When Jim and I got back from Alaska, I learned my friend, Debra, had received the miracle many had prayed for. She’d been healed from the incurable disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS)! Though it came suddenly, it was a long twenty-five-year journey getting there.
My friendship with Debra, the worship leader at Bible study, began about three years before her miracle healing when I joined the tech team. I got to know her and the disease she’d been living with through short chats while setting up and putting away the sound equipment. I learned that she needed to sit while she played the guitar and sang to conserve her strength. After she explained that the higher stool allowed her the lung compacity to sing, I made sure to always have one set out for her. I also discovered we had something in common that not many do. She, too, had written a book, Garden Lessons, and writes a blog based on her experiences with God.
Debra didn’t seem to mind my questions about her illness or ones regarding divine healing. At one point, I asked her the same question Jesus asked the lame man who had been waiting at the pool for 38 years to be healed, “Do you want to be made well?” Immediately she replied, “Yes!” But then said that God would heal her in His time. And in the meantime, she’s learning much and becoming closer to the Lord. It was almost as if she didn’t mind living with MS. But I minded. I wanted her to be well and believed she could be. I also asked what I knew to be another important question in receiving God’s healing, “Do you have unforgiveness toward anyone?” She assured me she didn’t.
As our friendship developed, we began sharing more about our lives through Facebook messaging, emails, and two-hour lunches. Debra’s been a Christian all her life; her father is a pastor, and she’s studied the Bible so much longer than me. Her feedback meant a lot to me. It also, at times, revealed differences in our beliefs. Like the one time I told her I was praying for her healing, and she said she’d take it if that was the Lord’s will for her. When I replied, “It is His will, why would you say ‘If’?” she answered, “Because He has said no for 23 years.” I could see how it would look like a “no,” but I had trouble believing that God would say “no” when Jesus had shed His blood for our healing.
Though I prayed for symptoms to be healed as she’d tell me about them, I’d been wanting to lay hands on her and pray she’d be healed from MS. I just wasn’t sure how to approach her about it. About two years before her miracle, the opportunity presented itself in the most unlikely way–while I was driving! While riding home together from the weekend Bible study retreat, I suddenly asked if I could lay hands on her and pray. She agreed, so I reached over and touched her and said a quick prayer for her to be healed from MS in Jesus’ name. We were both amazed at how it came about and were believing Jesus had healed her. Later I messaged to tell her I was fully convinced that Jesus can, will, and has healed her from MS. She agreed but added something that prompted me to start doing more than pray for her. She said, “And Lord grow my faith!”
At the time, I’d been growing my faith for Jim’s healing from cancer and thought of all the books I’d read about God’s healing. I remembered the collection of Healing Journeys DVDs from Andrew Wommack Ministries I had and how much seeing them had boosted our faith. Thinking they might help grow Debra’s faith for healing, I asked if she’d be interested in watching actual people who’ve been healed tell how their healing came about. She said she was. So, I brought one the next week to Bible study, and we exchanged them each week or so as she was ready for another.
Questions over the DVDs led us to some interesting conversations and sometimes into conflicts over our different beliefs. Conflicts seemed to center on her belief that God was allowing the disease to teach and grow her. My thinking was that her faith was divided between believing God was using the disease to bless her and believing He is healing her. When I told her God had no reason to allow a disease that Jesus had defeated with His blood, it didn’t sit well with her. I was sent a long list of blessings she had received over the twenty-four years, along with supportive scripture. I felt bad about upsetting her but was glad to learn more about what she believed and why. I looked up all the scriptures she included and actually saw some that supported my beliefs.
Even though I told her I was still going to believe that Jesus healed her when He took the stripes on Himself, she was convincing in her beliefs. I began to have doubts and got frustrated trying to make sense of all that she kept telling me and comparing it to what I’d been learning about healing. Confused and frustrated, I gave it all to God. I said, Lord, Debra’s right; if she’s going to be healed, then You will do it. I can’t make it happen for her, and maybe I’m trying to do something that isn’t up to me. So, I give it all to You, Lord.
After my rant, I was reminded that I shouldn’t base my beliefs on what others say. I need to establish what I believe in what God’s word says to me. I also noticed an encouraging change in Debra’s words to me. She said, “The DVDs are giving me much to ponder and pray about! I’m listening for God’s voice and having some interesting conversations. So, stay tuned! I know healing is coming!” When she finished with all the DVDs, we began exchanging books we were reading. The last one I gave her was the book Accelerated Healing by John Proodian.
It came to the point where all the medications Debra had been taking to control the MS symptoms began causing other problems in her body. So, to cleanse her system, her doctor took her off everything, which then caused a bad MS flare-up. While praying and worshiping, she cried out for Jesus to heal her. She said she instantly felt something in her legs and has been strong and normal ever since. Hallelujah! Wow, I was so amazed! Glory to God!
Now, three years since her healing, each time I see Debra standing strong to play her guitar and sing, no longer needing to sit on a stool, I’m witnessing a miracle! She is no longer like the lame man at the pool waiting to be healed. I now see her as the woman in the Bible who came to Jesus saying, “If only I touch His garment, I will be made well.” When she did, the woman immediately felt in her body that she was healed. And Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
To be continued . . . see Authority-Pass
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