Friday, March 10, 2006

Skeletons in the closet???

One of these days I will get brave enough to cough up a few bones as to what my life was like before I was a Christian. Everyone has a few skeletons in the closet but I would like to make sure the statue of limitations is over before I post some of the items.

I don't want to post them to glorify my actions...actually I'm not proud of any of them...but mostly to show how God can work miracles in someones life.

Maybe I should start off with some of the great things He has done in my life.

October 27, 2004

On Thursday night during the recent week of prayer a miracle occurred. Pastor had asked for people to go down to pray for the leadership of the church that was present at this particular service. I went down, as I felt led to pray for these people. While many of us were still standing by the alter someone (I believe it was Pastor) said that the Holy Spirit was leading them to pray for healing. A gentleman was standing next to me when he turned and said, “You need healed. Can we pray?” Of course I said yes but did not share the specific needs that I had. I had several things that God could have healed me from and it was His choice anyway, so I stepped out in faith. Several people prayed gathered around me in a circle. I felt a warm sensation spread throughout my entire body. It rushed from to the top of my head to the tips of my toes and back again. I began to weep and praise God. I imagine it was quite a sight to see me standing on the alter with my hands thrust Heavenward, tears streaming down my face and my voice crying out to God in praise and worship. I instantly knew God had healed me, I just wasn’t sure of what.
The following day I was bursting with excitement. I could not wait to discover what God had done exactly and then tell everyone I saw! I decided to set up an appointment with the Doctor to take a few tests so that I could pinpoint my healing. My sister was graduating from College on this evening. Not wanting to take away from her special day I did not say anything to anyone in my family aside from my husband. After the commencement ceremonies we had all gone to Pizza Hut to celebrate with her.
While at the restaurant I accidentally ate cheese sauce that had Jalapeno peppers in it. I informed Big Red just so that he could be on guard. Nothing happened. I continued through the evening as planned. Now I know this does not sound like any BIG MIRACLE until I tell you that all my life I have had a severe allergy to any type of pepper. Eating a green/red pepper, jalapeno, chili pepper, chili powder, or eggplant would cause me to go into anaphylactic shock. What that means is that my windpipe would swell shut, my lungs would become inflamed to the point that I felt like they were on fire and I would begin to have extreme difficulty breathing. Often these reactions would cause me to break blood vessels on my face and chest as I struggled for breath. Without the inhaler (that I carried with me) and taking 6x the recommended dosage of Benedryl immediately I could die. On this evening I knew God had chosen to heal me of this life-threatening allergy!
As I began to tell people of this miracle I was cautioned to test my allergy in a controlled environment, don’t be disappointed if God didn’t heal me and keep praying for wisdom to know when to test this allergy. The look on the faces as I told people that it was unintentionally already tested was priceless!
I have since begun to explore the world of “spicy foods”. I have eaten at Carlos O’Kelly’s, Chili’s and other formerly forbidden restaurants. In addition to experiencing a “God Moment” first hand and knowing that God CAN do anything, I have also discovered another interesting item. Just because I can eat salsa now doesn’t mean that I will automatically enjoy it!

1 comment:

Nic said...

What a wonderful sotry! A friend of mine that I went to high school with experienced something similar. At my church about 3 years ago they were praying for one of the associate pastors who had been in the hospital for MONTHS with chrinic pancreatitis. Extreme and debilitating pain of the pancreas. There is no real cure. he basically was there on a morphene drip and to monitor him while doing tests to try and find a cure. We did a church prayer at the beginning of the service that Sunday and our pastor said that we should go ahead and pray for everyone who needed healing. My friend had been in serious back pain for about 4 years after a car accident. He had never been able to hold his son who was younger than 2 at the time. He said that a little boy and his family who were next to him and his wife prayed and that little boy touched his back right where the pain was and he felt a warming, tingling sensation - kind of like a live current. The pain was gone instantly and he has had no back pain since then. Two Sundays after that he went in front of the congregation and told them what had happened.