The CommonPlace
If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to Myself
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Is any sick among you? 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: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:14-16 from the King James ************************ At the Hand of the Physician - A Testimony - by Amy Kelly As Presented to *********** August 15th, 2004 Do you believe in miracles? I do, and I always have. I know there are some people that do not. I pray that after hearing about the miracle that was performed in my life, and how profoundly it affected my family, you will take a few moments to reflect on what you believe. I pray that you will open your hearts to the awesome power God's presence can have when you truly believe. I was working overnight at a convenience store in Madison, Tennessee on November 8th, 2002. I locked the store at 2 A.M. to clean it, just as I did every other night. Some friends had come by to sit with me while I was working. I was feeling a little sick, and out of nowhere I got really hot from head to toe. I walked to the office in the back, and just as I got through the door, I collapsed and had a seizure. I don't remember anything for about the next hour. I later learned that I had hit my head on a filing cabinet when I collapsed, and I bit one of my friends during the seizure. The next month and a half brought a battery of tests and more seizures. By the end of January I was having 1-2 seizures a week. The neurologist diagnosed my condition as primary partial with secondary general seizures, and he put me on medication. It was March before he finally told me I had epilepsy. He said I had scarring on my brain from some previous trauma. I was also left with a condition called Pre-Ganglionic Horner's Syndrome. The optical nerve that goes to my left eye was damaged. My pupil did not react to light, and the doctor told me it would always remain pinpointed. My life was turning upside down. There were days that I couldn't even take care of my own children. The medication wasn't stopping the seizures. The doctor increased my medication and changed it several times. I couldn't decide what was worse, the seizures or the side effects from the medicine. Finally, he put me on Tegretol. I didn't have the bad side effects while on Tegretol that I had on the other medications, and it actually seemed to help a little. I found myself at the hospital several times. I was down to 2-3 seizures every couple of weeks, and every time I had one it meant another hour or more of my life was gone. I say it was gone because I had no memory of anything that happened for at least an hour, sometimes more. That is pretty much how it was until November 8th, 2003. I was sitting in church at ***********, with my husband, and I got that warm feeling from head to toe. That's the feeling I had come to know as my warning that a seizure was about to hit. I went to the restroom and splashed water on my face. I was crying "Please not now! Please!", but I knew it wasn't going away. I thought that there couldn't be a worse time for that to be happening. I had waited for years to find a church that Michael felt comfortable enough to want to attend, and I just knew this would embarrass him to the point that he would never want to go back. I went and sat back down by him and grabbed his arm. They were giving the closing prayer. Michael saw what was happening to me, and, as everyone was leaving, he wrapped his arms around my waist and helped me walk to our truck. I couldn't even steady myself enough to walk on my own. My Aunt Gail sat with me while Michael went to get the kids. Michael got back, and we were preparing to leave, when Uncle Jerry , the Associate Pastor at the church, came to our truck. Michael and Aunt Gail told him what was happening, and he said before we left he wanted to pray for me. I looked at Michael, and he had one of those 'this is a waste of time' looks on his face. I told Uncle Jerry okay, and I closed my eyes and listened to his words. He prayed an awesome prayer, and I could feel that he really meant the words he was saying. I meant them too. I was trying to understand why this had to be happening. I couldn't think of any good reason that God was letting this happen to me, but I knew for the first time that He had the power to stop it. We left the church, went down Veterans Road to County Road***, and we got stuck at the railroad tracks. I was sitting there with my head hung out the window trying to get air, and all of a sudden that warm feeling just stopped. That had never happened before. I felt different, but it was definitely a better different. Michael jokingly said, "I guess we have Uncle Jerry to thank." A month went by without me having a single seizure, and when I went to take my medicine one night in December, something told me I just didn't need it anymore. I went to the doctor in January and told her everything that had happened. I had to endure more tests and blood work, and she wanted to keep the medicine on hand just in case. When the tests came back, she told me that this was impossible! The EEG was absolutely normal! Everything came back normal. She reviewed all of my records from the doctors in Nashville, and there was no possible medical explanation for how the seizures stopped. I have been off of my medication for seven months, and it has been eight months since I have had a seizure. My son, Mikey, had Obstructive Sleep Apnea that he had been plagued with since September 2001. One month after Uncle Jerry prayed for me at church, the apnea was gone too. He didn't have to wear the monitor and breathing machine anymore. Both of our medical problems were well documented and involved several physicians who had done all that they could, but we hadn't looked to the right place for help. God performed two miracles in my family within one month. My family was changed dramatically by these wonderful acts of God, and it all started with one prayer by someone who truly believed it was possible to be healed through prayer. Michael was saved on January 18th and baptized on January 25th. We joined *********** and became active menbers in our pursuit to learn more about God. God performs miracles all around us every day. Some people choose to remain oblivious to these wonderful miracles, avoiding having to understand them. Why not forget about understanding and just accept that He is a wonderful and almighty God, Who performs these miracles as heavenly gifts that are meant to show us how much He truly loves us. ****************** Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning. ******************* Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5&6 from the King James *********************** And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and
had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the
press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway
the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus,
immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched
my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched
me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing
what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy
faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. Mark 5:25-34 from the King James ************************* And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in
his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians. Second Chronicles 16:12 from the King James ************************ In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him,
Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and
prayed unto the LORD, saying, I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and
with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore
Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell
Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have
seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. And I will add
unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend
this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and
laid it on the boil, and he recovered. Second Kings 20:1-7, from the King James *********************** |