Originally published in Charisma News
Ravi Zacharias asks for prayer as he prepares to undergo emergency spinal repair surgery this Thursday, Feb. 20.
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“Dear Friends, Many of you know that I have struggled with serious back issues for years,” Zacharias tweeted. “Recently the pain has intensified and I have battled several flare-ups. This Thursday I will undergo emergency spinal repair surgery and I ask for your prayers.”
In a full statement posted on the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries website, the renowned apologist says he has had serious back issues and has struggled since having two surgeries.
“The Lord brought comfort and strength and gave me eighteen good years after my first surgery,” he wrote. “But over the last year, I have battled several flare-ups, and after my last trip to the Philippines and Sri Lanka, it’s a miracle I got home on my own two feet. A subsequent CAT scan and MRI showed no option but to go into a surgery immediately. It’s time for a serious repair job that will take me off the road for close to eight weeks. The surgeon has said he will have to remove two of the screws that are loose and anchor my fractured sacrum in two places to the pelvis. That’s in lay language, but I have the best of doctors and surgeons who have loved this ministry and want to see me positioned for the distance. The doctor has described it as an emergency, but he is equally confident of success.”
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Zacharias says he plans to be in recovery until the beginning of April. He offers his gratitude to all his friends and followers who have been praying for him and will continue to do so.
Franklin Graham also took to Twitter to encourage his followers to pray for Zacharias:
“Would you join me in prayer for our friend @RaviZacharias as he undergoes emergency spinal repair surgery tomorrow? I know he & his family would appreciate it.”
Zacharias says he is putting his confidence in God as he recovers from his surgery.
“I thank God for great medical expertise and look forward to a speedy recovery and being on the road again,” he writes. “But for now it’s time to face the pain and the discipline of healing. Ezekiel asks the question, ‘Can these dead bones live?’ The answer is a resounding ‘Yes’ as God breathes new life into them. The Lord has never forsaken me and He is by my side. I am a blessed man. As I recover, I will pray, read, and write.”
