Prayer: A Source of Grace, Hope, and Healing

By Sandra Lopez

Many have experienced loss and hardships in different ways. Maybe you have not, but as Pastor Brian Warth says, “If you live long enough, you will.” I pray this article encourages your faith as God continues to encourage my family and me.

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“I grew up thinking prayer was more like a punishment.”

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I remember when I was a little girl, my dad would have my siblings and me stand and hold hands to pray before going to bed. My brothers would make funny faces sometimes, and I would laugh. As a punishment for not behaving well, he would make them pray longer and by themselves. Because of this, I grew up thinking prayer was more like a punishment.

At the age of 14, I surrendered my life to Jesus. I fell in love with Him as He filled my heart with joy. The more I knew of Him, the more I wanted to be in His presence. I was planted in a local Spanish-speaking church at a young age until I married my handsome husband, Benny Lopez, at the age of 22. I loved his zeal for Jesus. As a matter of fact, that was the most attractive thing to me. A few years after we were married, we were sent to plant a church in the city of Downey, California — El Camino, Downey. We both loved ministry work.

Prayer helped us to believe. Even though a doctor told my husband he was not able to have children, God — in His miraculous way — gave us three children: Cassandra, Benjamin Joseph, and Rebecca.

In 2013, God connected us with our current local church, Chapel of Change. Since it did not have a Spanish service, we incorporated El Camino into Chapel of Change. We became the Spanish pastors, and consequently we served as associate pastors. My life was in a good place doing ministry with my husband. What we loved the most was loving God and loving His people.

Two months shy of our 30-year wedding anniversary, my heart was broken on April 12, 2022, when I had to drive to the hospital with my daughter Cassandra and witness my husband’s heart functioning at 11%. I would like to believe that somehow God gave me the privilege to usher him to his heavenly home. Do you think it was a coincidence that I was scheduled to preach that exact week? I think not. One of the phrases that Jesus stated on the cross was “into Your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). I counted it as an honor that I was able to say those words to God on Benny’s behalf.

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“What do you do when you feel that your world is falling apart, and when things don’t make sense in your head?”

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Aspects of Prayer

Why is prayer a source of grace, hope, and healing? This is not a teaching in prayer as it is more my experience in prayer. What do you do when you feel that your world is falling apart, and when things don’t make sense in your head?

Benny was an excellent husband, father, teacher, pastor, and friend. Since 2017 I have had an index card with this verse in my wallet: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7–8).

Benny had a strong prayer life. No matter what he was going through, he always prayed in the morning. He was disciplined to also read the Word of God daily. Since we did not have much, we had to depend on prayer throughout our ministry life to be guided as parents and as pastors. He led us through prayer. Now I had to believe in my heart what I had preached for years to others. These aspects of prayer have encouraged me to share:

1. Ask and it will be given to you.

Jesus was giving the sermon on the mountain to His disciples. God already knows what we need. Why ask then? He invited me to ask to witness His grace, hope, and healing.

I said to God, “I do not know how you will carry me and my kids through this devasting loss, Lord,” but You said, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

I just ask You, Lord, to give the strength to live one day at a time.

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“What do I do after I asked God for healing, and healing did not happen as I had anticipated, but healing happened in my husband transitioning to heaven?”

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I was in awe to see how God was giving me what I asked for each day. The first month after my husband’s passing, I did not have the physical energy to get up. However, the Lord had pressed upon my heart to get up and eat, and He would do the rest. Sure enough, He met me where I was. There were days that I did not have the energy to pray, but I asked Pastor Katherine from Dallas to pray with me knowing that I needed help. Her prayers carried me through. That was a strategy that God gave me to lean on when I did not have the energy to pray. What do I do after I asked God for healing, and healing did not happen as I had anticipated, but healing happened in my husband transitioning to heaven? How do I reconcile this in my heart?

In the second aspect of prayer, this is what I received. Jesus said the following to His disciples:

2. Seek and you will find.

Jesus was teaching His disciples how much the Father delighted in them coming to Him.

In the book “Discipleship Ecosystem” by Pastor Denny Wayman, I read about spiritual disciplines: prayer, meditation, submission, service, worship, and study.

These had been my (and my husband’s) daily habits for many years. Now with my husband in heaven, what was I to do? I went back seeking what other men and women of God did when they did not get their way or did not understand their present circumstances. Abraham spent many years childless. Hannah also struggled to have a child. Joseph was thrown in the pit, and Job surprised me when he said, “You have become cruel to me” (Job 30:21 NKJV). These men and women felt the pain in their humanity, but they all came to understand that God was sovereign, and our will has to align with His. His will is “good, pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). This takes me to the third aspect of prayer:

3. Knock and the door will be opened to you.

“Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7b–8).

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“The grace is there if you ask and if you seek it.”

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This is where I had to trust Him, believing that somehow Jesus was going to do what He said He would do. I experienced such a peace since Benny’s funeral. God gave my children and me peace that really surpassed all understanding. I realized there is a grace given to those who need it. That grace is the same grace Daniel experienced in the lion’s den. It is the grace granted to you when you cannot handle life in your own strength. The grace is there if you ask and if you seek it.

God gave me this word: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Who or what is this hope? Jesus. He is my anchor to my soul, safe and secure. When I did zip-lining at a women’s retreat, there was a rope to trust when jumping into the air, and it takes faith in the little rope to hold you. Well, it takes faith that Jesus will hold you when you jump in life, and you are not sure if He will do what you have read He will do.

The good news is that prayer has allowed me to trust in Him and consequently, hope in Him has increased, and healing in my heart has taken place as my local church, Chapel of Change, has loved on us and walked with us. I can say with all honesty and faith that I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but one thing I know for certain is that I am experiencing the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living today. Some people wait until they get to the other side to testify. I want to share as I am going through this valley.

I know my Redeemer lives! I encourage you today. God is there to hold you as you walk this journey called life in prayer.

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“Prayer is a source of grace, hope and healing.”

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Dr. Brad Kelle reminded me in an Aldersgate School of Ministry course that before Jeremiah 29:11, there was Jeremiah 29:10. It is great to know that God has this promise, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (29:11). It is important to note that the process might take some pain like the Israelites felt in Babylon when they were in hardships. Jeremiah 29:10 says, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon…” In other words, the process was 70 years. God shapes and molds us in the process. Prayer is a source of grace, hope and healing. We can’t purchase it. We can’t manufacture it. It is a God-given gift to handle life and to align our will to His.

This is my prayer: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7).

I am thankful for the 33 years God allowed me to have the best partner in life and in ministry. My prayer partner — my husband and pastor, Benny Lopez — modeled to our family a prayer life. Cassandra, Benjamin, and Rebecca — his children — are living his spiritual legacy. God is a good Father.

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the Lopez family in 2021