I'm not sure I've really shared this too publicly yet but I've gotta.
JESUS IS OUR HEALER!
I believe this truth wholeheartedly as it's happened to me many times now. By far, the most monumental healing Jesus has done for me (aside from restoring my heart/soul/spirit) is this: At the Power and Love conference in April, I was fully healed mentally and physically. Allow me to share my experience with you.
I had suffered from chronic pain for 17 years from the ages of 13-30. That's a long time! I was convinced that my pain was normal and everyone felt this way but for some reason I couldn't handle it as well. Fatigue plagued me constantly and I suffered under the diagnoses of bipolar II, generalized anxiety disorder and depression (and several others that were off the mark) and have been on medications since the age of 4. I also took heavy duty sleeping pills for 15 years. I had fully accepted that I would have to take these medications until death.
Of course, these medications had plenty of side-effects but I knew that I was better of with them than without. The anger I felt was uncontrollable and it had been that way since I was a child. Once a doctor had put me on a med-cocktail that mixed well in my mid-twenties, I had calmed down a lot as long as I took them consistently. If, for some reason, I had forgotten to take my medication in the morning, a debilitating headache would come on by noon; every time, like clockwork.
My physical pain began to aggressively increase a month and a half leading up to the Power & Love conference. Previously, it was mostly intense join pain that occurred at seemingly random, but regular, intervals. It was tolerable and I could live with it; after all, hadn't I already done so for nearly 2 decades? Not this time, no. It started on the top right of my right foot and spread to my other foot, my toes, calves, worsening knee pain, and ventured up to my wrists and fingers.
There was a moment where I cried at work because I couldn't even open a tube of lip gloss. I couldn't walk without agonizing pain; not even throughout a grocery store. I was scared and baffled which led me to make an appointment with a rheumatologist but they weren't able to schedule me for 3 weeks. That was an eternity in Courtney time. My primary care doctor prescribed Tramadol 3x daily just so I could get around with minimized pain levels.
That should give you an idea of what I was dealing with. Anyway, I was hobbling around at this conference and after my first group outreach session, my group prayed healing over me and then they asked me to "test it out," where I did something I've never been able to do without excruciating pain. I RAN! Up and down the sidewalk, jumping off the curbs, dancing, jumping, and twirling with joy! I can't accurately describe how FREE and ABLE I felt! THANK YOU, JESUS! I gleefully shared my testimony and spent the rest of day learning about what it meant to be healed. Of course I had my doubts. Is this real?! What if it comes back!? That's where faith comes in and He showed that to me.
I'd been very careful with my mental health medication regimen for years and hardly ever forgot to take my pills on time. The next day at the conference went by joyfully well into the afternoon until a thought popped into my head, "Did I forget to take my medication today?!" I seriously thought about it and tried to remember taking them over the next few hours and came to the conclusion that I just hadn't done it that day... and yet I was in heaven. Usually a crippling headache would have appeared in the early afternoon as a big neon WARNING! sign that I had, in fact, forgotten my meds. It never came.
The headaches never came over next week as I decided to "test" it, to see if God really had healed me of this affliction, by skipping my medication. One day on, one day off. Skip three days in a row, take them for two days. I have been off of any mediation relating to anxiety, bipolar and mood stabilization for almost 2 months now. I received prayer over nightmares and restful sleep and have been completely off off my sleeping pills for 3 weeks. Guys, the impossible is POSSIBLE with Him! I promise because I HAVE BEEN THERE!
Thank you for reading my testimony. I hope you are encouraged and I'm here if you want to know more.