Testimony
In November our church had a healing conference. A speaker ( Dennis Bournes) was over from the US and he did about a six week course in a weekend, cramming in lots of good solid Biblical teaching about healing and giving opportunity for people to ' have a go' themselves. As a result of that weekend our church did a follow up with a prayer team training evening which I attended.
That evening there was a slide up on the wall
As I sat looking at it all evening all I could see were the letters P M T . Which might well stand for Prayer Ministry Training, but which in ' real life' stand for Pre-Menstrual Tension 😀 Ahhhh don't you just love the God who isnt afraid to make people feel slightly uncomfortable in church? 😁
I sat listening to the teaching and the thought would not go away that I needed to share about PMT. It wasnt a ' share a word' kind of meeting, but at the end I got up and spoke to the guy leading the thing and asked if I could speak - and I gave the word and waited to see if anyone was going to respond.
After a few minutes, when it looked as though nobody was coming and people were leaving the meeting to go home, Helen approached me. She was pretty unsure about whether the word was for her but her husband had encouraged her to come and talk to me. She was having regular, crippling migraine headaches. Every month, sometimes lasting for a couple of days. She couldnt function when she had these headaches ( and as she has four young children this was hardly ideal) and she had been having them for so long and with such intensity that her GP had referred her to a consultant neurologist. The only trouble is that in Northern Ireland the waiting time to see a consultant is FOUR YEARS!!!!
As she talked, she said that she just believed that it was her lot in life to have these crippling headaches every month. I told her that it definitely wasnt and I then felt prompted to ask her if there was anything else about her cycle that was bothering her. She then said that ever since her periods had started they had always been really heavy, with bleeding quite often going on for two or three weeks out of four. Also very erratic and difficult to manage. Again, she just thought this was how it was for her - I dont think it had ever occurred to her to get prayer.
A friend and I prayed. I was angry that this lovely woman had had so much stolen from her over such a long time and I told the enemy to leave her alone in the name of Jesus and asked the Holy Spirit to bring His healing to every part of her. She stood quite quietly, it didnt particularly look as though anything much was happening. And then she hugged us and I told her I would keep praying for her. And off she went.
I did keep praying for her. I prayed pretty much every day for the next few weeks and we prayed for her as a family too ( I didnt give the boys too much detail!) After about a month I decided to message her to ask how things were. She excitedly told me that she hadnt had a headache since we had prayed. She and I were both greatly encouraged, but I wasnt quite prepared to believe that she had been healed. So I kept praying and after another month messaged her again. In the two months she had only had one slight headache - this was unheard of for her. And she said that her cycle seemed to be more ' normal' too. We both rejoiced. But I still was reluctant to say out loud that she was healed. You dont want these things to be a ' blip' do you? How long do you leave it before you stand up and shout that God has healed someone of something so crippling and debilitating?
Well, its four months on and as of yesterday she has not had any headaches, her life has completely transformed and she is able to say she has been healed. Her story has made me reflect on the woman with the issue of blood who reached out to touch Jesus. If talking about periods is still a bit awkward and embarassing in the 21st century, imagine the taboo it was back in Jesus's day! Women were deemed to be ' unclean' whilst menstruating, so this poor woman had been spiritually ostracised as well as having to manage the personal hygeiene issues of living in the Middle East with a pretty much permanent bleeding problem. She had no access to sanitary towels and tampons so would have been washing rags every day. She was possibly in pain all the time. More than likely she had never been able to have children - which would have been yet another social stigma. Her life must have been utterly miserable - but Jesus stopped for her. Spoke to her. Healed her. Smiled at her and blessed her. I cant start to imagine what a massive miracle that was for that woman and how it changed her life. But my friend Helen can! ( And she is more than happy for me to share this with you here 😀)
I also wondered about the conversation the early church fathers must have had when considering which testimonies to include in the canon of scripture. They could easily have left out that story as being a bit.... messy. But the Spirit of God saw fit to make sure they included it. Because God wants us to know that there are no ' Embarassing Bodies' to Him. There is no STD, no internal malfunction, no impotence or discharge or pain or anything else which causes Him to even blink an eyelid. He knows it all. And we, His church , need to have the same attitude. If we fear to speak the words, give the pictures, pray the prayers, then people stay bound in their pain and disfunction and brokenness.
Years ago at a conference in a huge arena God gave me the word Chlamydia. I didnt know what it was -but I was fairly sure it was something unpleasant. I chickened out of giving the word and went home to look it up. I SO wish Id given it now. Whether anyone would have responded or not I dont know. But the fact that God wanted to help and heal people with the condition is awesome. He really does care about every single secret, hidden, personal thing. So, if you have something personal and sensitive that you want God to deal with in your life please be brave and share it with someone who can pray. And if He speaks something ' awkward' to you at an inconvenient time or place - then be brave and share it. The worst thing that can happen is that you might look a bit silly for a few seconds. The best thing that might happen is that someone who has been in distress for years could be set radically and wonderfully free.
PS. Have bought one coffee so far - but it was with a meal out so...... I can get away with that right?
PPS. I know that some of you are going to think back to yesterdays post about ' what's the point?' and say that this post is the answer to that question. Yes I know that in my head but......
That evening there was a slide up on the wall
As I sat looking at it all evening all I could see were the letters P M T . Which might well stand for Prayer Ministry Training, but which in ' real life' stand for Pre-Menstrual Tension 😀 Ahhhh don't you just love the God who isnt afraid to make people feel slightly uncomfortable in church? 😁
I sat listening to the teaching and the thought would not go away that I needed to share about PMT. It wasnt a ' share a word' kind of meeting, but at the end I got up and spoke to the guy leading the thing and asked if I could speak - and I gave the word and waited to see if anyone was going to respond.
After a few minutes, when it looked as though nobody was coming and people were leaving the meeting to go home, Helen approached me. She was pretty unsure about whether the word was for her but her husband had encouraged her to come and talk to me. She was having regular, crippling migraine headaches. Every month, sometimes lasting for a couple of days. She couldnt function when she had these headaches ( and as she has four young children this was hardly ideal) and she had been having them for so long and with such intensity that her GP had referred her to a consultant neurologist. The only trouble is that in Northern Ireland the waiting time to see a consultant is FOUR YEARS!!!!
As she talked, she said that she just believed that it was her lot in life to have these crippling headaches every month. I told her that it definitely wasnt and I then felt prompted to ask her if there was anything else about her cycle that was bothering her. She then said that ever since her periods had started they had always been really heavy, with bleeding quite often going on for two or three weeks out of four. Also very erratic and difficult to manage. Again, she just thought this was how it was for her - I dont think it had ever occurred to her to get prayer.
A friend and I prayed. I was angry that this lovely woman had had so much stolen from her over such a long time and I told the enemy to leave her alone in the name of Jesus and asked the Holy Spirit to bring His healing to every part of her. She stood quite quietly, it didnt particularly look as though anything much was happening. And then she hugged us and I told her I would keep praying for her. And off she went.
I did keep praying for her. I prayed pretty much every day for the next few weeks and we prayed for her as a family too ( I didnt give the boys too much detail!) After about a month I decided to message her to ask how things were. She excitedly told me that she hadnt had a headache since we had prayed. She and I were both greatly encouraged, but I wasnt quite prepared to believe that she had been healed. So I kept praying and after another month messaged her again. In the two months she had only had one slight headache - this was unheard of for her. And she said that her cycle seemed to be more ' normal' too. We both rejoiced. But I still was reluctant to say out loud that she was healed. You dont want these things to be a ' blip' do you? How long do you leave it before you stand up and shout that God has healed someone of something so crippling and debilitating?
Well, its four months on and as of yesterday she has not had any headaches, her life has completely transformed and she is able to say she has been healed. Her story has made me reflect on the woman with the issue of blood who reached out to touch Jesus. If talking about periods is still a bit awkward and embarassing in the 21st century, imagine the taboo it was back in Jesus's day! Women were deemed to be ' unclean' whilst menstruating, so this poor woman had been spiritually ostracised as well as having to manage the personal hygeiene issues of living in the Middle East with a pretty much permanent bleeding problem. She had no access to sanitary towels and tampons so would have been washing rags every day. She was possibly in pain all the time. More than likely she had never been able to have children - which would have been yet another social stigma. Her life must have been utterly miserable - but Jesus stopped for her. Spoke to her. Healed her. Smiled at her and blessed her. I cant start to imagine what a massive miracle that was for that woman and how it changed her life. But my friend Helen can! ( And she is more than happy for me to share this with you here 😀)
I also wondered about the conversation the early church fathers must have had when considering which testimonies to include in the canon of scripture. They could easily have left out that story as being a bit.... messy. But the Spirit of God saw fit to make sure they included it. Because God wants us to know that there are no ' Embarassing Bodies' to Him. There is no STD, no internal malfunction, no impotence or discharge or pain or anything else which causes Him to even blink an eyelid. He knows it all. And we, His church , need to have the same attitude. If we fear to speak the words, give the pictures, pray the prayers, then people stay bound in their pain and disfunction and brokenness.
Years ago at a conference in a huge arena God gave me the word Chlamydia. I didnt know what it was -but I was fairly sure it was something unpleasant. I chickened out of giving the word and went home to look it up. I SO wish Id given it now. Whether anyone would have responded or not I dont know. But the fact that God wanted to help and heal people with the condition is awesome. He really does care about every single secret, hidden, personal thing. So, if you have something personal and sensitive that you want God to deal with in your life please be brave and share it with someone who can pray. And if He speaks something ' awkward' to you at an inconvenient time or place - then be brave and share it. The worst thing that can happen is that you might look a bit silly for a few seconds. The best thing that might happen is that someone who has been in distress for years could be set radically and wonderfully free.
PS. Have bought one coffee so far - but it was with a meal out so...... I can get away with that right?
PPS. I know that some of you are going to think back to yesterdays post about ' what's the point?' and say that this post is the answer to that question. Yes I know that in my head but......
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