Merry Christmas!

                   Celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Healer, today!

Luke 2: 7-16:  “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

          Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

                                                               --*--

     If you keep reading this story (and the stories of healing later in the Gospels) what you will find is that this news was so life-changing that those who were reborn and those who were healed could not keep the news to themselves, but went out and told everyone they could find.  I do not know why we don’t seem to have that same fervor for telling others what God has done for us today, but I do know from first- hand experience that God still heals, God still raises up, God still answers our prayers! How do I know?  Here is just a sampling of how God has healed me physically and blessed my life just since A Healing Place has been open.

     When the prospective volunteers for A Healing Place met together to be trained and prayed over before opening A Healing Place to guests, I had tripped over my huge dog a couple of days before, and my knee made it difficult to walk because of the swelling and pain. We were praying for each other in regard to the ministry; I did not mention my knee to anyone. When I left, I stopped by the Ladies Restroom, and as I was exiting, my knee popped. My instantaneous thought was, “Oh, no! My knee is going to give out.” But that was not the case. Oh, no! God instantly healed my knee, the swelling and pain were gone, and I could walk normally with no adverse effect! Awesome God, eh?!

     The following Spring, I felt like I was dying of misery from congestion in both my head and chest due to seasonal allergies, which I’ve suffered from for many years. This was the worst case I could remember. I had taken every kind of allergy medicine, tried all kinds of traditional medical advice as well as home remedies, holistic health suggestions, and even had gotten an allergy shot earlier in the week, all to no avail. When I went to A Healing Place for prayer, I was in pain, face and neck swollen, unable to speak, and could not go a minute without a tissue to my face. After being ministered to in prayer for several minutes, I noticed first, the pain was gone, then I could actually breathe through my nose, and became aware that I had not had to raise my tissue to my face (or replenish tissues) ever since the prayers began. When I left, I could breathe freely, my swelling and pain were gone, the dripping was over, and within a couple of hours, my voice was back after a two-day absence! Praise the Lord…say awesome God again!

     A few months later, I was talking with one of the prayer ministers who was saying that God had healed her of a cancerous mole without surgery. I mentioned  that I had a spot on my upper chest near my throat that I was concerned about and had made an appointment with a dermatologist to look at it.  I have had a large funny shaped freckle there since I was a child (which is many, many years ago). But lately it had grown larger, and had a “clump” of skin that had grown on top of it, which was certainly not pretty, and was tender to the touch. As I was still talking with her, she placed her hand over this spot and prayed healing over it, commanding it to go in the name of Jesus. By the time I left A Healing Place about two hours later, the spot was totally flat, and I could not feel it as I stroked my fingers over the spot. I had to look in the mirror to see if it was there because the tenderness and build-up of tissue was completely gone! By the time I went to bed that night, the spot as it had been was nearly gone from sight. There is still an interestingly shaped freckle in that spot,  as always had been, but it is even smaller and lighter than it has ever been as long as I can remember. Hallelujah! Can you say “Awesome God!”

     Besides healing me physically time and time again, God has met my needs in other ways. When I was 7 years old, my cousin who was the exact same age as I, and my best buddy, died as he was having a tonsillectomy. I grew up being terrified of doctors, and most especially the idea of ever having surgery. As I grew up, I knew this was psychological, and that as a Christian especially, I should have no fear of surgery. Still, it was my desire that I could live my whole life for as long as God planned without ever needing surgery, and God blessed me in that way for 63 years. Last month I consented to having cataract surgery on my left eye, which is deformed and always had very poor vision pre-cataract. Bearing this history in mind, I want to tell you that I had absolutely no fear; perfect peace was God’s gift to me during this time. My surgery went so well that even immediately after, I could not have told you which eye had the surgery just going by how my eyes felt. I healed quickly and perfectly, and have better vision in my left eye than I ever have in my life. Really? Yes, absolutely. My God IS an Awesome God!

     God likes to do things for you besides physically healing, too. I live in a very small house but my family is growing larger by the day, it seems. I invited everyone to our house for Thanksgiving. The night before, I received a call from two different adult grandkids asking if they could bring a friend with them. Of course I said yes, although I didn’t promise them a chair to sit in! As I was heading to bed, I actually said out loud, “Well, God, I think tomorrow might need to be a ‘fish and loaves’ kind of day.” Can you guess what happened?  I did not add any food to what I had already planned, but not only did everyone eat all they wanted (and that’s a lot in my family), but I sent so much food home with various ones that we had to find boxes to put it in. Then we still had leftovers ourselves for three more meals. At the risk of sounding redundant, GOD IS AWESOME!

     And finally, as you are celebrating Christmas Day today, I know it took a lot to get you to this point. Anyone who has been shopping knows what a nightmare trying to get anyplace in a reasonable time, and any kind of parking place seems nothing short of a miracle. And you know what? God says He will make a way through the wilderness for us, and that’s exactly what He’s been doing for me. No matter how horrible the traffic, God has made a smooth path for me, guiding me through traffic, opening up perfect parking places, moving me among kind people, sending me to just-opening checkout lines, etc. He has truly made a safe and peaceful path through the jungle of harried, impatient, stressed shoppers and traffic this season. God keeps His promises, in the little things as well as the big.

     The best promise of all that God made was that He would send a Savior, and He did on that night described in Luke 2, and that Savior’s name is Christ Jesus! May God bless you with His salvation and peace this Christmas.

                                “Peace on earth will come to stay,

                                          When we live Christmas every day.                                                              ~                                                           ~Helen Steiner Rice