The Duffy Family

Prayer Is Powerful



If there is one thing I am confident of in this life it's how powerful prayer is. It is something that allows me the deepest personal interaction with my creator. I am able to talk to him and lay everything out before him knowing he would rather be nowhere else than right there listening to me. When I pray, I have his undivided attention. I am able to be comforted as I cry, elated as I share excitement, thankful for blessings and provisions, angry at "misfortune", sad at loss and the list goes on and on. My Savior knows each of those feelings...he understands me and is there when I celebrate and there when I grieve.


I, along with numerous others, have spent countless hours in prayer for a family that is so very special to me. Abel Tyson is a precious little boy who has lived more than half his life fighting not just cancer, but severe complications resulting from his initial diagnosis and surgery. You have seen his caringbridge link over to the side and many of you have visited it and prayed for this family. Rachel (Abel's mom) has become my closest friend and it breaks my heart to watch my friend...a fellow mom...live day after day in a world I can only imagine and certainly not change for her. Adam and Rachel are amazing and speak volumes to God's grace and sustainment when life is tossing them in so many directions. While I know that they have their own struggles in this journey, my point is that there are people praying for them...very specifically...and those prayers are being heard and answered. While the ultimate request has yet to be answered in the way in which we are asking, God has already answered so many of my prayers for this family that it only spurs me on to keep at it. As I find myself bogged down in a day that seems consumed with frustration for what little Abel is still up against, I cannot make myself doubt that our Lord has something amazing in store. As I find myself questioning his ways, I also find myself searching the scriptures for truth, purpose and comfort to help me move past my frustration and cling to my faith. Faith that no matter what, my God is good. Faith that He will bring everyone through this while continuing to choose to speak of his faithfulness. He has given us the ultimate gift already of eternity with him and while eternity seems so far away from our here and now, I know it is but a breath away. One day there will be none of this pain...nothing but perfection and wholeness in Christ himself.


Abel is having surgery on Monday to correct a subluxation. The doctors will be correcting his hips as basically they have been coming out of their sockets. This is the plainest way I think I can put it. Apparently, this is a common happening in those who are unable to bear weight. Abel has not been in the hospital since they left St. Jude and I'm sure a swarm of emotions are clouding his family's mind as they find themselves about to walk through the doors of a hospital yet again. Please pray for the doctor's steady hand and no complications. Pray that Abel's pain afterwards would be minimal and controllable. He is unable to communicate pain with words so he needs a medical team who is in tune with non verbal communication. Pray for a medical team who listens and is compassionate towards Adam and Rachel. Pray that Satan would not have liberty to invade their minds with doubts and discouragement through this process. Finally, pray for strength (physical, emotional, mental) needed to care for Abel in the weeks ahead as he will be in a spica cast after the surgery. Pray there will be no set backs (as a result of the cast) in the progress Abel had in his previous weeks of intensive therapy.


Prayer is powerful and desired by Christ. Sure he knows what we desire already, but HE desires that we come and lay it all before him because we love him and value that relationship. Prayer is the part of a relationship with Christ that deepens it. He wants us to delight in him. Communication deepens any relationship so it's only to our benefit to engage our Savior.


Mark 11:22-24 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."


James 5:13-16 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.