” So have I seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and glory. Because Your favor is better than life, my lips will praise You” (Psalm 63: 2, 3).

On April 24, 2025, as I was returning home after my first mammogram, I began praying and worshiping God to the song “Yahweh Will Manifest.” This song deepened my desire to know Him through all His names revealed in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In the midst of that beautiful worship, I heard God’s words: “Because you speak and believe in the power of My name, I will be your Yahweh Rapha—the God who heals you.” I thought I must have misheard. I was fine, I told myself. This was just a routine screening, a responsibility to check off my mind”.

But then I heard it again… I will be your Rapha. In that moment, I began to pray earnestly: if there is any illness, any disease in my body, please Lord, be my Healer. Little did I know that all my thanksgiving and praise would prepare me for the most devastating news: “Mrs. Greab, you must return to our office immediately. You are suspected of having aggressive breast cancer.” That was the beginning of a deeper journey of knowing my God—by all His names, or rather, the titles He revealed throughout Scripture.

When Adi, my husband, gave me the book “Praying the Names of God” that unforgettable weekend after returning home from a three-day work trip, I was so tempted to skip ahead to my chapter of interest—Chapter 8: Yahweh Rapha—God is my Healer. In both my mind and body, healing was exactly what I desperately needed. But I told myself no. It wouldn’t be fair. I would begin at the beginning like a diligent student, not skipping any chapters, even if my heart longed for something different. I would start from the very first page.

I would return to Genesis to discover more about the Creator God—Yahweh Elohim. Traveling back thousands of years in time, I felt like a witness to all that God was creating—from His vast palette painting the skies, bringing forth light, shaping trees and abundant vegetation, forming animals of every kind, and finally crafting His masterpiece: humankind. The One who counts the stars and calls each by name, who covers the heavens with clouds, prepares the rain for the earth, and makes grass grow on the mountains. This Elohim—God above all gods, the greatest and the only true One—I longed to behold and spend time with.

They say a God you can know is not truly God. I understand that with our finite minds, we can only grasp parts of Him, but I firmly believe He made Himself known to us through His Son, Jesus. Not through arguments or philosophical reasoning, but through His revelation—both general and specific—and through empirical evidence: one kneeling in worship, prayer, and living authentically as He did. J.I. Packer said, “Theology can describe God’s attributes, but faith involves relationship and obedience as well.”

This is exactly what I sought when I looked deeper into the One who sustains my very life, now known to me under the harsh diagnosis of cancer. Otilia’s God—personal, majestic, powerful, beautiful, and yes, a Good Good Father. On that day, on my bedroom carpet, I gave Him my life once again—literally. Spiritually, I was born again at 13, and over the years, I have come to know Him more deeply. I told Him how afraid I was of death, but His peace transformed my panic into songs of surrender.

Do you want my life, Lord Jesus? You know how deeply I cherish it, yet I surrender it to You if that is Your will. The words of Gladys Staines, the missionary whose husband and two children were killed by an angry mob in India, resonate within me. I don’t want You to take my life—I want to offer it willingly. How can I fear Heaven and the glory that surrounds You? How can I hesitate to enter the presence of the One I have praised all my life? To stand beside the One to whom I have prayed since I was six years old?

Acknowledging God’s sovereignty and Lordship over my life and every circumstance surrounding my diagnosis and the treatments to come was pivotal to me. It was the podium from which I relinquished all to Him and my posture was changed into complete dependence and joyous surrender to His will. The freedom I have experienced after those days when I enjoyed Him for just being God, my God – cannot be weighted.This transformed my prayer life, deepened my trust, and strengthened my childlike faith.

I’m not sure where you stand as your life story unfolds. I don’t know which aspect of our mighty God you need to encounter for comfort. You may feel drawn to the God who sees, the God who provides, or the God who heals. But I encourage you to begin at the very beginning—with Genesis, with the sovereignty of our Creator. When you fully embrace His majestic plan for creation, you will learn to trust Him with your plans, your illness, your financial struggles, and your loneliness.

Psalm 147 comforted me like no other, drawing me into the presence of a Sovereign God who has ordained the length of my days and continually invites me to trust Him. With unwavering confidence, I can say—the God who holds the winds in His hands, sends snow like wool, scatters frost like ashes, and sends His word to melt them is more than able to sustain you, set limit to your suffering, and bring redemption to your brokenness. I encourage you to remain there, at the very beginning, on the first page, until you see Him, until you behold His power and glory. That revelation, that undeserved favor, is better than life itself.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me”.  (John 15:4)