Testimony Tuesday - Jehovah Rapha!

---I would like to set aside Tuesdays as the day we testify to God's work in our lives.  I say we because I have asked women at the River Church to share what God is doing in their lives and families.  These are their stories!  "They defeated him [the accuser] through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their witness." Revelations 12:11 (MSG)---
 
I have been asking God since you started testimonies what He wanted me to
share with everyone.  I feel like our year has been nothing but Mike being
in school.  (I know you know how that feels!)  But I know that God does
more than just one thing at a time.  I have felt stuck for the past year,
and didn't really know what God could want me to share- even though I know
He is always at work.  So I guess sharing about how He has been Jehovah
Rapha to Mike, not once, but FOUR times this year is a good place to start.

My husband Mike is a relatively healthy guy.  If you look at a medical
chart, nothing would really stand out as a serious problem.  But God works
in the seen and unseen, and if you don't believe He is still healing people
today, let me just tell you about our year.

For several years, Mike has had burning sensations in his skin
periodically.  They were never in the same spot, and the feeling never
lasted long.  He had been dealing with some exhaustion and memory fogginess
as well, but had dismissed it as just being one of those people who needs
twelve hours of sleep a night, and getting older.  In March, the burning
sensation became more intense, and pin prick feelings began to bother him
for hours at a time. 

He went to his doctor, who immediately set up a
consultation with a nerve specialist.  The doctor didn't give Mike a
definitive diagnosis, but with Mike's history of working with jet fuel in
the Marines, told him that it was probably a nerve condition caused from
exposure during his service.  The disorder would eventually claim Mike's
entire body, causing him to be wheel chair bound before he turns 50.  It
was a scary prognosis, and Mike went through a low like I have never seen
in him before.  I just prayed for peace, wisdom, and answers.  I
immediately called on my prayer team, and rallied them around us in prayer.


Two days later, Mike was doing his own research about the disorder, and
after much searching, found that nerve damage can be caused by a vitamin
B12 deficiency, such as that caused by long term use of acid re flux
medication.  He had been taking a heartburn medication for almost ten
years.  That day he stopped taking it, bought a B12 supplement, and started
blasting his system with it. 

The next night, Mike had a dream where someone grabbed his hand from behind, and said "I am taking this from you." He woke up in terror, and couldn't shake the feeling all day.  I had a strange peace, and finally asked Mike if he knew the voice in his dream. He has had God-given dreams before where God has spoken to him, so I knew it was a possibility that God had spoken again.  At my question, Mike immediately began to feel peace.  The next night, we put our son to bed and pulled out our Bibles.  The Word says to "pray without ceasing", to "ask, and you shall receive", and to "bring your petitions before the Lord".  So we did.  I pulled out Stormie O'Martin's "Power of a Praying Wife", and
read the section on healing.  A scripture the Lord had given me six months
earlier was quoted in that section, and it immediately resonated in Mike's
spirit.  Isaiah 58:8- "Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and
your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before
you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard."  Rear guard.  The
person in the dream was behind him. 

We went to sleep that night with a peace we hadn't felt in a week.  Two days later, our friends and family of choice gathered with us to pray for his healing.  Mike pulled out his Bible before we left the parking lot, and opened to where Jesus heals Peter's mother.  Scripture says he "took her hand" and she was healed.  Hmm... The next morning, we met with the neurologist.  He could find nothing wrong with Mike.  Taking the B12 has started to repair the damage to his nerves, and his exhaustion and memory loss are gone.

Two months later, Mike got food poisoning.  He is one of those guys who
doesn't get the "man cold", he just wants to sleep and be left alone when
he is sick.  So I didn't notice when he started showing warning signs of
dehydration.  It was when he looked at me with two black eyes that I forced
him to get in the car so I could take him to the ER.  I called my prayer
team again, and coveted each prayer for his safety and healing.  By the
time we got there, he wasn't making any sense when he spoke.  He sucked
down two bags of fluid in less than two hours.  They gave us anti nausea
pills and sent us home.  After taking the pills, he quickly recovered, but
it was quite a scare.

Three months later, he got food poisoning again.  We still had some of the
anti nausea pills, which God brought to my mind, and we narrowly avoided
another ER trip.

This fall, Mike started having severe heartburn and stomach pains.  He took
another trip to the doctor, and was diagnosed with gall stones.  An
ultrasound revealed not just a few stones, but that his gallbladder was
LINED with tiny stones.  My speed dial got another workout as I called in
another prayer strike.  One week later, he had surgery to remove the
gallbladder.  He did very well in surgery, has recovered well, and his
heartburn has almost completely been healed.  That silly organ which caused
his heartburn, which caused his nerve damage, is finally gone.

Now, you can say that common sense, doctors, modern medicine, and Mike's
copious amounts of research is what healed him, but that would be a flat
out lie.  God DOES heal.  He DOES answer prayer.  He IS concerned with our
suffering.  Jehovah Rapha healed Mike, not once, but a miraculous FOUR
times this year.  We choose to see His loving hand in everything we have
faced this year. He IS our sustainer and strength, our fortress, and by HIS
stripes, we are healed.  Praise the Lord with us this Christmas as we look
back at what God has done.  We have overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and
the word of our testimony!

Blessings,
Sarah