Personal Testimony: Free From Pain
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Personal Testimony: Free From Pain
James 5:14-15
A few days ago, my wife and Heaven On Wheels partner Barb provided her personal testimony of what we call “The Outback Angel”. This was a supernatural event (AKA “A God Thing”) that called us back to faith after many years in a dark place of unbelief. If you missed the post, use the Read More button below to see it.
This encouraged me to publish my own personal testimony of healing. In August of 2019, we finally “had enough” of the ELCA church we had attended for about 12 years. A search for a new church home took us to Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, a megachurch that was nominally Presbyterian and led by a dynamic pastor.
The staff at that church had a strong belief in the healing power of prayer, and from what we heard, it resulted in many healings. Despite my faith, I was dubious that someone laying their hands on me and praying could help my problem..
Here’s some background: for many years of my life starting in my twenties, I had pain in my neck, shoulders, and back. The pain moved from place to place and was severe enough to make sleep difficult. My usual “remedy” was to take something like aspirin or ibuprofen, but the pain was always there — sometimes agonizing, other times a dull ache.
At one point a doctor mentioned that I had a pinched nerve in my neck (cervical stenosis), but didn’t prescribe anything to help. In 1998, I started experiencing much more severe neck pain and numbness in my arms and legs, which was only helped (but not fixed) by physical therapy. I was resigned to the fact that I would eventually need back surgery to correct the problem.
Fast-forward to 2019 again. About two months after we started attending the new church, I had a fall at home and spent two nights in the hospital. The fall fractured facial bones, and one of my vertebrae had a chip in it. A followup visit with an orthopedic surgeon once again pointed to eventual surgery.
I was in pain and wearing a soft cervical collar to keep my neck straight. After one church service several weeks later when there was a call for prayer, I decided to get prayer for my neck. My feeling was “This isn’t going to work, but anything’s worth a try”. Several members of the prayer team met me, asked what was going on, and then began to pray in earnest for healing.
Almost immediately, I felt warmth in my neck and upper back, which I attributed to the hands of the prayer team. But when the pain started slipping away, I realized something was happening. My immediate responses were twofold: I started laughing in relief and crying tears of happiness at the same time!
It’s now three years since that hands-on healing prayer. I have not had any neck or back pain since then and the only time I take pain relievers is for rare headaches. I no longer scoff at the healing power of prayer, and I sincerely hope that my prayers for others have offered healing. We have also followed that pastor to a new church that continues the tradition of healing prayer.
I end this testimony with these words from the Gospel of James:
“Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.”
James 5:14-15 NLT