Answered Prayer

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© 2012 by Mary-Ann Coetzee. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/26/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-2751-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-2750-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-2752-7 (e)

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No testimony, statement or part of this book is intended to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat or prevent any disease or take the place of a physician. This information has not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The testimonials and statements cannot be construed as representing results everybody can achieve.

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Chapter 1

The Miracle of Life

Chapter 2

Choices That Change Your Life

The Beginning of My Journey

The Great Fall

Taking Back What Is Mine

Chapter 3

Diagnosed With Lupus

What Is Lupus?

What Causes Lupus?

Emotional Overload

The Hereditary Factor

Destructive Lifestyle

Chapter 4

The Wolf Within

Types of Lupus

The Enemy Within

Skin Deep

The Enemy Without

Risks to a Newborn

Chapter 5

Finding and Taming the Wolf Within

Taming the Wolf Within

Other Options

Commodity of Trade

Chapter 6

An Answered Prayer

The Power of Emotions

Praise Your Accomplishments Each Day

Chapter 7

Healing Supplements

ConcenTrace Minerals & Trace Elements

Flaxseed Oil

ArthroFlex Forté (Joint Formulation)

Coral Calcium

AIM BarleyLife

AIM Herbal Fiberblend

Good Bacteria

Chapter 8

I Walk by Faith and Not by Sight

God Prepares Me for My Journey

My First Dream

The Visit to the Physiotherapist

My Second Dream

The Start of My Journey

Admitted into the Hospital and the Shocking News

My Whispered Prayer to God

God’s Answer and Promise

God Started to Heal My Broken Heart First

God’s Intervention

God Helped Me to Forgive So That I Could Receive Forgiveness Before He Acted

The Miracle of God’s Touch

Chapter 9

God’s Reassurance

The Lord Tying Many Couples with a Knot

Some Marriages Coming Apart at the Seams Weaved into Strong Knots

The Shadow of Death Replaced by the Shadow of the Almighty

Dwelling in the Secret Place

Definition of Marriage

References

I almost gave in

I almost lost

This day almost got to me

Into the air my hands I tossed

Almost walked away

Almost cried

Almost threw caution into the wind

Happiness for myself

I almost denied

Almost…

Then…

I felt a brush of love against my face

Wings wrapped around me in a warm embrace

I heard a whisper into my ear

Don’t you ever give up, I’m right here

Pravsworld.com

FOREWORD

This book is about how prayer changed a girl’s life. I was recovering at home from jaundice when I started writing this book. I had an unexplained desire to write it. While I was sitting in traffic the next day on my way to work, I was listening to Joyce Meyer on the radio. She said that we should come boldly to God’s throne. I decided to give it a try and prayed, Our heavenly Father, I don’t understand why I have such a desire to write this book, but please confirm if it is Your will for me to write this book in a way that I would be sure, and may Your will be done in each and every person’s life that reads this book.

It was a Thursday morning that I prayed the prayer. That Sunday while we were in church, something remarkable happened. The church was full, and while Pastor Dawie Greyling was preaching up a storm, he raised his hand and pointed right at me and said, God said He will bless your book. His human element came in and he realized what he had just said. He looked at me and said, And you are writing a book, aren’t you?

I replied, Yes, I am, and not even my husband knew about it.

There is no sin or circumstance that is beyond God’s grace. When we are at the end of our road, God opens a way for us. May this book be a blessing to you, and may you find your miracle.

This book is about prayer that God in His great unconditional love answered that changed the destiny of a young girl from despair to one filled with hope. Through this book one can see that God is still a God who answers prayer.

This book is ideal for the person who is looking for proof that God exists.

The book is written in a story format that incorporates medical facts about lupus. These factual chapters about lupus and its treatment plan informs the reader about how fierce this disease (the wolf) truly is and what great mercy God showed me when He answered my prayer and showed me how to beat lupus while healing me emotionally and spiritually. God was showing me how to beat disease and how to prevent diseases from developing.

Dr. Daniel J. Wallace said, Medical students are often told, ‘Know Lupus and you know medicine and Lupus is the paradigm of autoimmunity.’ He believes "understanding the immunology of Lupus will help better understand

AIDS, infections in general, allergies and cancer." The Lupus Book

This book is for any person who wonders if God still answers prayers, any person who has been a victim of domestic violence, any person who has been raped, any person who suffers from a disease—specifically cancer and autoimmune diseases such as lupus—any person who struggles to forgive, any person whose parents are alcoholics, and any person who fears marriage. All of these circumstances and their consequences are in the book, and I experienced all of them. The book is also for the person who wants to know God better. The conversations I had with God while on my deathbed are in chapter 8. Chapters 6 and 7 proclaim God’s great wisdom when He showed me how to beat a disease as fierce as lupus. In chapter 9, God addresses my fear of marriage through an untraceable fax that contained God’s promise. This book is for the person who wants evidence that God does exist. A number of different prayers are answered in this book. Perhaps the most important one came in the form of the wisdom needed to beat an incurable disease such as lupus. This book also educates its reader about what lupus is, its symptoms, and its treatment. The book is written in a story format and follows the logical flow of events throughout my life. Bible verses are quoted out of The Good News Bible in Today’s English Version (TEV).

A special thank you goes to my husband and sweetheart for all the love and support that he has shown me throughout the writing of this book.

CHAPTER 1

THE MIRACLE OF LIFE

What if your life is a miracle? Perhaps you have not noticed it because you never stop to look, until something forces you to.

I was twenty-four years old when I was diagnosed with the life-threatening illness known as systemic lupus erythmatosus—SLE, or lupus. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease where your own immune system attacks your body. My disease activity was one of the worst cases that my specialist physician saw in five years. Multiple organs and functions, some of them vital, had already been affected by the time I got a diagnosis. My case looked pretty hopeless, and I was being scheduled for some intrusive tests, some of which I had never heard of. I was told that I would have to take medication that would poison my body, but self-poisoning was the only option available.

As I left the doctor’s rooms, I noticed that it was a warm summer evening, with an occasional light breeze—a perfect evening. Nature seemed to be in perfect peace and harmony, but how could I be? Nature was at peace, but I was in turmoil after hearing that my own body had launched an attack on itself. Can you imagine what thoughts went through my mind about what was happening inside my body? How horrified and uncertain I was about the future that awaited me. There was a raging war within my body, but it did not stop there; my thoughts were also tormenting my soul. A war I could not control or end was inside of me while nature was at peace—the kind of peace we all should be experiencing in our souls.

It reminded me of how unfair life sometimes can be. Most of my life I have watched other people enjoy the kind of life I wanted for myself. As soon as I finally started to enjoy that life, something came to take it away. I felt incredibly sorry for myself. This was not the first time life had thrown me a curveball, but this curveball was something that would one day change my life for the good.

I would like to share my miracle with you, and by doing so, I hope I can help you see or find yours.

My mother told me that she was bumped by a car as a young girl. Her lifeless body was lying in the tar-covered road while her father, in shock, reached out to his daughter. He picked her up slowly and held her against his chest, just as every father should hold each child in his arms daily. He held her gently, afraid of hurting her fragile little body. He could not feel a pulse or a breath of air coming from her perfectly shaped lips. But he dismissed any thought that she was no longer with him and that this day was the last he could tell her how much he loved and valued her.

The paramedics arrived on the scene much sooner than he expected. They examined her body thoroughly. Tears started forming in one gentleman’s eyes as he was examining her. Her father couldn’t help but notice it since his eyes were locked on each and every facial expression in hopes of seeing an indication that what he felt in his heart was true. The man looked away from her father as he reminded himself to have courage, for such tragedies were part of his job. With great compassion he looked at my mother’s father and gently said to him, Sorry, sir. Your daughter is no longer alive—something no parent ever wants to hear. Sorrow that cannot be expressed entered his heart, and in his inner turmoil he reached out to his daughter once again with much greater speed and force than before.

He held her in his arms tightly, his head bowed. Great sorrow and despair filled his heart. He started rocking her lifeless body back and forth. In his state of helplessness he looked up to the heavens and remembered that a God he had forgotten about and chosen not to serve was still full of compassion and mercy for the human race. He did not always believe it, because of all the injustice, pain, and loss he had endured on this merciless earth.

For the first time in a long time, he felt the need to pray to God. He had no words, and his mouth could not move because his soul was enchained by a great sadness. He kept on thinking, Please, God, be merciful to me and give my daughter back to me. He held her body even tighter and continued rocking back and forth as he repeated these thoughts over and over again in his head: an unspoken prayer. Faith entered his heart and he looked straight at the gentleman with unshakable faith and said, She is not dead! Moments after that, blood started gushing out of her mouth, and she slowly started opening her eyes and looked straight at her father. Joy overcame him, and he shouted while looking around at the crowd, She is alive, she is alive! The paramedics gazed at her in amazement, and her father’s joy could be seen by all the spectators. The paramedic immediately knelt down and gently removed her from her father’s arms. He started to examine her. Her father knew that his prayer was answered as he sat down next to her. His eyes was locked on her every movement as he gazed at her in amazement. In his heart he just knew she would be fine, and the great sadness was dismissed and replaced with gratitude.

My mother told me that her father’s faith brought her back to life.

After my mother’s encounter with death at the tender age of twelve, she had a strange desire to one day have a daughter—a desire she could not explain since she did not even know how children were conceived at the age of twelve during the 1970s. My mom just had a sense of certainty that this was part of her destiny. It was joined by another desire, equally strong, that conflicted with the first. She wanted to become a nun, with a daughter. She desired to become a person who made a difference in this world.

Your birth was predetermined before your parents ever met. You are not a mistake. Everything about you was determined before you were conceived in your mother’s womb by your Creator: your hair color, the shape of your nose, your mouth, your eye color. You were created to be prosperous and fruitful, and your birth brought joy and happiness.

I knew you even before you were conceived. (Jeremiah 1:4-5))

I chose you when I planned creation. (Ephesians 1:11-12)

You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book. (Psalm 139:15-16)

I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. (Acts 17:26)

I knit you together in your mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13)The Father’s Love Letter

God knew you and everything about you even before you were born. He knows your strengths and weaknesses and loves you despite your weaknesses. You could never mess up beyond God’s grace.

Both my mother’s parents were orphans raised in a Catholic orphanage. They both shared the intense pain of not having a mother, father, or family. They knew deprivation and what it felt like not to have their needs or desires met. As they grew older, the dream of being adopted started to fade away. They accepted that they would never be part of a normal family. They were very talented in sports and met each other on the sports field. They immediately fell madly in love with each other and got married a few years later. They were just a perfect fit for each other.

They were each other’s best friends, and in each other they found the family they always wanted. They loved their children and grandchildren dearly. They were actively involved in their children and grandchildren’s lives and activities. As their grandchild I could not help but watch how they interacted with each other for hours. They understood each other well and cared deeply for each other. The love they had for each other was something amazing. It made me feel at peace as a child. It was so different from what I saw between my own mother and father. It was as if my mother and father were secretly at war with each other.

My mom was exceptionally beautiful and had a great body. She was offered a number of modeling opportunities, but during the 1970s this was still an industry that was frowned upon. She wanted to become a model and explore the possibilities that it could bring to her life. Her parents, however, were afraid that she would only be exploited and kept her from following this desire in her heart.