Oh man, I woke up with a splitting headache this morning. This makes me believe something else is wrong with me other than simple dehydration. I drank a ton of water last night before bed and had to get up in the middle of the night to use the water closet. This house is as dark as a cave at night. No night-lights, no street lights bleeding in from outside. Just total blackness. I had to feel my way down the hall to the bathroom.
The pain radiating across my skull was so sharp I had to beg Fr. Dan’s wife, Debbie, for some Tylenol. I normally don’t take pills for a headache because I don’t believe over-the-counter medication works. But I was in so much pain that I was willing to try anything. Debbie also gave me Sudafed thinking my sinuses may be the cause of my pain. I took all four pills in one large gulp of water. Then I took a sponge bath with boiling water to try and relieve the pressure. I soaked a washcloth in the hot water and draped it over my face to breath in the vapor. The cloth felt good on my face but did nothing to cure the pain.
The pain was so intense it made me feel sick to my stomach. I couldn’t eat breakfast. Papa Gloria noticed me pecking at a plain piece of toast as if I was a bird. He asked, “Ken, are you not well?” I told him about my headache and he said it was a common problem for visitors. Since we were South of the Equator in August, Kenya was in its cold season. This close to the Equator there isn’t a winter like we see back in the States. But the temperatures do drop enough so that you need a jacket. I would pull out my lightest jacket to wear when I got a chill. Others around me would have on a coat but I thought the temp felt more like autumn or early spring. Coming from Charlotte where the temperature was in the hundreds when we left, I was very happy to have to use a jacket in the evenings. But, cold weather seems to bring out the viruses no matter where you are and my head may have picked up something going around.
Papa Gloria said he also was suffering from sinus problems. He said there also could be a lot of stuff in the air here that my system was used too. I didn’t really care about why my head was hurting. I just wanted relief. I can’t remember if my head has ever hurt this bad before. I was worried that I was in too much pain to shoot video today.
Father Dan and Debbie prayed over me while we sat in Papa Gloria’s living room having breakfast. As they prayed, I concentrated on opening my mind to the healing power of the Holy Spirit. I kept repeating the same question in my head, “Lord, please heal me so I can do the work you have led me here to do today.” I have never seen somebody instantly healed and I have never experienced healing myself. My thoughts drifted to the idea that after prayer God might give me a break some time later in the day. In other words, I didn’t really believe in instant healing. But, I have also learned that God’s healing power is only as strong as our faith in the prayers we are asking for. The pain was so intense that I needed relief fast. I decided I was going to focus my prayers on believing that God would heal me just enough that it wouldn’t effect my mission work. Fr. Dan and Debbie were praying for my healing and I was praying I would believe the healing would happen.
After we stopped, I sat on the couch for a while to reflect. Pretty soon I picked up the piece of toast I was nibbling on a few minutes ago and devoured it like I hadn’t eaten in days. While I started filling my plate with more food I noticed that the pain in my head had dulled quite a bit. It wasn’t gone completely, but I suddenly had an appetite again. The Lord had granted me my prayer. He took just enough pain away to that I could function for the day. I wish I could have believed in total healing. But, I know my mind just would not let that concept pass for reality. Hopefully as I walk the path that leads me closer to the Lord, I will learn to believe in the healing gifts from the Holy Spirit.
This was the first time I have experienced healing through prayer. Even after the experience, it is hard to believe in the miracle that happened to me. I still want to explain it away. It could have been the pills I took kicking in. I my not have felt as bad as I thought. Well, I have to keep telling myself I experienced God’s healing touch. I must remember what happened to me as well as what I’ve see since I’ve been here.
Two nights ago the mission team prayed over a man that was experiencing back pain so intense that he could barely stand up. Last night, he came to have dinner with us and said we healed his back pain. He told us the events of his day after we prayed for him. In the morning, he woke up still feeling the pain. He still got up and went to church. Over the course of the day his pain slowly drained out of his back like water out of a tank. Usually his back gets stiffer and stiffer through the day instead of better. He stood up and danced around for us while he told his story. Of course, I thought that he might have taken a pain reliever during the day. But, after this morning, I’m putting that thought out of my mind. This man had believed in the healing power of prayer and had received total healing. Something for me to think about after I return to the homeland.
I truly believe that if the Lord had healed me completely and instantly I would have gone out of my mind. Something that radical and out of the ordinary would have been much too much for my brain to handle. Because the healing came gradually and the healing was just enough to get my attention, I can coax my mind into believing in the healing power of prayer. Fr. Dan gave us an illustration of the concept I’m trying to write about in a sermon one Sunday not long ago. He told the story of a friend of his who had cancer. He had prayed and prayed for healing for his friend. However, it took a long time and some modern medicine before the cancer finally went into remission. Most people would believe the medicine is what turned the tide for his friend. But, how often does medicine fail or only postpone the inevitable? Prayer had been the key to the medicine’s success.
We have all heard a story like this before. I didn’t pay much attention to the story until Fr. Dan started building up to a point I hadn’t thought about before. He said if God had healed his friend instantly, just made the cancer disappear from her body after uttering words of prayer, then the doctors and loved ones witnessing the miracle would have no choice than to believe that a higher power was untimely in control of everyone’s lives. I have to admit, if I saw any of the miracles described in the Bible with my own eyes, I would have freaked out and probably found a cave to hide in for the rest of my life. Think about it. If an invisible force had the power to heal you or make you sick and you had absolutely no power to stop it, wouldn’t that cause you to live in a constant state of fear?
Yes, God does have that power. But, God also gave us free will. He doesn’t want us to come to him out of fear. He wants us to choose to worship him. So his miracles and answered prayers come in ways that allow us to think and make our own conclusions about his mighty power and grace. He doesn’t force us to believe; we must discover our own faith in him. Yeah, my headache might have been relieved by the pills I took only minutes before I prayed for healing, or it could have been healed by my faith that I was under God’s protection here in a foreign country on a mission to spread the word of the Lord.
1 comment:
About 10 years before we were married, my husband was diagnosed with melanoma and told there was a 95% chance that it would be fatal. He immediately began calling churches requesting prayer. After many calls, he found one fellowship that immediately called together the elders, anointed him with oil, and prayed for healing. The healing did not occur instantly. Instead, as the months went by his numbers gradually improved. Things went from, "You're going to die" to "You will probably to die" to "You might survive" to "You're healed." On the other hand, one day I cut my finger very badly while working in the garden. I was bleeding all over the place and was wondering how I was going to drive myself to the hospital when I thought to pray. I watched as the wound instantly closed and the bleeding stopped. Miraculous healing is well within my world view, and I was tickled to see it happen to me. May you have many opportunities to experience God's great love in this way. Thanks for the encouraging post!
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