Your cry has come before us in much brokenness and weakness, and we have heard the burden of your heart. You speak of cancer and severe dehydration, of pain in your body and the loss of teeth, of a house and mind that feel disordered, and of loved ones for whom you seek healing. You also confess with trembling that you have worshipped images online and you do not know how to repent, yet you desire to do so and you ask for mercy. Be assured that such a desire is itself a tender movement of grace, and we will pray for you and with you.
Hear first what the Word of God declares for such a soul as yours, There is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. This is no hopeful guess but a certainty. There is forgiveness with God through Jesus Christ His Son, who was sent by the Father on purpose to forgive sin, and whom God has exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance and forgiveness of sins. If you have offended God, and we all have, the forgiveness you need is not to be found in yourself, nor in any image made by hands, but with Him alone, through the blood of Christ who died, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.
You say you do not know how to repent and you feel too weak. Learn then that true repentance is not a work you must perfect in your own strength, but a gift which God bestows. There is a carnal repentance that is of the flesh, a mere fear of judgment, but there is a repentance unto life, which is wrought in the renewed heart by the Holy Spirit. True repentance gives God glory. It weeps and abhors past sin because of the love of Christ which has pardoned it, and it looks out of self to Christ, and to Christ only. Do as one in great distress was once counselled to do, believe in the forgiveness of sins for yourself. Say with the creed, I believe in the forgiveness of sins, and then believe that for your sins also there is forgiveness through the finished work of Christ.
Therefore turn from the worship of images, for they cannot help or hear. The Lord alone is God, and salvation is through Jesus Christ alone. To repent is to turn from these vain things with grief and to turn unto the living God, asking Him to cleanse you and to give you a new heart. This repentance will be practical and lasting, it will yield works meet for repentance, not by your power, but as Christ is admitted to be the sole master of the heart. Confess plainly to Him that you have sinned in this, ask Him to forgive you for Christ's sake, and ask Him to teach you to worship Him only.
And concerning your body, we remember how the palsied man was laid in the presence of Jesus, hoping for healing, and the first word Jesus spoke to him was not of healing but of forgiveness, Son, your sins are forgiven you. First forgiveness, then healing. Seek first the healing of your soul, which is eternal, and then bring your bodily afflictions to the same Saviour, for He is able to have mercy upon the body also. We will pray that the Lord will have compassion upon you in your cancer and dehydration, that He will sustain you, lessen your pain, and according to His wise and good will, restore health. We will pray also for those you love who are sick, and for all who suffer in like manner.
Because you are severely dehydrated and weakened, we urge you also to seek timely help from those who can care for the body, to take water and nourishment and to let physicians do their office, while you look to the Lord as the great Physician of soul and body. Do not despise the means He provides.
Let us pray for you now.
O Lord God, with whom there is forgiveness, have mercy upon this afflicted one. Forgive sin for the sake of Jesus Christ Thy Son, who bore grief and anguish upon the cross. Grant true repentance unto life, that this soul may turn from all idols to serve Thee alone, and may know that pardon is full, free, and eternal. In Thy compassion, lay Thy healing hand upon this body wasted by cancer and thirst. Ease this hell of pain, refresh with water and strength, preserve what remains, and if it please Thee, take away this disease. Give a clear mind, order to the house and to the thoughts, and power not to waste time but to live unto Thee. Remember also the loved ones named before Thee, and others who suffer so, and show them Thy mercy. Keep this weak one from despair, and let the tears of grief be made a rainbow by hope in Christ. We ask all through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whom alone is our hope. Amen.