My youngest son’s second hand surgery was
scheduled and my father was in the last stages of
Alzheimer’s in his 50’s when I was called a “Feisty Faith Girl” by Regina, a
dear woman of God whom I admire very much. She knew I was believing God for
miracles for my baby and for my daddy. Let me tell you why.
I honestly wasn’t sure how to pray for my
daddy. I mean, Alzheimer’s is basically a terminal
illness. Then I heard a song in church one day about Lazarus, and it reminded
me that my daddy wasn’t dead yet. I determined that I had read plenty of
Scriptures instructing me to pray for healing in every situation, but had never
seen anything saying not to. So I believed with everything in me that he would
be miraculously healed of Alzheimer’s.
All
the while, Garrett was born
with Poland’s
Syndrome. I still remember the day when I finally said the words “birth
defect” out loud. Once again I wasn’t sure how to pray. So many people have so
many worse challenges in life that I wondered if it was even right for me to
pray for healing since many of the anomalies could be corrected with surgery.
God gave me two signs that I was definitely to pray for healing: 1) I was in a
revival service and the preacher spoke of how his wife had taken a fall and was
scheduled to have every bone in her face reconstructed, but God miraculously
healed her, and 2) I was in a Bible study and the teacher spoke out of Mark
3:1-5 about Jesus having the right to heal on the Sabbath. All I heard was that
Jesus had healed a man’s shriveled/withered/crippled right hand, so I claimed
that for my little one.
I
wish I could tell you that God provided a miracle and that my
daddy is healthy, but that wasn’t in God’s plan. So at the age of 59, my dad
lost his struggle on this earth and went on to the ultimate healing.
Again, I wish I could tell you that God provided
that miracle and my little boy didn’t have surgery, but that wasn’t in God’s
plan. So he had four surgeries before his fifth birthday. The surgeon is
talking about doing more when he’s bigger, but you know what, I am still
believing for a miracle!
By
this point you are probably wondering, how in the world I can
still have “Feisty Faith” since it seems that my prayers aren’t being answered
like I want? Well, let me tell you about some that have been answered.
This
first one is about me! This seems a good time to
point out that I was raised in church, and I don’t ever remember not being a
Christian. Romans 10:17 (NCV) tells
us that “Faith comes from hearing the Good News, and people hear the Good News
when someone tells them about Christ.” Praise God for parents who told me the
Good News that gives me this Faith that I’m telling you about today.
After years of seizures, I was finally diagnosed
with epilepsy at 7 years old, and I don’t remember ever not believing that God
would heal me of it. I had read in Scriptures such as Matthew 4:24 that Jesus
had healed all kinds of things…even epilepsy. I also knew that “Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, today, and forever” ( Heb. 13:8, NCV). Therefore, if He did it for them, he would do it for me. I was
at the altar getting anointed every chance I got, and one day, when I was 15,
God healed me! This year I celebrated 21 years of being epilepsy free!!
Fast forward 6 years when I stood on a promise from God. A dear friend had lost a baby to Group B Strep infection, so when I tested positive for it in week 38 of my first pregnancy, I sought the Lord. In that altar, He promised I would not lose my baby. 2 weeks later, my labor was far from ideal. The infection was so bad, it made me horribly sick. It had even gotten into the placenta, which should have been fatal for my baby, but God protected Caleb from the infection. That’s not all! He was born with the cord wrapped around his neck twice, not breathing and fluid on his lungs. They said he might be in the hospital up to a week, but he only stayed one extra day. Today this miracle child is a loving, intelligent, athletic, godly, funny 15 year old who is becoming more like his dad every day!
Why
am I sharing these experiences and what do you take with you
from them? It’s not just for the chill bumps and fuzzy feelings.
Hebrews 12:1-2a, NCV reminds us that “We have around us so many people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back. Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect.”
So, why not give Feisty Faith a try. Live a life
that tells others what faith means. Run the race, and never give up. Look only
to Jesus!
