My mother tried to deal with her advancing cancer and associated pain with faith. She didn't tell any of us about it; we all thought she was suffering from a digestive issue. We wanted her to go to the doctor but she refused. She traveled several hours to see a preacher who promised that miraculous and spontaneous healing was possible. (I'm not saying it's not- I'm saying even if it is, not everyone gets it, and I don't for a second believe that it's always because they're disobedient or lack faith.) She joined a local church who made similar claims. Who knows how many hours she spent praying, or having others pray over her or lay hands on her? But her pain kept getting worse and worse, until a month before she died when she was unable to make it downstairs and was screaming for my father to kill her. He called the ambulance who took her to the hospital, where she was given morphine and it was discovered (edit: actually not discovered, just revealed to the rest of us) that she had advanced pancreatic cancer that had spread to her liver and lungs. She did not stop praying, though, and she asked her church "friends" to visit her in the hospital and later at home when she was discharged with Hospice (the only way she could get the pain medication she needed to keep from being in unspeakable, unbearable pain). As it became more and more clear that she was not getting that miracle they promised, they became more and more scarce, cast aspersions on her and my father's faith, and finally ended up ignoring my father's phone calls. She was the most faithful and devout person I have ever known, and I resent the implication that she died because she was disobedient or "worldly" because nothing could be further from the truth. It's insulting, untrue, and disgusting.
