A Word of Testimony

As I get older so I wake up in the morning more often with the odd aches and pains that come to remind us that, despite what we might try and kid ourselves about the subject, we really are getting older each year. yet my reaction to them is to consider that they are a reminder to me of God's grace and goodness demonstrated in my life, and I thought that I'd take the opportunity to share the reason why.

Following many years of back problems, which were often very acute, and during which time I often seemed to almost live on pain-killers, one day as I was driving along the main road between two of the main cities in what was then Rhodesia, I lost the use of my right arm. Periodically over the years I had experienced problems with my limbs but had been told that there was nothing wrong. This time the loss was much longer than on previous occasions and I went to my doctor the following morning. As a result I was sent to a consultant and ended up in hospital with a spinal tumor being diagnosed, which thankfully turned out to be benign. This resulted in a long stay in hospital with my condition worsening due to the pressure on my spinal cord, and ultimately I was operated on to remove as much of the growth as possible without causing further damage.

The surgeon advised me regarding the success rates of the operation, telling me that I would probably still be left with mobility problems to some degree, and also that there was no guarantee that my problem would never return. As, by this time, I was experiencing severe mobility problems, I was left with little choice in the matter!

When I was first admitted to hospital I could not understand why it had to happen to me, but my prayer was that God would show me why He wanted me in that place. I soon found out! I was able to witness to so many people there and every day my early morning exercise was to visit every bed in my ward, either praying for or (whenever possible) praying with the others in the ward. The Lord blessed my time there, and one of the greatest moments was when one elderly man accepted the Lord Jesus into his life. This was such a glorious blessing for the man in question passed away about three weeks after making this momentous decision.

That was in 1982 and in 1984 I left Africa after 12 fabulous years and returned to the UK. I was often in pain and my mobility was about 70% of what it should have been. Over the next few years the positioned worsened tremendously and not only did my mobility problems increase until often I could barely walk, but I was in tremendous pain for much of the time. By 1991 I struggled to get do much work at all and my spiritual life was suffering badly. My prayer life was reduced eventually to only praying for release, and my Bible-reading was virtually non-existent. It seemed that the pain had become a barrier between me and God. I was placed in the care of a consultant at Gobowen, which is a specialist orthopaedic hospital near Oswestry. I was advised that I needed two major operations, the first to strengthen my spine to hold me up and the second to sever the nerves in my legs that carried pain messages to my brain. However, I was also warned that I might be left with even greater pain as a result of the operations,which nothing could be done to alleviate. There was no choice, however, and so I was to go in March of that year (1992) to arrange the date for the surgery.

God, however, had other plans! In February I went to visit someone who was advertising some chairs for sale. and to my surprise I discovered that his wife was a lady who I knew slightly from the church that I attended. She invited me to have a cup of tea with her and said, "I was going to ask how you were now, but I can see for myself! You look awful!"

I sat with her and drank my tea slowly. She told me that she had been praying for my healing ever since she saw me arrive and saw the problem that I had even moving about. Then she looked me straight in the eye and asked me outright, "How is your spiritual life?" Somehow, the way that she spoke told me that she knew it was a great problem. As I looked at her, with tears coursing down my cheeks, I confessed that I'd not been able to read my Bible for the past six months. Then she asked me about my prayer life, and I admitted that on the odd occasion that I prayed it was only to ask that God would release me from life altogether. "Sit there for a moment," she said, "I just want to make a 'phone call." When she returned she said that she had contacted a healing prayer-chain and that within the next hour or so there would be over three hundred people praying for my healing. She also told me about a retired doctor who was very active in the healing ministry, and asked me if I would consent to her contacting him on my behalf, which I readily did. It was arranged that I would go to see him the next day. Before leaving some time later, this lady gave me a list of Scripture references and asked me to promise her that I would look them up once I returned home. She also gave me a Golden Thoughts spiritual calender, and the verse for that day was so appropriate. It was Jeremiah 3:22, Return to me and I will heal your unfaithfulness.

Going home I got out my Bible and hungrily read the Word, starting with the verses that had been given to me, but unable to stop, such was my hunger. Within hours I was aware that the pain was receding and I knew that God's healing power was blessing me. The following day I went to keep my appointment with the retired doctor, and he led me upstairs to his prayer-room. I had such difficulty climbing the stairs, but at least the pain was not such a problem! We sat down and talked about all that had led me to that point, going back over the years and covering all the pertinent ground. After a while he asked me if I was now ready and I said that I was. He asked me if I would like prayer for the healing of my back and legs, and then I stopped for a moment, considering everything that I was experiencing. I looked up at him and said, "No. I need healing for my soul first. That's much more important." He prayed over me with such compassion that it felt as though Jesus Christ Himself was in that room with us, and in fact I believe that He was.

From that moment on my life started to come together once again. A few days later I returned and climbed the stairs to receive prayer for my physical healing, and two weeks later I climbed onto borrowed bicycle and cycled around Lake Vyrnwy, a lake next to where I had my Candle-maker's Craft Shop, and a distance of almost twelve miles! It was the first time that I had been on a bike for over thirty years, yet although a little saddle-sore, I managed without a problem. As I cycled along so I was praising God for the wonderful healing that He had blessed me with.

Since then, although I have problems on odd occasions caused by arthritis, I have been well. Of course I never needed the operations which were scheduled for the March! When God heals then it's the best possible healing of all. One thing that I'm certain of though, the most important aspect of my healing was the healing of my spiritual life. What point would there be to be physically healed yet leave your spiritual life in tatters? No, when God does something he does it the right way, the way that blesses the recipient and glorifies Him.

Since that day I have dedicated my life to serving Him. Even though I was a committed Christian before then, I think that, looking back to those times, it was often true to say that I was at the centre of my life. Now, and ever since my healing, I have made sure that my life is Christ-centred, for that's the only way that it should be.

I pray, dear reader, that my being led to share this word of testimony with you today has been, and will continue to be, a blessing. TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!