Answers to Prayer

Answers to Prayer

About 2 months ago, at our weekly prayer meeting, I desperately cried out to the Lord to see more people coming to Christ. That week I received a phone call from a lady that attends our women’s study. She said that there was a man in their trailer park, who live in a trailer across from her, that she had been giving tracts to and sending cards of encouragement to. She said that he was a very angry and unpleasant man to be around. That week he had told her that he had prayed the prayer in the tract and wanted to start going to church. Since her church was a long ways away, recommended Chapel Ridge and asked if he would like to talk to one of the pastors. I visited him that week and he told me of his very difficult life, growing up in a French Canadian family with 16 siblings, abuse, cancer 2 times, etc. However, he also told me, with tears, how after a cancer operation on his throat and going home with a feeding tube, he became very ill and thought he was about to die. His sister-in-law and neighbor said they would pray for him and while walking in the trailer park, his feeding tube came out as if someone had pulled it out (later his doctor confirmed that he had never heard of anything like this ever happening). Immediately he felt well and knew that God had helped him and wanted to get right with God. Since then he has been coming to church regularly, and reading his Bible and praying regularly too. He has also been working hard to be reconciled to family members and working for reconciliation among them. The people in the trailer park are amazed at the change in him and have asked the lady who shared Christ with him if she do that with others. This greatly encouraged me to keep crying out to God for souls. I pray that He will help you also and that you will be able to join us as at our monthly Zoom Room prayer meetings as we cry out to God for Him to revive us and us to reach the lost. (submitted by Ken Roth of Chapel Ridge FMC, Ottawa, ON, October 30/18)

 

As some of you know, I live with chronic back pain and have for 29 ½ years. So rarely does any pain more consume me than the pain in my back. Well last Sunday evening my upper arm/shoulder started hurting. I truly do not know what actually caused it. Being right handed this cause me a great deal of grief. Everything became more difficult for this right handed person. And the pain?… let’s just say it would bring tears to my eyes. Monday I spent at a funeral of a friend. Tuesday another friend’s funeral. The pain was quite unbearable. I hope you all can forgive me for the limp hugs at the funerals as I could barely move my arm away from my body. By 4:30 Tuesday afternoon I was at the chiropractor to determine what might be wrong and if he could help or if I had to go to my family doctor. His diagnosis was that my arm was out of place or dislocated at the shoulder. He did ultrasound therapy, acupuncture, cold therapy, tens therapy and manipulation. He said I should see a significant improvement. Yeah… NOPE! He gave me a couple of exercises to do and I was to go back to see him on Friday.

 

The pain did not improve. In fact it seemed to get worse especially in the evenings and through the night. One of the exercises I am to stand facing close to the wall and walk my fingers up the wall until my arm is fully extended above my head. That was the hardest exercise bringing tears to my eyes each time. Voltaren Emulgel became my friend giving me slight relief. Wednesday night the church prayer group prayed for me. Following the prayer meeting was the Prayer Point Prayer Meeting. As I sat there in that meeting my shoulder was in a tremendous amount of pain. Thursday night it was my worst night yet. Friday it was back to the chiropractor, he again did the full range of treatment mentioned above. He also told me to push through the pain, continue the exercises and ice it. If not, it could develop into something called frozen shoulder that could last 3 years. So, I continued with the exercises as I didn’t want to get Frozen Shoulder. There was a slight improvement in my range of motion. Fingers crawling up the wall was still so very painful. Saturday I continued to push through the pain with the exercises. All week the song that kept running through my mind when I was struggling with the pain was “I Shall Not Be Moved” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz-c4tHo1JI I kept claiming this, as the pain I was experiencing was not going to get the better of me.

 

This brings me to Sunday morning. I didn’t sleep well because of the pain but, up was up early and did my exercises. I could barely move my arm away from my body it was that painful. A few inches was about all. But I pushed through the pain and manage to climb my fingers up the wall only twice and assisted by my other hand. At church that morning, Pastor Adrian who was to be prayed for because he was experiencing some severe back pain himself, also invited me up to be prayed for. So forward I went to be prayed for and anointed with oil. He had asked another congregant to pray and anoint us. Pastor Adrian was prayed for first, then myself. As I was prayed for and anointed I believe God could heal me, but I also know that I have gone forward several years earlier to be anointed and prayed over for my back pain and for whatever reason I was not healed. During the prayer I felt a warm constant pressure on my shoulder. A number of people had laid their hands on Pastor Adrian and myself. Immediately following the prayer I felt God tell me go ahead and raise your arm see if it is real. I resisted. Again I heard/felt the same thing. Slowly and reluctantly because I do not like to draw attention to myself and it was in the middle of the Sunday morning service, I lifted my arm all the way up. My arm/shoulder was a little stiff but it wasn’t sore. The excruciating pain was gone. The thankful tears came. There were no words as I sat there, but tears and praise to God. I raised that arm high during every song throughout the rest of the service praising God for the healing. That night I slept well and it was the first night in a week that I did not need the Voltaren rub. (submitted by Debbie LaRocque of St. Joseph Island FMC, ON, September 26/18)