Ana Ortiz: Faith with Cancer

Faith that will you give you a miracle. Today on Get the Hell Out of Your Life.

Announcer:
It's time now to Get the Hell Out of Your Life, a weekly broadcast with real people sharing really struggles and offering real hope. Today's show will encourage, inspire, and empower you to face life's challenges with a bold confidence and renewed hope. 

Ron Meyers:
Hello, my friends. So good to be with you. Do you need a miracle? I'm starting right out of the gate with a very truthful, powerful question. Do you need a miracle? What is the one thing in your life now that you wish would change, you pray would change, the thing that is just driving you crazy? 

Friends, today you're going to hear a story. It's one of my favorite stories of all time. Ana, a young lady with so much faith that she is a walking miracle. You don't want to miss it. It's coming up in just a few minutes. 

Last week, I pulled up to Lowe's to get some flowers, making the yard look pretty, and I carry... And I've told you this before through my show. I carry these bracelets with me. One side says, "I believe in Jesus," and the other side says, "I believe in miracles." So when I get out of the car, I say, "All right, Lord, lead me to that one person inside of Lowe's that needs a miracle. 

Well, I go through Lowe's and nothing really stands out. No T-shirts that say, "I need a miracle." So I'm in the self check-out line, and I see a young lady I haven't seen in a long time that works at Lowe's. And I said, "Where in the world have you been? I haven't seen you in a while." And she said, "I need a miracle." Honest to God truth. I said, "You do?" And then I told her the story that I just prayed out of the car, "Lord, lead me to the person that needs a miracle." 

I gave her the bracelet. She just had knee surgery. She's having a hard time with it, and I said, "Well, God wants to give you that miracle." I said a prayer for her, and friends, God is in the miracle business. 

Now, maybe you haven't heard this enough in your church. Maybe you haven't heard it enough or read it enough in your devotionals, but God is really I think sick and tired of hearing sick and tired people not be told the power that they have through his son Jesus Christ. I don't know, can God give sick and tired? I don't know, maybe he does. Maybe he doesn't. 

But there were two words in the Bible, a short scripture verse. It said, "Jesus wept." Jesus wept when he found out Lazarus was dead. Lazarus died. Now Jesus knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, but he still was filled with compassion for the loss of his friend. 

Friends, Jesus wept for Lazarus. Why can't Jesus weep for you because he feels you're hurt, he feels what you need? And he wants to resurrect inside of you. Hope, optimism. He wants to heal you. But you have got to go to a part in your life of total faith and belief that God does still do miracles, that Jesus when he said on the cross, "It is finished," he meant it. He wasn't telling jokes. It was finished. He sent the power of the Holy Spirit into your life, to my life so we can overcome the difficulties in our life. That we can receive the miracles that we seek, that we desperately need.

What kind of testimony would we have if God never answered prayers? We wouldn't have any type of a testimony. In fact, I believe that testimony that God wants to put right now in your life is based on you coming in agreement that you know without a doubt that God wants to give you a miracle.
:
There's a verse in the Bible, I believe it's in the book of Amos. How can two walk together unless they are agreed? In other words, how can you walk with God if you're not in total agreement? If you don't believe in miracles, you don't believe God is going to help you. You don't believe God is going to answer your prayer because of your past or your mistakes or maybe your attitude or maybe just because you think you're a bad person. 

Now God doesn't think that way about you. He loves you. He's crazy about you. After all, that is why he sent his son to this Earth. He wants to give you a total makeover, a total whole entire new life. And if you have come to a relationship with God through his son Jesus Christ, you are a new person. But to understand the blessings and what God has for you, you have to walk in agreement with God. You have to agree the words that Jesus said from the cross, that it is finished. That he's ready to come to your aid and help you in every single situation in your life.

But it takes total commitment, total surrender on your part. You have to be fed up and being fed up and say, "I cannot do this anymore, Lord. I want to walk in agreement. I want to agree with you that you will help me. Lord, I need a miracle. I need a miracle."

Ana:
Hi. My name is Ana. A-N-A. And I'm 24 years old, and I've been fighting cancer most of my life, basically all of my life. And I will never give up.

It all started when I was 18 months old. I had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and then they thought the cancer was gone after giving me massive amounts of chemotherapy, of course, and steroids for years. And then it was told again it came back a second time. By then I was about five. By then, the doctor said there was absolutely no hope. There's nothing that we can do but we can try more chemotherapy on her and steroids and all. Once again, I had years of massive, and I mean massive doses of chemotherapy and steroids.

You would think that it could kill a horse or it'd be enough to kill a horse, but miraculously, I just kept coming through it. And all that caused my parents to completely... I don't know how they survived it. I mean, the bearing of your child going through that. So all that happened, and after those years of chemotherapy and steroids, it caused me to have an infection that went right into my heart. And I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure at the age of about six and a half to seven. 

I was put in a pediatric intensive care unit, PICU, in Tulane over in New Orleans, and I was on a ventilator for about a month. The doctors said, "We're going to try to take her off it. We're just going to see. We're going to see if we can help her. We're doing everything we can to save her." And my mom said, "Now only God can save my daughter." So they just slowly brought me off the ventilator, and miraculously I didn't need a heart transplant and I could breathe on my own. 

But the reason why... I think I know why. When I was like seven, I used to always sing into my heart to Jesus, and I asked Jesus to come into my heart at the age of seven. And in a coma, I remember I saw a man, and I was in an ocean. I could feel in the ocean... It was like a dream, I guess, while I was in a coma. I could barely breathe. I saw a man coming through the ocean, and I said, "Who are you?" And he said, "Ana, everything is going to be just fine. You're not going to die, and you're going to be okay." And I felt this sense of peace and love of God come over me. That was like no other.

I finally graduated from high school, and I was doing great. I went to community college, Jefferson Community College. I love that college, by the way. It is so wonderful. It was so wonderful. I felt something, like something was going to come that I didn't know of. And my daddy was always telling me, "I don't know why, Ana, but I get a feeling God is toughening you up for something that's coming very soon, and I don't know why," he would say. And I got worried, and I'd say, "What do you mean, daddy?" He said, "I don't know. I just keep getting this feeling that a storm's coming, and I don't know why." 

I found out later on 2015 that I was diagnosed stage four rectal cancer at the age of 21, and it was complete chaos, flashback, everything. I had to start more chemotherapy and radiation. They removed my rectum, full hysterectomy, removed 21 lymph nodes. I had a temporary ileostomy bag for a long time, and they just now recently removed the ileostomy bag and created a rectum for me. They removed the cancer, brought down the lower part of my colon to create the rectum. Praise me to God, the cancer was gone. But that took about two years. 

Recently just now, that was cancer the fourth time. Recently just now, one cancer cell was left in there, and right now I'm fighting cancer for the fifth time, stage four cancer. And now it is in my right lung and behind my right pelvis. The doctor say it's just a matter of time before I'm gone. They say, "Even if you take chemotherapy, there's 50% chance you'll make it two years. If you don't take chemotherapy, you will die in less than a month." I'm taking chemotherapy now, and I'm willing to go through that surgery and fight this monster cancer again. 

I don't care what it takes. The answer is you do not give up. It doesn't matter what you're going through. You do not give up, and I'm fighting this. I'll tell you one thing, I was always thinking to myself, I saw these poor, poor families always say that it's best to let their child or friend or family member die because they've suffered so much. That isn't it time for them to stop suffering, let them go be with God because of all the years of them suffering. Then I thought to myself, "How about this, how about in the name of Jesus, I am healed in this body that I am in and that I don't die. And that I have a life here, healthy and happy in this body, in this Earth suit, and have a life here more abundantly in the name of Jesus and stop my suffering here in this body. And me actually have a life, a healthy life in this body. Healed. How about that?"

I'm not giving up. I'm going to fight until the end, and I'm determined no matter how many times cancer is, no matter what it is because it's not final until God says it is and until you say it is too because you are in control of your body. Body does not control you. You control it because greater is he that is in me than is of the world. That's what Jesus said.

I recently felt the love of God come over me whenever I was so angry that I had cancer again, and God literally I felt just a sense of peace. I don't know if it was God. I don't know what it was, but I just knew that I'm going to be okay again. And I see my future as I want to see it. I'm going to create what I want to create. I'm going to be a cartoonist. I'm going to be a cartoonist. I want to get married. I'm going to get married, if I want to. I'm going to do whatever I want to do. I visualize it, and I'm going visualize it and create it because I'm made in the image of God and because I don't give up.

Ana:
Everybody out there who thinks that they have no right to get healed and they think they have no hope, there is hope. There is very much hope. If I did it when I was one years old until now, when I'm 24 now, I'm 24 years old now, they can do it. Everything has caused me to have chronic, constant pain everywhere. At times, my doctors have to manage my pain for me. 

Ana:
I'm telling you, everybody, I'm talking to you everybody who has cancer out there. You can do it. Do not give up. You can have a life here and have it more abundantly in the name of Jesus. Do not give up. It's not final until God says it is, and God loves you. And I'll tell you two things that are true. Life isn't fair, but God is always good. 

Ana:
Then right before I was diagnosed with cancer, I lost my daddy in 2015. He died suddenly on me, and there's nothing I could do about it. I just screamed and cried, "Daddy, wake up," and shaking him. He wouldn't wake up. I had to literally see... He is my heart. My daddy is my heart. My parents are my heart. I had to see my heart buried six feet under the ground. And on top of that, I'm going to fight cancer [inaudible 00:15:01]. So if I can do that, I know all of you people can too. You can do it. You all can do it. 

Ron Meyers:
That was almost three years ago that Ana shared her story with me. Today, she is still going strong. 

Speaker 4:
At age 24, Dwayne Allen's life was drugs, motorcycles and wild living.

Dwayne Allen:
I was at a topless bar one night, and here I am face-to-face with a topless dancer and she is on drugs. She's out of her mind. She looks me in the face and I look her in the face, and it's someone that I have gone to high school with. And I was paying for her to be there. That was the bottom end for me because I knew there had to be more than what I had ever experienced.

Speaker 4:
In a desperate move to find peace, Dwayne Allen landed in church.

Dwayne Allen:
They said, "If you want to know the prince of peace, then would you come down front because he's here to meet you?" And I went down front, and the prince of peace came to live in my heart, and my old drug buddies would call. I would tell them that I had found the answer. When I told them it was Jesus, they would just with great shock in their voice say, "I can't believe you became religious." I would begin to tell them, "Oh no, I'm not religious. I'm a free man. I'm no longer hurt. I've met the prince."

Speaker 4:
And he's been following Jesus Christ ever since. Dwayne Allen is now a church pastor in Colorado.

Ron Meyers:
I'll never forget I was 11 years old, I thought my life was worthless. I wanted to end it. Now I needed a miracle, but I did not know I needed a miracle. In that moment of desperation, the still quiet voice came into me and said, "Don't hurt yourself. I have a destiny, a plan for you." 

Ron Meyers:
Friends, many times over the years... In fact, if you really start looking over your life how many times were you in the right place at the right time, the right phone call? Things just fell into place. Perhaps at the time, they didn't make sense, but as time goes on, you look back and you say, "My God, it was God that intervened in my life."

Ron Meyers:
Today's show was all about helping you get to the level of faith to have that miracle in your life. I don't care what you've gone through. I don't care what people have told you. I don't care what you even believe because today it's a new time to believe. You must be in agreement with God, with Jesus that he wants to give you a miracle. I don't care if it's healing, if it's financial, if it's for a job, whatever it is that is giving you hell in your life and turmoil and tossing and turning and uncertainty and indecision, that is not of God. That is a confusion that comes into all of us, every one of us in our life go through doubt, despair, that dry desert of thirsting for something but we really don't know what we're thirsting for. And God is saying, "You need a miracle. You need the power of my spirit to come within you." And I'm here to tell you today that you will receive your miracle.

Ron Meyers:
I have to believe that, friends. I mean, my whole entire destiny, my whole purpose, the whole reason I am here, the whole reason that I am breathing oxygen and heart is beating is to tell you to never give up, never give in, that God loves you and has a plan for you. And he has a miracle for you. We will stand in agreement, and I'm going to pray in just a few minutes. And we are just going to bleed for victory in your life. 

Ron Meyers:
When my dad had surgery, emergency surgery for a subdermal hematoma, after the intensive care and the little remedial care, he was to be transferred into a nursing home. Now there was a certain nursing home that I wanted him to go into, and when I told this to the social worker, she said, "Okay. I'll check into that." Well, she came back to me and said, "I'm sorry, but the place is full." I said, "Well, I've got to go to lunch and we'll talk after lunch." I'll never forget, I left the hospital. I left the social worker's office, and I did... I said, "Lord, I do need a miracle. You've got to do something. My dad has to get in this nursing home. It's the best one that I've seen here on the coast. It's very close to my offices. Lord, I need you to intervene." 

Ron Meyers:
45 minutes later I received a call from the social worker. She said, "Boy, Ron, I need to tell you that the nursing home called back and an opening is now there. Your dad can go there." Well, I didn't go into much detail with her, but I knew that I serve a God that is concerned about me, a God that's concerned about you, and he knows our heart. He knows those things that trouble us. All he is waiting for is us to walk in agreement and say, "It's yours, God. This is yours. I cannot do this alone. Here's the white flag of surrender. Let today be the day that you set me free in my belief that you are a God of miracles. You're the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow." 

Ron Meyers:
Friends, it's time for you and I and all believers to have a level of faith that when we unleash Jesus, when we unleash the power that's within us, it will automatically cause miracles. It will cause the Red Sea of doubt and despair and unbelief to part so the moving ways of God can enter our life and refill us, re-energize us, renew us, and redeem us.

Ron Meyers:
Friends, we serve of God, a big God, and it's time for all of us to take God out of the box and put God front and center in our lives and show the world that when we unleash Jesus, the power that we have within us, that we will become victors. We are not victims.

Ron Meyers:
There was a time that I was at a health club, and Biloxi, it was E-Fitness. I was in the swimming pool when it started lightning and thundering. And they came and blew the whistle and said, "Listen, everybody has to get out of the pool." And I said, "Why?" And they said, "Well, it's lightning." And I said, "Well, it's okay. I'm in the pool. We'll be safe." And the lifeguard looked at me kind of strange, and said, "What's that supposed to mean?" And I said, "Well, I have God's favor on me. We're going to be okay." She said, "Well, even so, you got to get out of the pool."

Ron Meyers:
The point is it's a mindset. I know whose I am. I know that he loves me and is a protecting me. Friends, we have to change our belief system. We have to change our mind system. We have to believe with all our heart, mind, and soul that God is for us, not against us. That God wants to give us a miracle. He wants to heal us. He wants to bless us in all the ways that we need to to accomplish the destiny that he has put in us before we were ever even in our mother's womb.

Ron Meyers:
This is your time. This is my time. This is the time for believers to stand up and push back the forces of darkness that are trying to tell us that we're sick, we're beat, we're defeated, that we're of no use. We're troublemakers. No. We read the end of the Bible. We know at the end we win. But in the meantime, we're going to go through a little bit of dry desert and a little bit of turmoil. But we're going to call upon the name of the Lord, and we are going to scatter the darkness that wants to come in.

Ron Meyers:
Friends, I'm ready to charge Hell with a water pistol. I'm tired of seeing people defeated, tired, and wondering if this is the end for them. 

Ron Meyers:
I just lost one of my exhibitors that has been in Christmas City with me for over 35 years. Dropped dead Sunday of a massive heart attack. Devastating to the family and to the grandkids. No warning. It just ended. 

Ron Meyers:
Friends, your life, my life, one day our heart is going to stop. You and I are only a heartbeat away from eternity. It is time for you and I to get our house in order, to understand that this is the real McCoy. This is not a dry rehearsal. When we leave this world, it's final. And where are we going to go? We that believe in Jesus Christ, we're going to live with him, our family members forever, for eternity. So if you are not a member of the family of God, it's your chance right this very minute.

Ron Meyers:
Let's go to God right now in prayer. I want you to think about that one thing in your life that you are praying for, you're desperate for. The one thing that you need God to change in your life, to turn it into good, to give you the healing, the miracle, the financial blessing, the job, the relationship, whatever it is. I want you to bring that now to the forefront of your mind. 

Ron Meyers:
Heavenly father, we come to you now in the name of Jesus. Lord, you know what the listener needs. You know what they have in their heart. You know the trouble they're going through. You know the uncertainty that they have in their life. And you know the worry that they carry with them. So we come to you now in the name of Jesus Christ, and we bind the spirit of fear because you have not given us the spirit of fear but of power, love, and sound mind. We release the power of your Holy Spirit into our lives. Lord, fill us, encourage us, inspire us, empower us. Lord, renew us, refresh us. Re-energize us, Lord. We need and believe that we will receive a miracle from you. We walk in agreement with your promises. Your promises are yes and amen. Thank you so much for loving each and every one of us. Thank you for the forgiveness. Thank you for a new life, a new destiny. Amen, in Jesus name. 

Ron Meyers:
And if you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, just say this:

Ron Meyers:
Dear Jesus, come into my life. Forgive my mistakes, my sins in my life. Give me a new heart. I commit my life to you.

Ron Meyers:
Friends, that's the day of a new day, a new beginning, a destiny that will begin to appear into your life, and a hunger to pursue God and to live in a life of just awesomeness. I know. I've been there. I am there. And I'm here to promote the goodness of God that wants to come upon you. 

Ron Meyers:
Now go make it a great week, and remember, expect and believe that you are going to get your miracle from God.

Speaker 2:
Today's show was produced by Ron Meyers Ministries. A listener supported ministry. For a copy of today's broadcast, please visit our website thepromoter.org. And would you prayerfully consider making a tax deductible donation so that we may continue to share stories of God's amazing grace with the world? And join us next week for another broadcast of Get the Hell Out of Your Life. Real people sharing real struggles and offering real hope.