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Topic: Power (05/10/04)
TITLE: Just One Touch By Annette Bury 05/12/04 |
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I trotted to the front door, grabbed the door knob, and flung it open. My dear friend Cindy,* stood on the porch grinning, clutching several grocery bags.
“Hey, Cindy. Come on in.”
Hearing Cindy’s name, several of my children scampered to the door. “Aunt Cindy’s here!”
My kids grabbed the bags, freeing up Cindy’s arms. She reached over, giving each one a warm embrace.
“What ‘cha got in the bags, Aunt Cindy?” Delaney, my youngest daughter, asked.
Cindy grinned. “The Lord wanted you to have some treats.”
Setting the bags on the counter, I opened each one, calling out its contents, “Chips, cookies, pretzels, crackers, and party mix.”
“Can we have some now? Can we? Can we?” The children’s voices chimed.
“Sure,” I answered, carrying the bags to the table as Alena, my oldest daughter, passed out paper plates.
At the sound of cellophane crinkling, Robert my youngest son sat closer, peering into the bags. “What can I have?”
“I don’t know. Let’s see.” I turned the cookie bag over, reading the ingredients out loud. “Sorry Robert, this has chocolate in it.” Flipping the chip bag over, I shook my head. “Sorry Robert, but these ranch-flavored chips have milk in them.” I continued on, analyzing each bag. “You can have the pretzels!”
“It’s not right,” Cindy announced with a look of concern on her face.
“Its okay, Aunt Cindy,” Robert said, picking up a pretzel.
I sighed. “His dairy allergy has gotten so much worse. If he even eats a small piece of chocolate he ends up with a headache, and within a couple of hours he’s throwing up.” I looked at Robert. “School and birthday parties are the hardest – pizza, chocolate cake, ice cream, and such.”
As the kids munched on their treats, Cindy asked, ““Do you have any oil?”
“Yes.”
“Robert, I want to pray for you.”
Within a few minutes, Cindy anointed his head with oil as the children and I laid hands on Robert and prayed. We all came into agreement, knowing the power of prayer. We asked the Lord for a miracle – like the miracles in the Bible –the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, lepers made whole, the blind seeing, and the lame walking.
And just as we asked, the Lord miraculously healed Robert that night!
Two days later, Robert sat at the kitchen table spooning a glob of cream cheese frosting into his mouth. “I really like this white stuff.”
“It’s cream cheese, Robert.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I watched Robert enjoying cream cheese, perhaps, for the first time. At the age of four, we had eliminated dairy from his diet. So, now at the age of eleven, he enjoyed it for the first time.
Robert looked up at me with a cream cheese mustache. “Yum-it tastes really good.”
“What’s your favorite thing to eat since you’ve been healed?”
“I really like chocolate.” He looked over at me and grinned. “Yep, chocolate is really good!”
Tears ran down my cheeks as Robert spooned another giant blob of cream cheese frosting into his mouth. The Lord miraculously healed my son, so he could eat anything and everything, like my other children. He is our Great Physician. He’s able to do the impossible – He’s able to heal and touch our bodies with just one touch.
James 5:13 - 15, “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.” (NIV).
*Name changed