Post by MIRIAM JACOB on Apr 5, 2012 12:54:23 GMT -5
TESTIMONIES TO GOD'S HEALING
I decided I would tell my Christian friends about testimonies to God's healing that two of our Lent group gave us on Wednesday April 4th - the final day of our Lent course. They were quite "off the cuff" and not prepared- just happened as they felt moved to share.
Ours is a solid Bible based church- not charismatic (though a few members are) We are also joined at our Lent meetings by some people from other Christian denominations.
The people who gave these testimonies are particularly "down to earth"- in fact I confess, to my shame, used to think (quite wrongly) at one time that they were like people who were into church rituals "Having a form of religion but denying its power!" How WRONG I was!! Yes- they are "down to earth" enough- but also aware of the possibility of God moving in power- because they'd KNOWN incidences of this! Miracles are rare but still happen.
One, told by Arthur - an elderly man- was about a girl who was hit by a car and was on life support in hospital- in a vegetative state. Her father is a Christian and he prayed she might live- but, when she still failed to wake - he and her Mother decided they'd ask for the life support to be taken away. This was done - but the girl survived.
Many months later, she was alive, but still not responsive. The father cried out to God- "Why have you allowed her to live in this state?" The answer came to his mind in a way that he knew it was God's word. It said, "You didn't thank me!" He was puzzled - as he obviously thought she was in a "living death" anyway. But he did what the word of God said. Next time he went to see her in hospital - her room was full of light and he felt a wonderful presence by her bed - and she opened her eyes and said "Hello Dad!" From then on she recovered.
The second testimony is sad but amazing. It was told by Joyce, a retired nursing sister- and it happened at her hospital. Two women were in for breast surgery- one, a widow with three children still at home, had malignant cancer which had spread and she faced a radical mastectomy. The other was a single devout Christian woman with a benign lump.
When they went for surgery, the surgeons found - and tests later revealed - that the situations were reversed; the single woman had extensive malignant cancer and the widow had a small benign lump.
Later it was discovered that the single woman had prayed all night and was willing to take the other woman’s cancer, as she had no dependents, whereas the widow had three children. Joyce told us that the widow is still alive.
The words “Greater love has no man (or woman) than that they should lay down his (or her) life for a friend.” That is paraphrase of a well known Biblical quote.
As someone once wisely said, Miracles were rare - and still are, but that doesn't mean they never happen. They DO still happen! But we can get discouraged if we pray with all our hearts for a long time- and things don't improve. It's not our fault- or anyone's fault. Some churches say it's lack of faith - and that is cruel and untrue.
We sometimes wonder if we work for God- “labourers in the vineyard”- yet God may be slower than ever to answer our prayers, leaves us in the dark, or seem to be deaf to our pleas!
We don't know why God heals some and not others, we'll never and know in this life. But there are blessings we don't know about and don't understand- and the fact that miracles are so rare shouldn't stop us praying. Keep praying everybody!
© Pauline Griffiths
I decided I would tell my Christian friends about testimonies to God's healing that two of our Lent group gave us on Wednesday April 4th - the final day of our Lent course. They were quite "off the cuff" and not prepared- just happened as they felt moved to share.
Ours is a solid Bible based church- not charismatic (though a few members are) We are also joined at our Lent meetings by some people from other Christian denominations.
The people who gave these testimonies are particularly "down to earth"- in fact I confess, to my shame, used to think (quite wrongly) at one time that they were like people who were into church rituals "Having a form of religion but denying its power!" How WRONG I was!! Yes- they are "down to earth" enough- but also aware of the possibility of God moving in power- because they'd KNOWN incidences of this! Miracles are rare but still happen.
One, told by Arthur - an elderly man- was about a girl who was hit by a car and was on life support in hospital- in a vegetative state. Her father is a Christian and he prayed she might live- but, when she still failed to wake - he and her Mother decided they'd ask for the life support to be taken away. This was done - but the girl survived.
Many months later, she was alive, but still not responsive. The father cried out to God- "Why have you allowed her to live in this state?" The answer came to his mind in a way that he knew it was God's word. It said, "You didn't thank me!" He was puzzled - as he obviously thought she was in a "living death" anyway. But he did what the word of God said. Next time he went to see her in hospital - her room was full of light and he felt a wonderful presence by her bed - and she opened her eyes and said "Hello Dad!" From then on she recovered.
The second testimony is sad but amazing. It was told by Joyce, a retired nursing sister- and it happened at her hospital. Two women were in for breast surgery- one, a widow with three children still at home, had malignant cancer which had spread and she faced a radical mastectomy. The other was a single devout Christian woman with a benign lump.
When they went for surgery, the surgeons found - and tests later revealed - that the situations were reversed; the single woman had extensive malignant cancer and the widow had a small benign lump.
Later it was discovered that the single woman had prayed all night and was willing to take the other woman’s cancer, as she had no dependents, whereas the widow had three children. Joyce told us that the widow is still alive.
The words “Greater love has no man (or woman) than that they should lay down his (or her) life for a friend.” That is paraphrase of a well known Biblical quote.
As someone once wisely said, Miracles were rare - and still are, but that doesn't mean they never happen. They DO still happen! But we can get discouraged if we pray with all our hearts for a long time- and things don't improve. It's not our fault- or anyone's fault. Some churches say it's lack of faith - and that is cruel and untrue.
We sometimes wonder if we work for God- “labourers in the vineyard”- yet God may be slower than ever to answer our prayers, leaves us in the dark, or seem to be deaf to our pleas!
We don't know why God heals some and not others, we'll never and know in this life. But there are blessings we don't know about and don't understand- and the fact that miracles are so rare shouldn't stop us praying. Keep praying everybody!
© Pauline Griffiths