A Testimony of Healing

The past few weeks have been utterly surreal.  As schools and businesses shut down around us to prevent further spread of COVID-19, a spirit of anxiety lurks in the hearts and minds of many.  During times such as this, it can be easy to give in to the darkness.  To believe that we are utterly helpless, defenseless, and hopeless.

Amid constant reminders to "wash your hands", "don't touch your face!", and "maintain social distance, the fact remains that we still know very little about this virus that is shutting down modern life as we know it.  And as much as we love to stay at home with all of our modern comforts, for some this feels more like a retreat than a fight.

As I look at the news reports, daily updates, and rising statistics of both infections and mortalities, I experience a sinking feeling.  A knot in my chest.  I lose sleep (or, at least, more than my norm).  Perhaps you feel it, too.  For me, these feelings are old hat, but some people may be experiencing them for the first time.

Times like these have always drawn me back to my faith, and this recent pandemic is no different.  In spite of the ever-rising numbers of positive cases and death counts, the Lord keeps reminding me of times when I have prayed for, witnessed, and experienced healing.  It's ironic, but perhaps one of my tales can increase someone's faith and bring some encouragement today.

I keep being reminded of an outreach to Mexico that I attended in 2013.  It was a part of a ministry training program I attended through Youth With A Mission Denver.  While there, about five girls, including me, contracted a mysterious stomach virus at the same time.  We all woke up one morning with flu-like symptoms and fevers, too sick to go out and do ministry for the day.  More than likely, we picked it up through something we ate at the local food court.  But regardless of how it happened, we were all miserable.

We were told to stay behind and one of the team leaders made arrangements to get us all to the doctor that morning.  While I wanted answers and medicine to feel better, I also remember being nervous about the doctor's visit.  To be honest, I knew exactly how little was in my bank account.  And during that season of my life, I did not have health insurance.  (Though, likely, it would not have mattered in a foreign country either way.)

A girl on our team who was not sick came and prayed over all of us before leaving for the day's outreach.  I remember my teammates lying in sleeping bags all around me, too sick to move.  I was sitting up cross-legged, overheated, weak, and dizzy.  But as Sarah prayed, the strangest thing happened.  The longer and more powerfully she called out to God on our behalves, the less warm I felt.  My dizziness subsided.  And my fever broke by the time she had finished praying.

(By the way, I don't believe I've ever told my friend Sarah this story.  And she did not physically lay hands on any of us while she was praying to protect herself from catching the virus.  So there's no way she even realized what God was doing at that moment.)

When we went to the doctor's office, I was seen last out of the five patients.  By then, I felt almost like myself.  Even the doctor commented that I didn't seem as sick as the others.  He decided to forego the shot that all my friends had needed, which meant I had enough funds in my bank account to cover both the visit and the medications I needed.

While I know there is no guarantee of what will happen next with this new strain of coronavirus, and while my previous experience does not equal present-day events, there are a few things of which I am sure-

• I know that the healing power of Jesus is real.  It was real in biblical times, and it is just as real now.
• I know that God is bigger than this global pandemic.
• I know that nothing escapes my God.  And that He is with me in times of trouble.
• I know that Jesus is a man familiar with suffering.  And that He saves.

So while I do not have answers and there is no way to fully predict the future, please remember, friends, to look back and remember who God has already proven Himself to be.  He is the same He always was, even when our world completely shuts down and falls apart.