Hope for Healing

As I prayed about what to write today, I kept being reminded of times when God has answered my prayers for healing. I don't claim to have the gift of healing, but there have been instances when He has healed me or answered my prayers for someone else. My prayer is that someone reading this will be encouraged by my experiences.

The first two came when my kids were small. Kids under 5 seem to throw up a lot when they're sick. I remember praying that my son wouldn't throw up any more during the night, and he didn't. Another time he asked me to pray that he wouldn't throw up anymore that night, and he didn't.

The next time came when one of the moms in my single moms ministry had to go in for a needle biopsy, as they found a few lumps in her breast. She asked for prayer for strength and courage and that it wouldn't hurt. I felt God wanted me to 'dial it up a notch' so I prayed that when the radiologist went in to find them, that he wouldn't be able to, because they were gone. She called me that afternoon, just as I was about to call her, and that's exactly what she said. He couldn't find them because they were gone.

The next time I experienced God's healing, was about 4 years ago. I had been doing sit ups on the floor and heard this pop sound in the back of my neck. I stopped mid-sit up. I wiggled my fingers and toes and everything worked, but for the next year and a half, I had constant, horrible neck and shoulder pain. I went to the doctor repeatedly and asked for an x-ray to see what the problem was. He wouldn't let me. Being the resourceful woman I am, I made an appointment with another doctor in the office when my doctor was out and he offered me an x-ray. It showed I had degenerative disk disease and he sent me for an MRI. It showed I had a vertebrae out of place. I was told not to lift anything over 50 lbs., because I might herniate it. That was hard because as a single mom, homeowner, I did a lot of heavy lifting around the house. One night as I was having my quiet time, I had told God that I wanted to serve Him my whole life, but didn't know how effective I would be with this huge pain in my neck. He asked me if I had ever asked him to heal it. It occurred to me I hadn't, so that night I prayed for healing. During the night I had a dream. I was in an operating room, on my stomach, with my hair pulled up off my neck. The room was slightly lit, doctors and nurses were conversing a short distance from me. I remember thinking in my dream, "I can't believe I had the nerve to go through with this." The though of surgery on my neck made me fearful of a bad move from a doctor leaving me a quadriplegic. As I layed there, I saw a white pearl handled knife float through the air towards me. It caught the light and glistened. As if I was looking down on myself, I saw the knife cut a one inch incision in the place where the pain was. I saw my skin split open. That was all I remembered. The next morning I woke up and headed for the bathroom. Usually in 3 steps I felt the pain in my neck. I started getting ready for work and realized, "Hey, where's that pain in my neck?" I decided to wait 3 days to see if they pain returned before telling anyone. It's never returned.

The last time happened about 2 years ago. I saw what looked like a mole appear on my arm and over the next two or three weeks, it grew in diameter and height. It turned dark and bubbly looking. A coworker told me I should have it looked at. I made an appointment. The next day in the shower I prayed that God would shrink it in size, lighten it, and just dry it up so that it would appear as it had before. I believed that he had healed it and thanked him for it. Within 24 hours it started shrinking in diameter and lightening. It continued to do this each day. When I went for my appointment I told the doctor God was healing it. It completely went away and has not returned.

God is SO good and prayer does work.