Sometimes we believe that we have been given a promise by God, and at the time our faith is enormous and we receive the promise with all the faith our heart can handle.
But then, as time goes by, our faith begins to wane and our trust is a little misplaced and even replaced with human doubt and disbelief.
I say ‘human’ because faith is a thing of the spirit. Faith requires for us to believe in the supernatural, but when the natural seems to overwhelm our lives, it is very easy to allow our faith to diminish.
Sometimes we are not even aware that our faith has subsided – but the words that we speak become words of a lost hope, words that declare that we have accepted our defeat. Unfortunately, we take on these negative thoughts. We wear them like a cloak and eventually they define our stand.
I recently saw this in my own life. A beautiful miracle that, over time, I began to slowly dismiss until I eventually began to disbelieve the miracle completely.
Here is my story;
In high school, I began to really struggle with back ache which was brought on by my drum majorette baton throwing. Sometimes, the pain was so severe that I would actually crawl on the floor because I just could not walk. But in those days, I would take a panado, have a rest and the pain would go away.
Many years later, after the birth of our twins, I began experiencing terrible back ache again as a result of always picking up the two little ones together. No matter how many times I was advised not to do this, a mother’s heart just cannot let their babies cry when a cuddle is all they need.
I guess I always thought that the pain would go away until one day, while having a go at wakeboarding, the pain became so paralysing that I knew I had pushed it that much too far.
The result was a slipped disc which usually is treated by operation, but it is also possible to rehabilitate oneself through exercise and pilates.
On about the 3rd day out of hospital, some friends from our house church came over to pray with me. I was still in so much pain but I had been prescribed a bucketful of very strong meds so it was manageable. But when they prayed, they had a clear vision of my healing process being accelerated and the healing being complete! They explained the vision by likening it to a documentary which portrays the opening of a flower in fast motion. I included a YouTube clip below to enable you to captivate the vision too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjCzPp-MK48
I received those words with great hope and mountains of faith.
And within 6 weeks I was almost completely back to normal.
My physiotherapist has said that although I had recovered remarkably well, I should always live in the light of my ‘accident’ and should not consider running over 10km again.
And strangely enough, I took this on! Even though I knew and totally believed that I had been healed, I took on her reality. I dismissed my miracle and allowed her truth to be my guide.
For three whole years, I claimed that. I turned my miracle into a ‘half miracle’.
And then my husband and I were offered a team entry into a 4 day stage race. It had always been our dream to do an event together but after my accident, because I was holding onto the words that I should not run more than 10km, I would keep giving up on the idea.
Until now that is. My first thought had been that I should go to see my physiotherapist and ask if she felt I was now strong enough to take on the challenge.
And then it hit me. I was healed.
God doesn’t do things in half measures.
I must stand on the fullness of my miracle.
I want to be able to say that I am completely healed. Not that I was healed but I can never run further than 10km. No, I have been healed and I can run as far as I train to run.
And I continue to claim that promise as we train for our upcoming event. We are now in our second month of training. Our distances don’t often exceed 10km on a run but our weekly tally is about 40km’s and that is way more than anything I have done before – even before my accident.
God is good! I have been healed. And I claim that every time I step foot out of our house for a run.
That is the truth that I will take on.
And I would like to encourage you to stand firm on Gods promises to you. Through Christ His promises are Yes and Amen. He never changes His mind on His promises and He never goes back on His word.