Evangelist Anne Graham Lotz has revealed that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
According to a post on her website, she learned about the diagnosis exactly three years after she discovered her husband unconscious in their pool.
“On the afternoon of August 17, 2015, between 3:00 and 3:30, as you may know, I discovered my husband, Danny, unresponsive in our pool. Two days later he was Home! Three years to the day, on the afternoon of August 17, 2018, at the very same time of day…3:00 to 3:30…I was diagnosed with breast cancer,” she wrote.
Lotz, daughter of the late Billy Graham, thought the “strange ‘coincidence'” of the timing meant her diagnosis was an attack from the enemy – until she realized the date lined up with an even greater event.
“When I realized the strange ‘coincidence’ of the timing, I came to the chilling conclusion that it was an assignment from the enemy,” wrote Lotz on her AnGeL Ministries website.
“But just as that thought was forming, I heard the soft, gentle whisper of the Spirit, reminding me that it was on a Friday, during that very same time…between 3:00 and 3:30 in the afternoon…that God’s Passover Lamb was sacrificed. Jesus died on the very same day of the week, at the very same time of the day, crushing the head of the serpent, forever defeating the devil and death. Praise God! The cross…the blood of God’s Lamb…trumps anything the devil can throw at us or assign to us!” she shared.
Lotz says God is still in control and she believes in the healing power of Jesus’ blood.
“Each day since the diagnosis God has given me promises and encouragement from His Word. God has been…and is…my refuge and strength, an ever-present help in this trouble. Therefore, I will not fear… BUT He also has made it very clear that my healing will be in answer to not just my prayer, but the prayers of others for me,” she explained.
Lotz asks believers everywhere to pray for her.
“Would you pray for me? Pray for God to heal me in whichever way He deems would bring Him the most glory. Healing without surgery, with surgery, with surgery and follow-up treatment, or through the greater miracle of the resurrection,” she wrote.
Lotz added that God is the “Good Shepherd through this Valley of the Shadow” and Jesus will be glorified through this trial.
In requesting the prayers of her many supporters, Lotz cited Amy Carmichael, a famous Irish missionary to India whose “eloquent and moving prayer below has given me words to express my heart’s desire.” The prayer reads:
From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.
From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings;
Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified,
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.
Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God
“Pray for God to heal me in whichever way He deems would bring Him the most glory,” wrote Lotz. “Healing without surgery, with surgery, with surgery and follow-up treatment, or through the greater miracle of the resurrection.”
