Faith Recognized as Healing Power to Chronic Illnesses
ILLINOIS -- Medical studies find that people with strong faith in God better recover from mental illnesses and that faith has positive effect on overall health condition and well-being of people, Agape Press reported.
Percy McCray, the director of the Pastoral Care Department at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Illinois and the founder of VALOR Faith Ministries in Illinois, said he has witnessed how patients with faith could recover faster than the ones without faith. McCray believes people can surpass the physical realities of chronic illness with faith.
"Without the faith factor," McCray said, "many of those people would be long dead and have given up hope because of what medicine and science and its limitations can say to people."
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Recognizing the positive effect of faith, CTCA takes a very faith-centered approach to serving the patients. Unlike other cancer treatment centers, CTCA offers spiritual support and encourage patients to join individual or group prayer sessions that are led by the doctors.
"We lay hands on the sick here. We anoint the sick. We have several doctors here who incorporate their spiritual faith and their practice of medicine,” McCray continued," And probably for the first time in a typical hospital, there is an environment that is created where people can stand and openly talk about their faith in God, in Jesus Christ, [and] the Holy Spirit."
McCray puts much effort in development of faith-based approach to healing by helping patients to overcome emotional, mental distress. He runs a website called AlongSideMinistries.com, that provides resources for the patients on faith and healing.
