as their precious
daughter lost weight rapidly. The specialist determined that the cancer was
rooted too deeply for surgery and said he could do little for the pain.
There
was also an open, seeping sore, but since not much was known about cancer at
the time, the doctor prescribed a special brown salve to be applied on the
affected area each day, which would then be wrapped with clean bandages.
Although they tried to be hopeful, Raffaela’s doctors saw slim chance for a
recovery.
After months of ineffective treatment and worry, the
Serios invited Raffaela’s doctor to join them for dinner one Sunday afternoon.
As they quietly conversed around the table, the doctor looked with mournful
eyes at the sick little girl he had been unable to help.
Turning to her mother,
he made an unusual statement for a physician: “There is a man holding some kind
of special meetings in a large tent in Scranton. He prays, and people get
well.” “Doctor, really, you must be kidding!” the Serios responded. “No, I’m
not joking. I mean it. I had a patient with a very large goiter who has been
healed.
She said Evangelist F. F. Bosworth prayed for her, and she was
instantly healed.” Mrs. Serio looked at the doctor in amazement, and he continued,
“Why don’t you take dear little Raffaela down there? They may be able to help
her also.”
The Serios drove to Scranton that very evening to
hear F. F. Bosworth preach a sermon on Christ’s salvation and divine healing.
They purchased a copy of Bosworth’s book Christ the Healer, which became a
Christian classic on the power of Christ to heal.
For the next week, the Serios
read large portions of the book aloud to Raffaela so that all three of them
could understand the biblical promise of healing in Christ.
With their faith greatly increased, the family drove
back to the crusade the following Sunday.
During the time of prayer for
healing, F. F. Bosworth stepped toward the little girl standing on the platform
and prayed a beautiful prayer for God’s healing power.
He prayed that God would
heal her and use her as a living monument for His praise and glory. When they
returned home later that night, Mrs. Serio got the salve ready for Raffaela’s
daily treatment.
Raffaela looked at her mother in astonishment. “Why, mother dear, where is your faith? Didn’t
you hear the man say that Jesus healed me? I
don’t need any more bandages. I am healed.” Neither the large lump nor the
swelling from beneath her arm to her collarbone had gone away, but the little
girl had begun to see herself through the eyes of faith.
There was little sleep for Mrs. Serio that night as
she tossed and turned, worrying about her sweet girl.
But the next day, as she
later recounted, “morning dawned and with it came a newness of life for our
darling! She had stepped out into the faith life with Jesus and He had met her.
Oh! the joy and glory of it!”
The morning sunlight revealed that all the
swelling from the collarbone and under the arm was gone! Five days later, the
lump was the size of a hickory nut; shortly after that, it disappeared
completely! “Praise our wonderful, precious Jesus” was the joyous mother’s cry
that summer of 1925 in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Her little girl had
been miraculously healed because a man of God had been faithful to preach complete
salvation in the atonement of Christ-salvation for the mind, body, and spirit.
And God had been faithful to perform His Word.
Story Source:
Gods Generals: The Healing Apostles By Robert Liandon
Image Credit: discoverhealing.com
Image Credit: discoverhealing.com
A SHORT NOTE:
1. SHE PUT HER FAITH TO WORK BY:
a. Holding
unto the word: Raffeala held on to the word of the prophet that prayed for her:
SEE THIS
When they returned home later that night, Mrs. Serio
got the salve ready for Raffaela’s daily treatment. Raffaela looked at her
mother in astonishment. “Why, mother
dear, where is your faith? Didn’t you hear the man say that Jesus healed
me? I don’t need any more bandages. I am
healed.”
LIKEWISE1 Samuel 1: 12-18While Hannah was praying a long time in front of the LORD, Eli was watching her mouth. She was praying silently. Her voice couldn't be heard; only her lips were moving. Eli thought she was drunk. "How long are you going to stay drunk?" Eli asked her. "Get rid of your wine." Hannah responded, "No, sir. I'm not drunk. I'm depressed. I'm pouring out my heart to the LORD. Don't take me to be a good-for-nothing woman. I was praying like this because I've been troubled and tormented." Eli replied, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your request." "May you continue to be kind to me," she said. Then the woman went her way and ate. She was no longer sad.
From the above; Hannah was sad, troubled and was
depressed. However, her countenance changed when “the prophet prayed for her”.
She received the word and she was no longer sad. She couldn’t eat before, and
she ate.
The rest of the story was that she who was barren became
a mother. And that’s the efficacy of holding unto the Word of God and of his
Prophets.
b. Seeing the Unseen through the Eye of Faith:
Even though physically, her sickness did not go with
immediate effect, and the cancer was still there on her body; we see clearly
that, Raffeala wasn’t seeing a goiter that has not been healed, but she is
seeing a cancer that has gone.
She spread widely her eyes of faith and before her
very eyes the cancer diminishes until it was gone.
It is very important for us to see with our eye of
faith in the place of prayer. When we pray to God as touching a situation, we
should learn to receive by seeing that impossibility done away already before
us.
We should always by our eye of faith see the problem getting solved at that
particular point in time.
SEE THIS:Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.Hebrews 11: 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2. YOU PUT GOD FIRST AND LET OTHER THINGS
FOLLOW: The family never gave
consideration to taking her to a faith healer or just anyone but the doctor.
Even when the doctor was helpless they
weren’t conscious of the saving grace of God. Not until the doctor himself
testify to what God can do in their life, if they should considers a faith
healer.
And that’s one of the mistakes we do make when we are passing through
challenges of life.
Instead of putting God first and allowing other things to
follow, we often put other things ahead and when other things failed we then
considers going to God.
It shouldn’t be as Christians; God should always take
the lead and after comes other things.
SEE THIS:
“I have set the Lord always before me; before He is
at my right hand, I will not be shaken”.
Psalm 16:18. We should therefore
learn to put God first in whatever we are passing through.
3. CHOICE OF MESSAGES WE HEAR IN OUR
DISTRESS AT TIMES CAN GO A LONG WAY TO AFFECT OUR FAITH.
SEE THIS:
They purchased a copy of Bosworth’s book Christ the Healer, which became a Christian classic on the power of Christ to heal. For the next week, the Serios read large portions of the book aloud to Raffaela so that all three of them could understand the biblical promise of healing in Christ.
They got their faith increased by studying the right
word and reading the right message.
We should therefore learn to study the Word and
listen to messages that will increase our faith in our times of troubles.
Grace to you.
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