Before I get into this untold story, I wanted to preface what this series is all about. I recently realized that I have many stories I have not been sharing along the way that are impactful and beneficial to tell. Part of not sharing was related to waiting for the right time, but a majority of the reason has been due to time and internet constraints. In this series, one of my hopes to open your eyes in a brand new way. In other stories I hope to teach you something new or encourage you in your walk with God.
In addition to prefacing this series, it’s important to get some context around this first story and stories to come, so please read the following paragraphs on “believe”. Also, I wrote this blog back in October while we were in Guatemala!
Believe
Several years ago I remember my brother-in-law talking about stories he heard of healing miracles taking place overseas; the kind you only hear about in the Bible. It was even to the extent that Christians overseas were raising people from the dead. At the time I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. I knew that God could do ALL things, but I didn’t really believe He did that “stuff” anymore. After all, I had been going to church my whole life and never heard of or witnessed any of these types of miracles happening in today’s world. What I believed was that as a Christian I could pray to God for a healing miracle, but it had to be “His Will” to heal him/her and often the answer was “no”. I would even go as far to say that I was discouraged to pray for such things because if it was God’s will, He would heal him/her so what good does my prayer do?
It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I began to discover the power of the Holy Spirit and Supernatural healing and miracles happening all over the world (including the United States). I had stumbled upon a YouTube channel called Sid Roth Supernatural in which each episode/video was all about healing miracles, hearing the voice of God, seeing Jesus, heaven and angels, words of knowledge, prophecies etc. After binge watching several videos, it completely opened my blind eyes, and I was thirsty for more. I continued to discover new people online (like Todd White) who shared their supernatural encounters and how we can have the same faith to experience it for ourselves just like the Bible says.
And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:17-18
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.
I became fascinated, excited, and anxious about the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of me, and I started believing that someday I too could be a vessel and witness the miraculous in the name of Jesus. There were a few problems though. The fear of man: I could look pretty stupid and foolish praying asking Jesus to heal someone and commanding evil spirits, pain, and diseases, to leave the body in His name. The fear of failure: If I pray and nothing happens, will I make God look stupid or somehow turn off non-believers or believers from believing He is real?
My faith: Do I really have the faith to believe this to be true? My carnal mind and flesh says these types of miracles are impossible.
Believing lies: God hasn’t given me, Ally Miller, this authority, it’s only reserved for the “elite” Christians. Despite struggling with these issues, I believe the Bible is true and therefore, I will not let these problems stand in the way. I’m willing to step out in faith and look crazy. I am willing to risk my reputation if prayer is not immediately answered. Instead of “what if it doesn’t work”, I chose to live with the question “what if it does work?” I’m going to live in a way and believe that God has given me the Holy Spirit and the authority to cast out demons and heal the sick. While my faith in these types of miracles may be small, God says if I have the faith of a mustard seed, I can move mountains and nothing will be impossible.
No matter what, I will not let my experiences and circumstances change or affect my beliefs and my faith in God cannot be shaken.
One of the things I looked forward to the most about the World Race was the opportunity to step out in faith and witness these miracles firsthand. After visiting Guatemala last year and learning about the World Race, I stumbled on videos of World Racers going out to pray and witnessing supernatural miracles. Seeing people my age believing and walking in this kind of faith together was something I wanted to be a part of, and I saw The World Race as my opportunity to live out everything I was learning.
I knew going into the World Race I was and am determined to be bold enough and crazy enough to believe God would allow me to be his vessel and the greater acts Jesus promised would follow.
World Race Launch was confirmation of this for me. At launch, every racer was given a key necklace. Everyone’s necklace had been prayed over/prophesied as to what “word” should be engraved into it. When I opened the envelope with my key in great anticipation, I read the word “believe”. Immediately I knew what this meant. Believe in the miracles. Believe that you, Ally Miller, can lay hands on the hurt and sick and you will see miracles. Believe that God is a God of miracles.
Pictured is my “Keys for the Journey” that says, “believe”. My mom got a matching key at World Race Launch that also has my favorite bible verse, Eph. 3:20.
Story Time!
The One Where My Teammate was Healed
Last Saturday (Guatemala, Month 1) I witnessed my first healing miracle firsthand. I am still processing it and to be honest even now I am in a state of some disbelief.
One of my teammates became ill Friday night. She came home feeling dizzy and like she was on fire. She decided to jump into a cold shower and felt a little better afterwards, but she was still dizzy and out of sorts. Well that next morning at 5am our team was scheduled to leave for Lake Atitilan for an adventure weekend that was 3 hours away. When I asked her about cancelling the trip, she said she wanted to go but would wait and see how she felt in the morning. Despite not feeling a 100% the next morning, she insisted she was fine and was going to go, so we did. As she struggled in some pain and discomfort in the shuttle on the way up to Lake Atitlan, I was extremely nervous thinking this is probably a bad idea.
When we got to Lake Atitilan we vegged out and enjoyed the most amazing scenery and things seemed to be okay…but okay as in tomorrow we would probably need to take her to the hospital when we got back.
Well, around 3:45pm my team walked a couple miles into the market from our little cottage we were spending the night to shop and eat supper, so we could be back before dark. That’s when everything changed.
On the walk home, she barely made it back. She could hardly walk, stopping every so often to take a break. Again she was dizzy and in pain, but way worse. It was terrifying. It got even scarier inside our cottage when we finally made it back. She was shivering uncontrollably even after she lied in bed with a sweatshirt and several blankets on her. I was freaking out in my heart – It was dark (so we couldn’t leave) and there was no hospital near us to take her to.
My team started intensely praying over her for healing. I knew that we needed God desperately to come through for us tonight. As we were praying, one of my other teammates felt like God asked her to lie on top of her, so she did as we continued to lay hands on her and pray. I felt like God was telling me to sing the song, Spirit Move, so I did.
My sick teammate then had a crazy vision she was afraid to share saying she felt like God was telling her to jump into the lake. This sounded like a terrible (like worst) idea! She was shivering cold and was thinking about jumping into a cold lake in the dark. She said in her vision it wasn’t hard to walk to the lake, so if it was hard and painful like the walk home had been, then it wasn’t from God and she would turn around.
None of us wanting to get in the way of what the Lord was telling her, we agreed to go with her. I stayed back with a teammate who is a nurse to contact other leaders and fill out a medical incident report. A few minutes later while I was on the phone with a squad leader, a teammate came rushing in informing me that my ill teammate said she felt like God was telling her I needed to jump into the lake with her.
I immediately was like “okay, yes I have to go! I’m going!” I thought to myself this is crazy, but at the same time felt maybe God is also trying to teach me a lesson of obedience and wanted me to witness my first miraculous healing. I ran to the lake without shoes and a small towel. As I ran to the dock and met up with my team, I doubted this was actually going to work. As my teammate was mentally preparing herself, I ran in a circle praying to God asking him to let this act of obedience be pleasing to Him and that this step of faith be rewarded with a miraculous healing. I had stripped to my underwear (since I needed my dry clothes for sleeping) and three of us hand in hand jumped in.
I was the first one to quickly get out of the freezing water expecting that nothing happened… but to my amazement, my teammate was healed! When she started climbing up the ladder to get out, she said it was like lightening hit her body. I don’t know if she or I was in more shock. As soon as she said she was healed, we began praising God on the dock and singing songs to Him. WE WERE STOKED!
Her transformation was a 180. She was back to herself. She was walking and talking and had no more pain. I was in awe of God, but I was still in shock and doubting that this was real. Yes, I witnessed this miracle firsthand, and yet I still doubted. All I know is I’m thankful for my teammate’s obedience to listen to God even when it sounded crazy and like a bad idea. I feel blessed that God asked her to have me be a part in this act of obedience to jump in the lake.
While I don’t have all of the answers, I know that our God is an awesome God. He is the God of miracles and I want to continue witnessing the power of the Holy Spirit everyday of my life. I’m going to choose to believe even if it’s with a mustard size faith. I can’t wait to share more amazing stories like this with you, and I pray that you too will start to believe in the God of Miracles.
