Experiencing The Healer
I am amazed by God! An incredible moment happened to me on Saturday (March 24th). However, the day started out to be the absolute worst.
As you probably know, if you ready my last blog Entering the Big Scary Places, I got in a little ski accident with one of our contacts. On Tuesday (March 20th), the day after the accident, I put out this prayer request:
“I bent my knee in the wrong direction skiing with our contact here in Kazakhstan. Pray for a fast recovery and for no long-term damage. I’ve been trying to rest and ice it and the swelling is going down already.”
This is the story of the answer of this prayer as well as many other unspoken requests.
I woke up and just before team time I checked my email. I got a replay from the Hospital who did the MRI on my knee. Turns out the results were worse than I thought. The email said I have a torn ACL and linear fracture in my Tibia.
This hit my heart like an arrow. The emotions of sadness and discouragement came out through tears within minutes. The realization of the injury didn’t make sense to me. It was a complete accident, yet it is one that could possible affect the rest of my life.
I decided to take the day to stay back, rest my knee and pray. And that was the day I posted my cry to God through the blog Lord Help Me. I remember Adrian telling me she just wanted to make my day better so we were going to go get some food and ice cream and just do something fun.
However, some of the other team members who went to a new church told me about the service later that night. They said that there was a guy who was paralyzed in a snowboarding accident and he got healed. He was preaching tonight and going to pray for people who needed healing.
I fought with myself for hours. “Do I go? Do I not go?” I came to this spot where I was an emotional wreck. I didn’t know what I needed or what I wanted. All I could feel was the pain and the heartache of hopelessness.
I asked Adrian if we could reschedule and felt the Lord calling me to go to the church service. Now this was the grand opening of a church here in Almaty. They had so many barriers to walk through to even get it established with the government! The paperwork alone was two inches thick. So this is God’s work in order for this church to be established and central Asia to be reached with the Good News!
Anyway, I walk into this service so broken and could hardly bend my leg to walk. I could hardly keep it together. Kiana looked at me and I started balling. I couldn’t even focus on anything but the pain. I began taking deep breaths back and forth as I am waiting for the service to start. I finally was able to calm down enough as I look around and see a hundred or so Kazakh people worshiping Jesus!
God is so good and my heart began to turn from my pain to the joy in the Good News going to the nations. We sang a couple songs and the speaker who came from the United States began to share the message.
Matthew 15:21-28 I will never forget! How He revealed the truth in this passage was incredible and I may have the opportunity to give this message in the future. However, one of the major points I took away is that when horrible circumstances happen, are we still praising God? And then even when we choose to praise Him in the midst of our adversity and circumstances, are we willing to praise Him even when it feels like He has turned His back to us? Will we remember who He really is?
God took me through this exact same process this week expect the very last step. I grasped this reality and cried out to God again knowing who He is! Though my physical pain seemed to push me back into a place of bondage, God was drawing me into a place of freedom and faith. As the message began to close, I moved to the front. Why? I just felt led to. I needed an encounter with God again! I make my way to the front row and end up standing next to a young Kazakh woman.
The question was asked, “Does anyone in hear need to make a decision to follow Jesus for the first time?” The room was quiet. You could feel people being drawn to Jesus, yet the shame was keeping them there. So he then told the people, “ask the people on the left and the right of you if they needed to make the decision to follow Jesus for the first time tonight.” I leaned over and asked the young woman and she said “yes, I do.” So I took her hand and led her to the front. About 15 to 20 people in total accepted Christ then and there. Tears from the people showed a genuine acceptance of faith in Jesus and I was beyond thankful to walk her to the Lord.
The next thing that happened was he called out some specifics for healing. For someone with a heart condition and someone who had something wrong with their blood. He spoke out to those people and prayed for them from the stage. He continued as Holy Spirit led him.
I remember the the question being asked, “does anyone need healing?” I raised my hand along with so many others. He then began to pray for those whose hands were in the air. He prayed specifically for God’s healing power to touch our hands. Then I placed my hand over my knee.
When he said, “test it out, see if you can do something different.” I was literally struggling trying to roll my pant leg up and get the knee brace off. As soon as I got my brace off I instantly noticed a difference! I could feel it loosened, it was flexible and I had so much more mobility, yet there was still pain. He then asked again, “Is there anyone who experienced some healing, but still feel pain?” I raised my hand again. The speaker then had the believers around me pray for me and my knee! All these Kazakh people around me were praying for me and ministering to me! I remember them proclaiming the promise in their native language, “By His wounds you are healed! (Isaiah 53:5).”
After they finished praying I tested my knee. I did some high knees and started to Jump up and down! I felt the healing of the LORD! He touched my knee and did a work that I never could imagine could be done in the moment!
From the time I walked in to the service I was carrying pain, discouragement, sadness, and hopelessness. When I walked out I was walking as a healed man, encouraged, motivated and hopeful. I was walking in my identity in the Lord and empowered to help others walk in their identity.
I am HEALED! Jesus saved me and is making me new everyday!
Even though I still have pain in my knee, God brought so much healing and I am excited to see it fully through. When the pain creeps in and tries to get me to doubt, I focus on the greatness of Jesus and my problem becomes so microscopic to my Creator!
Praise JESUS with me for His GOODNESS, GRACE, and HEALING!
