Are Healings Real?

On another forum, I posted this in the religious section on a thread started by another poster, which was titled:

Are Healings Real?

I believe healing is according to faith and also the will of God. If you pray, you should have faith for your requests to be met. However, it also has to be the will of God. For example, Joni Erickson Tada suffered an injury which rendered her a quadrapalegic. She is a devout Christian, and has not been healed to rise and walk, but as a quadrapalegic she has touched countless lives and inspired many people. Where would her ministry be without this injury? Maybe it still would be successful, but maybe God has used a bad thing for good purposes. This is one of the reasons I don't believe in Benny Hinn. He will tell people to rise and walk out of a wheelchair and when the person cannot, Hinn claims the one not healed does not have enough faith or has not accounted for a certain sin. Paul wrote letters of the New Testament while in shackles and chains and in prison, in fact, on death row so to speak. Yet, he rejoiced. It is not easy for any of us, but it is important to remember God is in control. I do believe, however, if the person has faith and it is God's will, they can be healed.

In September of 2005, I tore my Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) in my knee. The kneecap also dislocated four times this day. I had to keep it straight and not attempt to bend it at all over the next several days. Keeping the leg straight will hold the kneecap in place and not allow it to move or dislocate. I could feel it trying to do so, but I kept the leg straight and tried to ignore the jello like movement of the kneecap trying to move to the right. After the first few days, the kneecap stabilized and would not dislocate anymore or even try to do so. However, the knee swelled up and I could not hardly bend it at all. I could not put any pressure on it, wore a leg brace and had to use crutches. The orthopedic surgeon said the MCL usually will heal without surgery, but it would take a while with a lot of therapy. Some of the therapy consisted of easy exercises while other portions consisted of painful stretching to loosen up the scar tissue, which would not allow my leg to bend. Over time, I was able to bend it more and more until I walked a little at a time starting with baby steps and using a leg brace. After a few months, I could walk normally, but gingerly.

Three days before Christmas of 2005, I was walking around normally and convinced the leg was as good as new. I accidently stepped on a coworker's foot and my knee buckled. After three months of therapy and limiting my activity during a long healing process, I felt I was back at the start. I was heartbroken. My knee within minutes swelled up, I couldn't bend it, and I couldn't bear any weight on it. I went to a workman's comp doctor who not only had an orthopedic background, but she was considered one of the best in the area. She took x-rays, but could not do an MRI until the swelling went down. She was convinced, based on her past experiences and the symptoms of my knee and how it felt when she tugged on it, I had torn my Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). This ligament usually does require surgery and the therapy is much more intense and painful than with the MCL. After a week, I was scheduled to go back to the workman's comp clinic before being referred to the orthopedic surgeon I had been seing since September. This time it was a different doctor who also was thoroughly convinced I had torn my ACL.

I was reading Your Best LIfe Now by Pastor Joel Osteen at the time. I read the chapter of Pastor Joel speaking of his mother years ago being diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a few weeks to live at the most. While everyone cried and mourned, Mrs. Osteen said to stop and have faith. She prayed with faith and spoke words of healing over her body in the Name of Christ. That was twenty years ago and she is alive and cancer free now.

I felt I should do so with my knee. Remember, God can take a bad situation and use it for the good. As I prayed over my knee and spoke words of healing, SOF did as well. Shortly after my last appointment, I came down with one of the worst cases of the flu ever had. SOF got sick a few days after that. As we prayed day after day, one day we were lying in bed and watching a movie. She said my knee didn't look swollen anymore. With both injuries, I could not lift my heal off the ground while sitting with my hamstrings flat on the floor. The day before, I could not either and had swelling. When I saw the knee wasn't swollen anymore, I tried to lift my foot and was able to get it a few inches off the mattress. Later that night, I could lift it further. Eachj day I could lift it further until about four days later I was doing leg lifts and could walk normally with a full range of motion. It felt better than it did even right before my second injury.

When I went to the orthopedic surgeon he said, "I am sorry about what happened. I heard you reinjured your knee and after looking at the reports I am most convinced you have torn your ACL. We are probably going to have to operate. I jumped off the patient table I was sitting on and landed in a standing position with my legs slightly bent. I starting doing squats. The doctor had an amazed look on his face and told me to sit back down. He tugged on my leg and said if the ACL was torn the leg would give way, but the resistence showed the ACL was fully in tact. He could not explain it and said it was almost impossible for an injury of this magnitude to heal so quickly, especially with the first injury taking as long as it did.

To this day, I am fully convinced my ACL was torn and God healed me with the healing power of my Savior, Jesus Christ. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The same Christ who healed the blind, the sick, the lepers, and the bleeding woman healed my knee. Nobody can or ever will convince me otherwise.