How I can still worship God as Healer when my loved one dies

 On January 15th 2024 I posted the following on my Facebook page:

"God answers prayer."

At the time when I posted it, three of my uncles were hospitalized - one was my father's youngest brother, and two were the fathers of my close friends. All three of them were critically ill, and surgery was not an option because of their age or current health challenges. I was praying for them, trusting that God would do a miracle to stabilize them so they could be released from the hospital. All of them are out of the hospital now, but only one is still here on earth.

Reading scripture for Uncle Learie
during his last hospital visit

When I wrote that facebook post, God had not yet answered my prayer for healing for my loved ones. I decided to post it in faith, believing that God could do what the doctors said was impossible. I chose not to wait until He answered my prayer, to acknowledge Him as the God who answers prayer. Because the reality is, even if the answer was "no", He would still have answered my prayer. His characteristic as a Prayer-Answering God does not change regardless of whether He has answered or not, or whether His answer is the one we were desiring.

With Uncle Anton's wife, after a hospital visit to Uncle Anton

One week after my facebook post, Uncle Learie was released from the hospital. It was really a miracle of healing, because there was no medical intervention done to resolve his issue - it was a divine touch from God. I went to visit him the day after he got home, he kept telling me that it would be the last opportunity I would get to the read the Bible for him. However, one month later, he is still here! God is clearly not ready for him as yet.

Uncle Learie is the eldest of the three, batting strong
at 94 years old and not out

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Uncle Anton. After his release from the hospital two weeks later, his condition steadily deteriorated. When I visited him the Sunday before Carnival, his son-in-law told me he didn't think he would be able to make it to the end of the week. On Wednesday I messaged Aunty Cicely to find out how she was coping, and she said she would feel better if she got some starch mangoes. Thankfully I knew just where to get it and the next day I carried it for her. On that day, she confessed that she had accepted that her husband was dying and she was ready to release him, because he was in so much pain. When I realised that earthly healing was not God's will for Uncle Anton, I prayed that his suffering would not be extended. He died two days later.

Funeral arrangements for Uncle Anton

God is sovereign. He is the One who has numbered our days before one of them came into being. As our Creator, He has every right to determine how long we spend on this earth, before we are called home to eternity. It is His right to decide who receives earthly healing, and who does not; we trust His character of goodness that whatever He decides is best, no matter how painful it may be for us. This is why I can still worship God as Healer, even when He chooses not to heal my loved one. I may not agree with His decision or understand why He did it, but I choose to trust Him.

Isaiah 55:8 - “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.