Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles He performs for people. Psalm 66:5
My friend, Kim, soon pulled in the driveway with a pickup truck and a couple of strong Honduran exchange students to load up the items that would be put on the container bound for Honduras. While the young men loaded the truck, Kim and I went in the house to chat for awhile. It wasn't long before Christopher and his girlfriend, Breanna, joined the conversation.
Map of Honduras |
My mind was still processing the fact that God had instantly healed people of terminal cancer, when Kim said something that got my attention. She told us that when they were done praying at the hospital, she noticed that her hands were red and swollen. She asked Bruce VanNatta if he would pray for her hands. He said he would be happy to, but that there was really nothing medically wrong with her hands. Kim was obviously a little perplexed by his statement. She was curious...why were her hands red and swollen? Bruce then explained to her that her hands were like that because she needed to stop organizing people for prayer and start praying with people for God to heal them. That's when something stirred in me. I had an idea.
I looked at Christopher, and then I looked at Kim. I pointed out that, clearly, we had someone here who needed prayer, and apparently we had someone here who needed to pray for other people. It seemed like a match made in Heaven. Besides, what did we have to lose? If it wasn't God's plan for Christopher to be instantly healed of this infection, then we would make our way to the hospital. It seemed like a no-brainer. Both Kim and Christopher agreed, so right there in the middle of our kitchen we gathered around Christopher.
Kim (bravely...because his stomach was pretty disgusting) put her hands on Christopher's abdomen. She began to pray and ask God to heal the infection that was plaguing Christopher, and as she did Christopher started to fall backwards from the electric shock that suddenly went through his infected stomach. If we hadn't been there to catch him, he would have fallen backwards for sure. Then something very curious but amazing happened. The infection began to (and I know this sounds gross) squirt out of him!
The awful liquid continued to squirt out in fits and spurts for several hours until it was all out. Then we literally watched in awe as the hole began to close before our very eyes. We kept checking it every once in awhile, and by bed time the hole was just about gone!
Christopher had a grin on his face from ear to ear! He could hardly contain his excitement. In fact, he couldn't contain it, so he began to dance around and jump for joy. The peace and absolute happiness that came over him were indescribable. It was a surreal scene to behold.
His "test" is now his "testimony!" |
It was at that very moment that the door finally closed on that whole chapter of our lives. Years and years of chronic illness, hospital stays, surgeries, and tube feedings were now nothing but a terrible distant memory...or were they? Yes, much of what Christopher had gone through was horrible. It was a long, awful, and at times an unbearable test...but look what God had done. He had blessed us with not one but two instant healing miracles, and in so doing, had turned our "test" into a "testimony!" He didn't want us to forget what we had been through. He wanted us to share what He had done. God had proved that He was bigger and more powerful than any of our problems. He had not only given us the grace to endure, but then He blessed us with the mercy of healing.
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can pray something like this:
More tomorrow...
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