I chose today to finish my testimony series. Today is signifcant for 2 different reasons, 1st of which is, today I turn 4 years old in the Lord. Just 4 short years ago today, I awoke never expecting to meet the Creator of the entire universe, nor did I expect to be born a second time. And yet, regardless of my head knowledge and in spite of my beliefs, my heart was changed on this day, a 180 degree change. I will share the 2nd reason at the end.
Throughout our first year of walking with God, we went to work on our marriage which was badly damaged and behind closed doors was not that great. That has been restored and we are together in ways now that we could only imagine, or I should say Bonnie only imagined for many years. I really only wanted a quiet peaceful marriage which is fantasy land. I could write volumes on what we went through and it was traumatic, dramatic and more interesting than a soap opera but I'll just say it's always an ongoing process. My single biggest gain in our walk has been to really get to know my wife and partner. The biggest help to our marriage was reading Discovering the Mind of a Woman.
Around 2 years later, an event happened that radically changed us even more. 
Our eldest daughter, Gretchen, who was off at Columbia International University, Columbia, SC for her freshman year, called us to inform us there was an accident. While playing basketball with some boys, BOYS!, one kid came down with a rebound and fell into her knee. She had to stop playing and was having difficulty walking on it. The next day in the cafeteria, the knee totally gave out on her and she fell in a heap in front of everyone. They needed permission to go see a doctor. After seeing the doctor, he ordered a series of MRIs and diagnosed her with a totally torn ACL, with inconclusive but probable MCL and miniscus damage. Her knee in athletic terms was blown out. No good. We were informed that these things don't and can't heal without reconstructive surgery. She was gung ho on having the surgery and we were less enthusiastic about someone cutting on our little girl's knee. We urged her to just keep it wrapped and get herself home for the holidays and we could look into it more.
She came home for Christmas break and things were contentious between us. This injury was putting a wedge in our relationship. We searched God's heart and held onto the healing promises in His Word. At that time, the church we attended was what is referred to as a "Seeker Friendly church" and we never heard much on miracles or healings. We heard one story in our prayer circle of a woman who had a large mass discovered in her abdomen that mysteriously disappeared the next week after coming to the elders for prayer. We held onto that while Gretchen was insistent on God wanting her to have surgery. We were at loggerheads over the matter.
She came home with MRIs in hand and we asked if she would go to a surgeon up here that we knew and trusted. She agreed and we went to see our area's top orthopedic surgeon. He is well known for "doing" all the local top athletes in our area. After meeting him, he confirmed the other surgeon's diagnosis and assured us it was a simple procedure that he's done thousand's of times and with alot of prehab and rehab she should be able to do everything she always did before. He also added that she should be fitted for a $1200 brace and that this was the start of arthritis in her knee and there was nothing that could prevent that from starting and growing over the coming years now. Nice, real nice.
It was a quiet ride home. Gretchen was happy about it, we were very sad. I credit Bonnie with sticking to what she heard God promise which was, He could heal her. We left with prehab instructions and a time schedule of the procedure which we would schedule for the 1st week of her summer vacation to give her all the summer to rehab the knee. Still, Bonnie insisted we keep going to the Throne of Grace. Gretchen is a wonderful daughter and honors her parents so, the first Sunday we approached our elders at church and did as James tells us to do. Nothing. We took her to a friend who has had some healings in her history, we prayed and worshipped and nothing. Well, nothing immediate that is.
With break over, she went back to school, a little miffed at us for sticking to our guns even though we said we'd cover the surgery costs... We kept praying each and every day for her. In the meantime, we were hearing more at our church speaking against the gifts of healing, raising the dead, casting out demons was really not for today and it was coming against things we were reading such as Smith Wigglesworth, Bill Johnson and Heidi Baker books as well as we just knew these things were still happening, we'd witnessed some at other places we visited. (We were so hungry for the Lord we went to services of all kinds as well as our regular church-We watched Christian TV and heard messages preached at a rate averaging 1 a day) We were on fire and knew what we knew.
I remember the trip to take her to school and we had stopped at MorningStar Fellowship Church, Rick Joyner's church in Fort Mill, SC. There was a man named Cliff walking through the church between rows of seats before the service and it appeared he was praying or just in his own world. He paused in front of us for a second and had this glistening in his eyes like I've never seen in real life before. Almost like he was about to cry, but he had the most peaceful look and countenance about him. He just said "Hello, where are you from?", with a smile, and we started talking with him a little. We told him why we were visiting and such. He then looked at Gretchen and said and I'll never forget this as long as I live, "I think I have a Word from God for you, would you like to hear what He has to say?" We nodded approval and he said this to Gretch: "You are on a journey right now to find your own faith. Not your parent's faith, not your grandparent's but your own faith. You will find more than you ever thought you would and it will change your life as you know it." That was a good word right there and it really rang true.
These words came back in a huge way on March 26th, 2008. Just the night before while Bonnie and I were praying together, I noticed she had Gretchen's MRIs out in front of her and she said we need to pray tonight for this to be done. After we prayed for awhile I heard her say, "Thank you Father for healing our little girl's knee." I remember saying something like -that's a pretty confident statement. She said, "God just told me it would be done." I have to confess at that moment I was resigned to the surgery too and did not share 100% what she felt.
Then the phone call came and we heard Gretchen say... "You're not going to believe this..." Bonnie started crying immediately and said "Yes I will." She then spilled the whole glorious story to us of how it was prayer day and her roommate Betty told her she thought she heard God tell her if she prayed over her knee that He would heal it totally. She told us how they had no idea what to do or pray and consulted Betty's mother who told them "Find some oil and read James to pray the prayer of faith over her" They could only find vegetable oil in the kitchen and went to their room, locked the door and started praying. Within minutes she said she felt a searing heat hit her knee, go all the way up and down her leg and side. Then she heard a voice say... "Try it out." This is where some people just have a hard time, but that morning she had great difficulty walking up and down stairs without her knee giving out, there was a constant swelling from fluids built up and well it was a mess. So after hearing- try it out... she stood up, fine. She walked a little, again fine and no pain. Then she heard "run". So they went out in the hallway and she ran slowly and then gradually worked up to a sprint. She heard "jump on it"... so she started jumping, then planting and cutting and all the things she couldn't do for the last 6 months of her life. The swelling was gone, there was no pain, she had total control over her knee... IT WAS A BONAFIDE, INSTANTANEOUS MIRACLE! We hadn't heard her so excited and happy for so long. It turns out that when Betty visited our church, she was hit with a vision, she was with Jesus when He told her to look at her hands showing her how her hands glowed and were hot and that she had to go back now and share this with her friends. She was so confused by it that she never told anyone until now.
Since that day, each and every one in our family has experienced, first hand, His amazing healing power. Bonnie had a frozen shoulder healed, I lost bone spurs in both heels and one shoulder as well as a word of knowledge given to me about an ear infection I had for a few days, and was healed on the spot, Jessica had a planter's wart just fall off with no treatment other than prayer and it has not returned. His love and power are amazing.
I'll wrap this whole thing up with one of the greatest miracles of restoration I might ever see and I still believe the greatest miracle there is, a transformed life... and the 2nd reason I chose to post this today. My most excellent friend John Hubers' birthday is today. Back when I told him about what had happened to me on this day in 2005, I don't remember him telling me and I think he kept it to himself, but the date stuck in his mind because of it being his natural birthday. It made a mundane story suddenly grab ahold of him and make him take notice. Even though we were close friends at one time, I couldn't tell you his exact birthday. After hearing my testimony, the Holy Spirit started His work within John. It's a process that each born-again Christian has gone through if we really care to go back and examine it. Just last month, I made a trip out to visit with John at his home in Cedar, MN. I traveled 19 hours each way by car with our mutual friend Rich. The same one who actually unknowingly got my heart opened a crack for the Holy Spirit to start working on me. I only knew him through John. Full cycle. Does anybody else think it's improbable if not impossible, that I would spend this much time getting to know someone who just 4 years ago wouldn't have spent a dime on? Even funnier is that John always said he wished we'd get to know Rich and Karen better. Well now we do and I am thrilled to count Rich and Karen as very close friends also. So here we were now, on our way to see John together for a long weekend. (By the way, Bonnie saw this happening before the idea ever came up as well... when she hears something, I listen) While visiting John I got to tell him how I owe my whole salvation and eternity to meeting him. Basically, he saved my life without even knowing it and now, I owe my life to he and Rich. The funny thing is Rich used to talk to John all the time about the Gospel but it just never made a lot of sense to John. The whole story came full circle in this moment in time. The plowman overtaking the reaper... Here we are now, 3 men who, only by God, came together to form a 4 strand cord that won't soon be broken. We were all hellraisers at one time, and now we shake hell's rusty gates. So this last picture is for you John... until I see you skiing again, and I know I will.
Not proud of who we were... just building our testimonies.
One last note: At this writing, John is now walking totally unassisted and is working part time... that's full time for most people, but with facing one more surgery in December to take out all the metal in his pelvis, they insisted on him not working full time yet. He still has a great deal of pain but he's the toughest guy I know and is dealing with it along with the loss of Judy. The doctors originally said he'd be in the hospital 8-9 months before he'd be ready for a wheelchair, he walked out with a walker in 10 weeks (remember he was in a coma for the 1st 4) and back working in 14 weeks. He had a lot of prayer covering him... again, during the early days following the accident we kept hearing reports that they weren't sure if he'd make it... Bonnie said she heard he would on day one and I felt it also... I believed it then and to see the results is simply stunning. He's slowly putting his life back together and now has all eternity in which to look forward to. On this my Spiritual birthday and John's 52nd, I state for all to read, without the Lord putting John and then Rich in my path, I still might be on the wide road to eternal damnation. I can not adequately put into words how awesome I feel today compared to just 4 years ago.
Colossians 1:19-20
19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Previously:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1253847/a-love-that-restores-part-1-the-shallow-end
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1264230/a-love-that-restores-part-2-going-deeper-
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1273711/a-love-that-restores-part-3-the-truth-hurts-
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1275588/a-love-that-restores-part-4-when-heaven-and-earth-collide
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1294072/a-love-that-restores-part-5-the-restoration-begins-
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