Skip to main content

'Blessed': How the Holy Spirit Told Anne Graham Lotz She Had Cancer and Then Turned It into a Ministry Journey

Share This article

In just a few years, Anne Graham Lotz suffered three major traumas. Throughout her ordeals, she relied on a friend who never left her side. And today, she's not just surviving, she's thriving. 

Lotz, a best-selling author exudes the same passion to lead people to Jesus Christ as her legendary father, evangelist Billy Graham.

Through the sorrows of recent years, she has come to rely even more on the comfort of the Holy Spirit. In 2015, her beloved husband, Danny died. A few years later, her father she adored went to heaven at age 99. 

Then in August 2018, Lotz was diagnosed with breast cancer. As CBN News has reported, in the past year, she has undergone surgery, radiation, and finished the last of her chemo infusions last month. 

In her latest book titled Jesus In Me: Experiencing the Holy Spirit as a Constant Companion, Lotz explains in-depth who the Holy Spirit is, and how we can know and lean on him for our every need.  

In an interview with CBN's The 700 Club on Tuesday, Lotz was asked about her health.

"I think it's good," she told host Terry Meeuwsen, "I just finished my last infusion a week ago. So they'll check me every few months, the bloodwork and all that. But I'm just trying to get my strength and stamina back. But God has been so good, Terry. When I look back on the last four years that you just sort of went over, what stands out is not the mourning and the grief and the pain and the suffering. What stands out are the blessings of God. He has blessed me. Poured out blessings through family, friends, the prayers of people. People that you meet in the hospital -- the doctors and nurses."

"It's been like a ministry assignment," Lotz noted. "I've had so many divine appointments." 

Speaking about the Holy Spirit, Lotz reminded viewers that Jesus said in the New Testament's John chapter 14 that he would ask the Father to give us another counselor. In other words, he's the counselor and the Father would give us another one. 

"And the word 'another' means exactly the same as," Lotz explained. "So the Holy Spirit is exactly the same as Jesus. It's its own distinct separate person, but he has the mind, the will, and the emotions -- he's exactly like Jesus, but he lives in us. So in John 16, Jesus said, 'It's better if I go away, because if I go away, then I'll send down the Holy Spirit.'"

"And that just stopped me," Lotz continued. "What could be better than Jesus sitting right there, visibly present. But if then I leave here, then I leave him. But he said the Holy Spirit will be better because it'll be Jesus in me. Never to leave me. Never to forsake me. To be with me 24-7.  And Terry, he has comforted, he has guarded, he has guided. He has given me wisdom and strength and help. And he loves me. He's committed to my well-being he wants the best for me. Wants to see me through until the end of my life so that I'm pleasing to God."

Lotz spoke about how the Holy Spirit ministered to her when she found out she had cancer.

"The day before I was diagnosed, the day I went in for my mammogram, the Holy Spirit let me know," she said. "I don't know how he does that. But I knew when I had my mammogram, I would be diagnosed. So when I went in, I told them that. I said 'You're going to find something.' Then I went to the radiologist and he was so concerned.  He was showing me the cancer on the screen. They were so concerned for me. And they said, 'Mrs. Lotz, are you OK?' and I said, 'I'm fine, I knew this would be.' The little technician took my hands and she prayed blessing and healing over me. It was just dear."

"And then the hard thing was then how to tell my family," Lotz confessed. "About three days later, I felt the Lord showed me exactly how to tell my family. And they were fabulous. I've never been so proud of them because they immediately surrounded me with prayer and love and carried me through."

"I felt like the Lord said from James 5 that you pray for one another so that you would be healed," she continued. "And I felt that an answer to prayers of other people, God would heal me. So I put it would on social media and just let people know what I was going through. And people around the world -- they are still praying for me. And I encourage people not to drop me in prayer because I want to get through this." 

"I felt like this was my next ministry assignment to show people who think when they are diagnosed with cancer or disease or death or divorce that God doesn't love them," Lotz explained. "That he's not blessing them. When actually I felt like he was letting me go through this to show people and to tell people God loves you. Sometimes he let's bad things happen to good people or traumas happen because that's when we look up. That's when we go deeper in our faith and we draw closer to his heart. And looking back, it has been a blessed experience."

Share This article

About The Author

CBN News