I’ve always hated being sick. I understand that no one enjoys sickness, but for me it literally evokes anxiety. I go to the worst-case scenario right away. So, as I’m sure you could imagine, feeling sick while overseas and away from family and a trusted doctor really freaked me out.
I woke up one morning and my stomach felt pretty funky. I immediately began thinking, “Should I tell someone? Should I go to the clinic? Should I start taking one of my prescriptions? What should I do if this pain lasts? Do I have malaria?” Yeah. I went there. I also just really wanted my mom and I wanted the comfort of knowing that if something was wrong I’d have an American doctor to help me. I was so frustrated and uncomfortable.
By evening time, the pain was still there and I was feeling overwhelmed. A few people on my squad had caught sicknesses from the kids at the CarePoints, so in my head I assumed that I caught some funky sickness at the CarePoint, too. Naturally, my plan of action was to distance myself from the kids at ministry in the following days…
We had a teaching in the common room that night but I couldn’t focus because my stomach hurt so bad and I was overcome with fear. Instead of trying to process what was being taught, I whipped out this little red book that my dad gave me. It’s sort of a Q&A on difficult topics in the Bible. The first questions were about demons, spiritual warfare, and angels. I began reading and was instantly intrigued. The main thing that stood out to me was the fact that demons want to take us away from the ministry that God has placed us in. Suddenly, it clicked. The stomach pain I was feeling wasn’t sickness, but a spiritual attack. Satan was scheming against me to pull me away from ministry, because he knew that I would distance myself from the kids at the CarePoint if I thought they were getting me sick. Immediately I began repeating James 4:7-8 over and over in my head, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” I could feel the Holy Spirit telling me to demand the demons to flee, so I began to pray quietly out loud. I held my stomach and said, “I trust where the Lord has me and the ministry He has placed me in. Nothing will pull me away from loving these children, not even the fear of sickness. I know that Satan is the one causing this stomach pain, so in the name of Jesus I demand Him and all of His demons to flee. My ministry will not be hindered. I trust in Jesus, I am choosing to draw near to Him and I know that He is near to me.” And BAM.
All the stomach pain completely went away!
I couldn’t believe it. Complete healing… who am I to have the Spirit of God living inside of me and helping me discern what is of Him and what is not? Who am I to receive supernatural healing? Who am I to have the power of Christ in me to make demons flee? Who am I to be heard by God? What a BIG God we serve!
This experience was so humbling, empowering, and affirming of the fact that God does want me doing ministry at the CarePoint! There must be something good in it because Satan clearly wanted to stop it! But my God is so much more powerful than any of Satan’s schemes. I am overwhelmed in the best way by the fact that Jesus would be mindful of me. What a loving Father…
A couple of hours after the healing, Satan was trying to make me think it was just a coincidence or something. But really Satan was just trying to feed me that lie because he is just so aware of his weakness in comparison with Christ! Jesus did heal me! Satan is a loser and he eternally will be. He has no hold on me. Thank you, Lord! I do not deserve you!
My prayer in my journal that night was, “Thank you, God, for calming my fears and protecting me with an angel army everywhere I go. You are so gracious. I love you, Jesus, and I’ll always draw near to you. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen!”
I have not had any stomach pain since that night… God is faithful.
I pray that this testimony is encouraging to you and that you can join me in praising our God who is victorious and all-powerful! He is alive and He is at work here in Swaziland. Praise Him!
God bless!
Anna 🙂
