Here is a story about Mark
as an intern to a youth ministry in Arizona while on a mission trip to Arkansas
in the summer of 2008.
The wooden staircase
beneath my feet was wet from a youth group full of students going down Alan's
80 foot man-made water slide into a pond. My fear of going down the slide had
ceased due to my previous ride into the pond. (Water slide pictured below).
I told myself, I am done.
No more rides down the slide for me on this Friday evening in woods of Little
Rock, Arkansas. The pain was growing ever worse; maybe this is something more
than just an ear infection?
It was 2:30am the morning after the accident
and I was unable to sleep due to pain. My ear had begun to leak. I told myself
I will be fine in the morning. That night lasted forever. The leaking continued
and I placed a Q-tip in my ear and retrieved an orangeish-red substance from my
ear. Thinking this is great my ear is now bleeding and I am flying back to
Phoenix, Arizona in a matter of hours. I started praying that God will do
something with my ear, because I have had issues before with flying and ear
problems. God answered my prayer as we landed in Phoenix without to many issues
on Saturday Night.
I headed out to church the next morning extra early
to go to the prayer room at the church and I found myself praying for my ear to
be fixed. I was unsure if God would really grand my request, since it seemed
selfish for me to pray for that. Yet, I did, I asked God to fix my ear, but
nothing happened that day.
On Monday, I headed out for High School Camp and we
were passing "Dead-man's Wash" on I-17 towards Prescott, AZ my ear
began to throb once again, I could literally feel my heart beating in my ear. I
noticed the previous night that I had a lot of residue on my pillow case from
my left ear. This throbbing intensified as the van was going to Sr. High Camp
climbing up and down the mountains and with multiple altitude changes. I grabbed
a Kleenex from my backpack and tore a piece of it and placed in my ear. We
arrived at camp and the camp had the theme of "Restoration
Project" and the whole idea was to restore ourselves to Christ, build
community, and restore others.
Once we arrived, I had to go to the
Urgent Care in Prescott Valley, about a 30 minute drive. My heart was sinking,
because I had to leave the campers and head out with another adult to the
hospital. I didn't know even know the full extent of what I was about to find
out too. After a long wait, I finally got sent back to my room. The doctor came
in and went to my good ear first, the right one which looked fine. Then the
doctor goes towards my left ear. He accompanied his search of my ear with
noises which sort of scared me. He pulls his tool out of my ear and told me,
“You are not going to like what I found!” Oh great, what is this doctor going
to tell me? The doctor says, “You have a HOLE in your ear drum, about the size
of a pencil eraser, with an infection around the hole. You have about an 80%
chance that you will have to have surgery on it in the next few days.” The
doctor then had a number of doctors and nurses to come in to check out the hole
in my ear. I sarcastically say to a doctor in the hallway, “HEY! Do you wanta
look too?” I felt like a rat lab while all the medical professionals were
looking at my ear.
Camp had gone very well that week. The speaker at
camp, Kristen, spoke on Jesus' miracle, what the early church did after
Pentecost, and about miracles occurring even today. The thought of God
restoring me was taking over my mind. We headed back to Phoenix that Friday.
On
Sunday morning, Pastor Dave told a story about a friend who had been healed by
God. The Holy Spirit was speaking to my heart and I went forward during the
alter call. One of the elders of this church came up to me and asked if I
wanted to be anointed with oil for God’s healing. I believed whole-heartedly
that God was going to restore me. I was ready to see God move, and move in a
new big way!
On Monday, I had Middle School Camp and headed back up to
Urgent Care on the way to camp. I had the same doctor as last week and
remembered me. He inspected both my ears without making a sound. He asked me,
“So… which ear was it that had the whole?” As he looked at the medical records
from my last visit, I began to laugh and was almost in disbelief. I explained
to him that it was left ear and how awesome it was that God healed me the
previous day. It was a great opportunity to share with the Doctor the way in
which God healed me since he began to question me about the whole situation and
what happened since he saw me last. It was an incredible blessing to be touched
by God and healed. I asked God for the healing and gave God all the glory, as
we should!
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A few great Scriptures on
healing:
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In Psalm 30:2, it says,
"O' LORD my God, I called to you for help and you helped me."
In James 5:14 “Is anyone
among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray
over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”
In Mark 11:24, Jesus says,
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that
you receive them, and you will have them.”
In Matthew 10:8, the
disciples are told to, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,
cast out devils: freely you have received, freely give."
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Questions on Healing
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"Does God still heal?"
I would have to say that,
"Yes, God heals!" I have experienced his touch, his love, and his
healing. God can and will heal the emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects
of our lives! My experience is not alone, there are many others I know whom
have been healed by God.
Does God always heal us when we ask and believe?
No, God does not always
heal us. But, he can and will, we must ask and believe.
Sometimes we must go
through sickness, pain, and even death without healing. We must give God the
glory for when He heals and does not heal. We look forward to the day with no
more pain or death (Revelations 21), by our relationship in Jesus in the coming
age.
If God does not heal you, that does not mean that he does not
love you?
No, not believing healed
does not equate the amount of God's loves for you. God cares deeply about every
part of your life. Paul encourages us to give God the glory and "always (give) thanks
to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 5:20)
Can God heal through medicine, science, doctors?
Yes, God can use doctors
and counselors to help us in the healing process too with physical, emotional,
and spiritual issues. God has gifted us today with modern medicine and science
to enable healing to happen. God has given medical professionals knowledge and
understanding into how to help people in the healing process.
-Mark
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