Testimonies
LOVE LOWERED ME THROUGH THE ROOF
(Written by Donna Wilson)
Because of a car wreck in 1979, I became paralyzed from my waist down and found myself confined to a wheel chair.
A few years ago I became interested in intercessory prayer and started attending the intercessory prayer meetings at my church. One Tuesday when I was at my prayer meeting, I sat in as proxy for a friend who needed prayer for her hand and couldn’t be there. After praying for her, they began praying for me.
It started when one of the women went to get a baby blanket and put it around my shoulders. Then she started praying for me in “tongues” and walking up and down my spine with her hands. Soon, the other ladies joined in. As they were praying, I started feeling a warm sensation in my spine and it felt like things were coming loose inside my upper body. When I think back to it, it felt more like things inside of me were being rearranged. As I would feel these sensations going on in my body,I would let out a whoop with every movement. It was not until one of the ladies made a comment about my whooping, that I realized that she only was aware of what she could see but she was not aware of what I was experiencing on the inside. I will never forget that feeling. Wow, what a blessing I was receiving!
I remember not only experiencing, but also "feeling", the love being demonstrated in the actions and prayers of these "prayer warriors." They reminded of the friends of the paralytic in the Bible who took their friend to Jesus to be healed (Luke 5:17-26.) As we were praying, I thought again about that story and how the friends lowered the paralytic down through the roof right in front of Jesus. I could just cry when I think about it. It is a beautiful story.
One of the women there, asked if I had ever tried to stand. She said that if I wanted to stand that they would help me and they wouldn't let me fall. So they helped me get out of the wheel chair and helped me stand up while praying for me. Of course they were holding me up, but it still felt good to be out of that chair and it was just an extra special bonus having my "spiritual family" pray for me at the same time.
The leader of our group said that I must know, and she felt it herself, that something definitely happened. Another woman there said that she felt tingling sensations up and down her legs and she knew that it was not for her so it had to be for me.
Later we asked the woman that first went to get the baby blanket why she did that. She told us that she didn’t really know, but she said that in the Spanish Church, they use to put a "prayer shawl" around people's shoulders when they were praying for them. So, she went and got the baby blanket and used it for our "prayer shawl." (I want to explain something here. This is how her faith was directing her. I, personally, do not feel that there is any particular “power” in the prayer shawl itself, but I will have to admit that it worked and Jesus does honor our faith.)
I don't think I ever will forget (and I don't want to) the wonderful love being shown to me by everyone there. Nor will I forget the wonderful love that illuminated from my sister in Christ as she rubbed my shoulders and ministered to me in only a way that a sister in His precious Spirit can. Everyone there showed me such love-such love. It is written that, "love never fails" (1 Cor.13:8 NKJ.) It certainly does not!
I had to leave the prayer meeting before it was ended, but later that day I sensed that there was something different about my posture and the way I was sitting. I found that there was a definite difference in my balance. I discovered that I could lift both arms in the air at the same time. I didn't even have to hang unto my wheel chair armrests for balance.
That evening, I had a ball! I praised the Lord with my hands and arms. I swung my arms this way and that way. I was amazed that I could raise both of them at the same time! It was like praising the Lord in a heavenly “sign language” and praise dancing with my upper body, arms, and hands all at the same time. I removed the arms from my wheel chair (which I mainly use for balance) and rode around like that.
Paraplegics with the level of injury I had usually do not have any balance from their waist down. For more than 23 years, I had not been able to lift both my arms in the air at the same time to praise the Lord. I had to hang unto the armrest of my wheel chair with one hand for balance in order to raise the other arm. The same thing with clapping. I could not clap both of my hands at the same time. I had to hold onto the chair with one hand while clapping against that hand with my other hand.
Now I can lift both hands in the air at the same time. At this moment, I am sitting on my bed with my feet dangling over the side. At the same time I am holding a book that I'm reading with one hand and petting the dog with the other.
Before my healing, I couldn’t do this. Between the weight of my legs and my lack of balance, I just fell over like a rag doll. There used to be many things that I could not do, but I can do them now.
After a couple of days, I noticed something new about my skin. A paraplegic has to watch their skin very carefully. Their circulation is impaired and when they get a notice-able pink or red spot from sitting or laying too long in the same position, they have to stay off of that spot until it has gone away. Well, the other day, I had such a spot. One in that place and with that dark of a color usually meant that I would have lay down and get the pressure off that area for at least three days until the discoloration went away. This one cleared up in thirty minutes to an hour! When it was clear, it was “totally” clear.
A short time after my healing started; God healed the carpal tunnel and arthritis in my hand. For years, I had suffered with a great deal of pain in my hands. Now the pain is gone. I am finding something new about my body nearly every day. It is so much fun and I get excited when I think about what each day might bring!
It has been about two years since this miracle of healing started. And I know that He is not through with me yet! This healing does not just involve the physical, but there has also been “breakthroughs” in my spiritual and emotional person.
I am still in a wheelchair (at the present, anyway), but that is okay. I know that things can change any minute. However, even if they don’t, that is okay too. I know that He is in charge and that is good enough for me. In the meantime, I am learning a lot. Right now, I am trying to start a disability ministry in my church and I hope in my neighborhood.
Of the healing scriptures, I think I like that scripture best about the paralytic being lowered through the roof by his friends. This story shows what faith working through love can do. It may have been the women who were doing the praying back then, but it really was the love of God that led them to do it. That is why I say, “Love lowered me through the roof.”
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wow, amy.. what a story and I loved the title. you need to try the challenges.. Maybe you have.. thanks for pointing me this way.. God bless. djdeb
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