Healing

We Jesus died on the cross He paid the price for our sin, but also for the healing of our physical bodies. This page is a testament to His healing power in the lives of our church family.

"He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed." - 1 Peter 2:24 (NLT)

Today, I am 16 days "Brain Pain" free! Our God is a magnificent healer! A great physician! I receive his healing and believe I will have a "brain pain" free life because God's got bigger plans for me! At age 10 I was diagnosed with migraines and in 2017 diagnosed with cluster headaches. For the last 20ish years I had tried to 'manage' my "brain pain" as I affectionately call it to the best of my ability but still found that my life was often ruled and ruined by my condition. Last year was one of the worst years I have had as far as attacks and I finally had had enough and I surrendered to God and started praying for healing. Miraculous healing of my brain pain. I stopped skipping church when my head was hurting and showed up to serve in EPiC kids and went to the altar. I received healing prayers from members of our church. I kept praying. I started reading about healing in God's word. I continue to recite/ read this verse as part of this healing journey: Mark 5:34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." This year, it was my number one prayer request. I shared it with our women's ministry asking for warriors to come alongside me in prayer. My husband and 2 boys began laying hands on me and praying for me to be healed. I started speaking LIFE! Instead of my normal comments like "my head hurts" or "I feel a migraine coming on" I started speaking things like "I feel great" and "my head will not hurt today". God has heard and begun answering my prayers!

Around Christmas time last year, I started having extreme back pain. For the next few months, it intensified rapidly. I had undergone weight loss surgery a few years ago and because of that, my doctor urged me not to take pain medications. By April the pain was 24/7 with little or no relief and only seemed to be increasing. After seeing several doctors and specialists, none had any solutions. I was nearing my personal pain threshold. I have never considered suicide but I do remember thinking that I was starting to understand why a person would consider this as an option, the pain was starting to be unbearable. As my wife and I sat in church one Sunday early in April, an elder and his wife came behind us and prayed for me. I don’t remember anyone ever doing this for me. The next day we decided to try one more doctor. The nurse we talked to told us that it was normally a six-month wait to get in, but a cancellation happened just moments before. If we could make it there in thirty minutes that appointment was ours. I went to his office three times a week for the next two months for laser pain therapy, a strict diet, and a large supplement list later, I found myself pain-free. But as the pain subsided I soon realized that depression had taken its place. I couldn’t understand, I had so much to be grateful for why was I feeling so horrible? I hated my job and could tell that I was not fun to be around. Something had to change but what? I was in a very dark place. My wife convinced me to talk to one of the two faces I knew at church, he is an elder here. I felt like I needed to talk to someone but wasn’t interested in a psychologist so I agreed. I took a week off work and spent the whole week praying about wanting something more meaningful in my life. On Friday he stopped over to talk. It wasn’t long into this conversation and I had a strange sense that we were drawn together by a higher being. Never had this happen before that, but I knew this was no coincidence. I felt like our talk was just as needed for him as it was for me, mind blown. He suggested that even though I had been going to church for twenty years, baptized with my son eleven years ago, I had not been saved. This was confusing at first but the more I thought about it after he left the more it made sense. I sat on my back deck and prayed like I had never done before. It was like I suddenly knew what “with all my heart” meant. For the next couple of hours, I was overcome by the Holy Spirit. It was an experience like I had never had, not even close. I suddenly knew the answers to questions I had always wanted the answers for, everything was so crystal clear. I no longer felt depressed. Anxiety was lifted. I was told of gift that I already had and that in time I would be able to use this gift. He didn’t want me to quit my job just yet, there was work for me to do there. In the meantime, I needed to arrange my life more in line with His. There was going to be a period of preparation in which would be used to rebuild my character. And then we talked about a habit that I needed to kick. For several years I had been using marijuana as an aid for my pain, anxiety, and depression. I was high every day, it was taking a toll on our finances. I was supposed to use Him for these things. It was a message I couldn’t ignore. I quit along with drinking and cigarettes cold turkey on June 28. I’ve never felt better. For about a week, I was flooded with memories of all the times in my life that He was there, I just didn’t know it. It has been heavy on my heart to learn as much as possible, I've never been more passionate about anything, the more I learn, the more I get hungry for more. I have enrolled in an online seminary, and taking my third class since starting two months ago, even testing out of one of my classes. The changes that have happened to me are being noticed at work. My boss has expressed interest in our church recently. I know that there are big things in store for me I know it, the only hurdle left is myself. But with the power of the Holy Spirit guiding me, this is just the beginning.

A million thanks to everyone who has stood in agreement with us over the past few weeks for Anna Burnett. Here’s the gist... God is a good and is still in the business of working miracles and bringing healing. Anna did very well under anesthesia with no issues, stressors, or concerns. During the heart cath, they were able to get through to both sides of the heart (God’s hand at work! 4 years ago they were not able to get through the scar tissue) - the Mitral valve is doing fine with no leakage, (God’s hand at work! Echo and Cardiac MRI previously showed at least mild regurgitation) the Pulmonary valve has mild/moderate leakage, (still God’s hand at work! - Echo and Cardiac MRI showed more serious regurgitation), the Coronary arteries look good (even the left one which they were most worried about - God’s hand!), the stent is wide open - no need for dilation (God’s hand!). There is still moderate depression of the heart function, especially in the ventricles, and signs of Congestive Heart Failure which should be manageable with an increase in medication. During the Electrophysiology testing, they discovered that Anna’s Sinus and AV nodes are both working better than previous studies indicated (God’s hand at work!). They were able to complete all testing without any dangerous rhythms appearing (God’s hand at work! - previous testing showed junctional rhythm and ventricular tachycardia)... due to this the ICD - defibrillator/pacemaker is being put on hold. There are no words to express my gratitude to all of you who held us in your prayers when we were scared, worried, and weak and who tolerated me blowing up your phone with my requests.  We are continuing to pray over Anna for complete healing while we praise God for the work He has done so far.

Last week Wednesday I was sick. I rarely get sick, but when I do, it's usually pretty bad. I had to work Wednesday and then serve Wednesday night. I struggled to focus, my head was cloudy, it hurt SO bad! Both of my ears hurt, my chest was heavy and my throat hurt. My voice was gone. It was hard to maintain a positive attitude. If I'm honest, it was hard to just stay awake. Wednesday evening a friend of mine left the small group that she was facilitating and waited for me to be available so she could take me to the prayer team. The prayer team prayed over me, and all I could think was, "Lord, help me to receive these prayers. I want to receive these healing prayers, Father!" The whole time they prayed, that's all I could think. I didn't feel better after their prayer. I didn't feel better when my serving ended. But when I got home, after I tucked my kids into bed and I could lay my own head down, I was pain-free! I had been physically healed by GOD for the FIRST time in my life!!

I had been dealing with debilitating back pain for several days. My family went to church on Sunday morning and after the service my wife and I went to one of the prayer stations. I was anointed with oil and we prayed for my healing. I woke up the next morning a little stiff but the pain was completely gone. Within 24 hours I was completely healed. No pain and no stiffness. GOD IS GREAT!

God has been putting on my heart to share a testimony of mine. One of many beautiful blessings in my life. My mother lives in the south east (North Carolina). I hadn’t known that, nor been able to contact her for several months. I had been trying to reach her quite often to see how she was and let her know I loved her. Months past and no answer. One day I woke up with a terrible feeling that something was actually wrong. I called all of my extended family and tracked down where she lived and got them to communicate to her that if she didn’t contact me soon I was going to drive down south. Finally she contacted me and I could since she was hiding something. She had been diagnosed with cancer and battling it for months. All the time she had been hiding it and fighting this battle alone. Afraid to burden anyone in the family. I told her “momma I love you and god will work it out. Please be confident and know I am here for you. God has pulled me from the darkness and he will do the same for you.” This communication came on the weekend before my first night of worship here at LifeChange. That Wednesday night after pouring everything I had into the lord and receiving love and support from my family here in Michigan. My mother was healed. She got a phone call from her doctor that very night at 11:30. The lord had blessed her. He had blessed my entire family. Her time here with people that love her is far from over. I pray that this story of mine can help in some way. I love our lord and he loves us.

Three weeks ago my brother and his wife had come up from Iowa to visit during their spring break. Both are teachers. He stumbled on a sidewalk and fell face first striking his head on the cement. Two high school students saw him lying there and assisted him in getting up and into the house. All he complained about was a severe headache and he exhibited no sighs of a concussion or any neuro deficits. It was decided to take him to the ER for evaluation of a possible closed head injury. Imagine our immense shock and surprise when the xray and CT scan reports came back showing a fracture of C1, the vertebrae at the base of the skull atop the spinal column and some involvement of C2 as well. He had sustained the type injury that has a fatality rate approaching 98%. Of the remaining 2% of those so injured the great majority are completely paralyzed with many requiring a respirator to even breath. Only a very small handful survive with no deficits whatsoever. When the neuro surgeon came out of surgery he told us that , to everyone's great surprise, when they got in there it was discovered that C1 was completely detached (free floating as he described it). Scans and xrays will show where things are at the time the images were obtained, but not movement. The spinal fusion was a success and my brother is now progressing thru rehab and regaining his strength, as well as learning how to cope with the cervical collar that he will be wearing for the next several months. The miracles that occurred didn't start with the two "high school students" who came to his aid initially. Try and tell us it wasn't my brothers guardian angle (according to scripture we all are assigned one) that was perfectly maintaining my brothers neck alignment all the way to the hospital) where even the slightest slip most likely would have proven fatal. They actually began days before when my wife and close friend Hope were together praying and my brother kept coming up in prayer. Obedient to the Spirit, they prayed for him and his protection not knowing why exactly. This entire experience has opened doors for for my whole family to see first hand God's hand in all of this. When one of the doctors asked my brother "how come you're not dead ?" he immediately replied "It's because of the industrial strength prayers of my family." More like it's God's incredible unmeasurable love and faithfulness to take care of His people. Bottom line: my brother is not dead, not paralyzed and should be ready for discharge HOME at the end of this week or the beginning of next, arrangements pending. He has a way to go most certainly but with continued prayer support he will get to his goal of teaching untill he is 80. To God be all the glory now and forevermore!

I had bloodwork done in preparation for a checkup/follow up appointment with the Oncologist for the leukemia. ALL of my regular bloodwork came back within normal range and my IGg is almost to normal which means that my immune system is kicking back in. I am continuing to believe God’s promise that “it is finished” and that complete healing is on the way.