08 The First Healing – The Tide Turns

One day in the second week of November 2021, while I was reading the posts on my support group, I came across a video of a myelopathy sufferer. It showed him walking before and after surgery. Prior to surgery he was virtually immobile and wheelchair bound. After surgery and physiotherapy, he was walking independently without a stick, although he still had significant mobility difficulties and gait caused by permanent damage to his spinal cord.

This video had a significant impact on me. I realised that the reality for so many sufferers of this condition was far more serious than it was for me at the present time. Unlike most sufferers I did not experience any actual pain. It was mostly numbness and tingling known as paraesthesia, electricity sensations all over when I did certain movements and muscle tightness, spasms and weakness in my leg muscles called spasticity. For the most part I was functional but slow and limited.

It also suddenly occurred to me that nothing had changed in my condition since diagnosis. I was still in the same state as I was before it had been diagnosed. The more I studied and understood about the condition, the more I realised I was becoming the condition. What I had started to fill my mind with was fast becoming evident in my body.

At that time our church services were being broadcast live on YouTube. By now a number of people at church and especially at ESSL knew of this condition, although not the full details. That Sunday the 7th November, Geof was on sound desk duty and I was worshipping from home. Patrick was preaching and he had a word of knowledge about pain in the back of the head and down the spine. He was pointing to his neck. I immediately claimed that word and continued to worship and watch the rest of the service (here is the link to that service. Skip to1:07:24). Geof later told me that he had also heard that word and he and Patrick prayed for me. The week passed uneventfully, although I had given up experimenting with pillows and neck supports.

On Thursday evening while getting ready for bed Geof started looking for the anointing oil as he felt prompted to use it. Unable to find it, he used massage oil to anoint my neck just before I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, 12th November 2022, was Friday and ESSL day. I decided that I would tell my ESSL Year 2 group about the diagnosis and the challenges of this condition and ask them to pray. I washed and dressed as usual. When I went downstairs I realised I had not been thinking much about this condition, although at that moment I did not feel any different. I packed my roll along bag and put my walking stick inside it. I had only recently started using a walking stick at church. I had bought a small neck cushion which I positioned at the base of the headrest of the car seat to support my neck. This was very comfortable and seemed to massage my neck. On the way, I picked up H as I often did and we chatted in the car as usual. I parked my recently purchased Mini in the main car park next to the church. H offered to carry my bag but I was able to wheel it along easily as I walked.

As I reached the building, I realised that I had forgotten to use my stick which was still in my bag but I really felt I didn’t need it. I also carried my bag easily up the stairs. I was aware that something felt different in my neck but I couldn’t put my finger on it. During the time of worship I became strongly aware of a physical change; a lightness in my neck and back. My body felt loose, pain free and more mobile. I began to test the function of my body by doing some yoga type movements which involved bending and twisting. I felt no discomfort in my neck or my back. The neuropathic symptoms of electricity coursing through my torso each time I bent down were gone. I could extend my head backwards and forwards without electricity cascading down my neck known as Lhermitte’s sign. The spasticity in my legs was also gone and my they felt unremarkable. I still felt numbness and tingling in the fingers of my left hand and also in my left big toe. Other than that, my body felt quite normal.

After around 5 minutes of contorting myself into different positions and shapes, I felt confident enough to approach Pete Carter and let him know about the changes I felt. He seemed surprisingly unsurprised. I have since learned that for Pete healing is the expectation. Something to always celebrate and give thanks to God for but not be surprised by. At the end of the time of worship Pete invited me to share with everyone what God had done. I explained about the condition as briefly as I could and what I could now do and demonstrated by bending very easily and without any discomfort. Pete highlighted the fact that although I had previously been prayed for a number of times, I had not actually received prayer that day. The spiritual culture and atmosphere of Heaven was permeating beyond the building into the car park, where I first became aware that something was different.

God’s miraculous healing remained the highlight of the day and was mentioned by everyone I came into contact with during the day. Most people had been unaware of the full extent of my condition, particularly those who had recently started first year of ESSL. To be honest, I have no idea at what point God’s healing touch had been released into my body. Perhaps it started during the time of worship or when I stepped out of my car and entered the building. Perhaps the new cushion on the headrest of the car had something to do with it. Strangely the cushion was really uncomfortable during the journey home and I have not used it for that purpose since. Perhaps my healing began the night before when Geof anointed my neck as his step of faith for my healing. Maybe it started when Patrick gave the word of knowledge 5 days previously, or even at the point at which I consciously stopped filling my mind with fear and negativity. Or maybe even, because our God is outside time and space, my healing began in eternity long before the formation of the heavens and the earth.