“For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good.”
Psalm 52:9
I actually first wrote and posted this story on February 3, 2009. We were living in the hotel after just losing our home to the fire. I will share it again, each year, right around the anniversary – and today {January 10th} is the exact anniversary!! And even though it is late and I have fire paperwork to work on, I will not wait till tomorrow to post this. Cause today was the exact day FIVE years ago….
It is a miraculous story of God’s powerful healing touch!
If you read it in the past – please rejoice with us again!
Here it is, as I wrote it just about 2 years ago…
February 3, 2009 (from the hotel)….
I have to start off by telling everyone that I was actually going to type this January 14, 2009 – which turned out instead to standing and watching our home burn. That morning I had been woke up by the smoke alarm and decided to just stay up so I could spend some time with the Lord. I had thought that after the time with the Lord I was going to type this Memorial Box Monday post, because it had just been the anniversary of a very special date in our lives…January 10, 2006. But that was not what happened and so here I am in the hotel, a few weeks later, typing this:
If you are new to our Place Called Simplicity and are wondering what in the world
a Memorial Box is, then please read about it here.
As many of you may or may not know, I have Mulitple Sclerosis. It showed up when I was in my late 20’s and then I was officially diagnosed in 1991. I grew up in Buffalo, NY and Buffalo is known as a ‘hot spot’ for MS. My cousin has it, friends of mine from high school have it, a girl Dw dated for ages while in college has it and one of Dw’s cousins even died of it. Infact my sister-in-law, Mary, has three sister-in-laws and even a sister with it! Really, it’s everywhere.
My MS started out slowly, but after about 10 years it got much more aggressive and soon I was having exacerbation after exacerbation on a regular basis. Before long I needed a cane to walk. And often, with my cane for balance and support on my right side, family and close friends would allow me to use their arm for support on my left side. I also had exacerbations that affected my hearing, my speech (slurring for weeks like I was drunk), my vision, my balance (I would fall into walls regularly) and so on. Multiple Sclerosis is a very yukky disease.
(My cane looked like this one….beautiful and flowery……I figured if I had to use one it was gonna’ be feminine, flowery and spiffy!!)
Then in about 2001, I had a major exacerbation that left my right arm and hand trembling and shaking 24/7 – permanently! It was embarassing. It shook boldly all the time. From the moment that exacerbation started there was a never, ever, ever, ever even a moments break from the trembling, twitching and shaking. I could not lay on my right side because my body would shake so much that I couldn’t sleep.
I love to write long hand letters to special people in my life but I did not like to write anymore because of how awful my handwriting looked.
It was humbling to be in a prayer circle and hold hands with someone who didn’t know me because of how my hand and arm continually bounced and trembled. I would accidentally knock things over without much effort. So from 2001 there was not a moments reprieve from the trembling, twitching and shaking of my right arm/hand.
And the MS continued to daily make my body a mess. We finally had to build a handicapped accessible home for my wheelchair. I affectionately named him Charlie, as I would have to, from time to time, spend a day or two in him.
In June of 2004 we moved to Colorado to pastor. We had been told by doctors that it would slow the progression of an autoimmune disorder like MS to live in a drier climate.
THEN one day, January 10, 2006 to be exact, Dw and I were on a four way call with treasured friends of ours {Dan and LaVonne} who live in San Antonio, TX. We had wanted to pray with them about a prophetic word that the husband, Dan, had had about me. It’s a long story, maybe for another day (but probably not), just suffice it to say that what we were praying about had nothing {directly} to do with the MS. It was a monumental time of prayer, but we didn’t really know just how monumental it was about to be.
Dw and I were tucked away in our master bedroom as we talked with Dan and LaVonne and then prayed together. I prayed, Dw prayed and then our friend Dan prayed. We were asking the Lord to move in the supernatural in a huge way about something from 40+ years before.
When we finished praying we hung up and I walked out to the kitchen.
As I was walking over toward the island where Graham was sitting I felt
like the Lord said, “Look down at your arm/hand.”
I looked and there stood my right hand and arm,
that had only seconds before shook uncontrollably for the last 5 years,
now completely and perfectly still. I started to
squeal and turned to Graham, “LOOK GRAY! LOOK!”
He looked down and there both hands of mine were positioned
next to each other and both were absolutely still.
Graham started gasping and screaming along with me and everyone came running….yes, my hand and arm that had trembled and shook for FIVE years was now perfectly still!!!!
We called our grown kids and friends around the country – it was a true miracle!! Everyone who knew me was in shock!! I felt like the man with the withered hand that is mentioned in scripture. For months, many, many, many times a day I would stop and just stare at my hand/arm. I can’t imagine that man with the withered hand did any different – stopping and staring and remembering and rejoicing!
The following Sunday when we told our church during both services people stood and cheered. God had moved in a mighty way – and we hadn’t even been praying for the MS to be healed!!
What I firmly believe is that when Dan, Lavonne, Dw and I asked God to move in the supernatural He indeed moved. I felt like He said, “I am doing what you asked in the supernatural and I am going to evidence it in the physical by healing your arm/hand.”
From then on I would stand many times a day and just stare at my two hands. That right hand was just as still as my left now – after all those years. It was a true healing miracle.
When I showed my neurologist my right hand and arm – he literally jumped up and hugged me and with utter delight said, “Linn, it must be God – Multiple Sclerosis does NOT go away! I bet God is going to completely heal you.” These words from a man who has said he does NOT believe in God!!
And then a few months later……..even though I had used my cane for many years, after the instant healing of my hand/arm I began to notice that my legs began to feel stronger. They were actually feeling really strong!! I was wondering what was going on. Could the words of my neurologist been prophetic?
Within four months even people at church began commenting that it looked like I hardly needed my cane. By mid-July of 2006, I felt like I should take the courageous plunge and try a day without my cane. The rest is history and I have never, ever used my cane again.
I call my arm/hand healing “my microwave healing”…done in an instant!!
I call my legs healing “my crock pot healing” – slow and steady. There are occasional days yet when I know that my legs are still not 100% healed….and if times get really stressful they still can go a teeny-bit “funky-chicken” like. BUT I still have never used my cane since that day in July of 2006.
So on this Memorial Box Monday – the exact day FIVE years ago I stand, once again, in praise of Almighty God and thank the Lord for His miraculous healing of my arm and hand and legs. He is truly the Miracle-Working, Mountain-Moving, Awe-Inspiring, Gasp-Giving God – Jehovah Rapha the healer of trembling and shaking arms and hands, Jehovah Rapha the healer of broken hearts, Jehovah Rapha the healer of broken dreams, Jehovah Rapha the healer of painful pasts, Jehovah Rapha the healer of blind eyes, Jehovah Rapha the healer of deformed limbs, Jehovah Rapha the healer of traumatic memories, Jehovah Rapha the healer of wounded relationships, Jehovah Rapha the God of the universe!!
Yippee Jesus!!
Rejoice with us!!
The symbol for this Memorial Box story is a rock…as rocks are steady and solid….and I usually sign emails to our sweet treasure- friends, Dan and Lavonne in TX who prayed with us:
Your Steady Friend
I don't know if this is considered an appropriate place to leave this but I wanted to make sure you got it and passed it along to others. This young man needs a family and fast!
http://our-journey-to-parenthood.blogspot.com/2011/01/could-this-be-your-child.html
This is quite possibly my favorite story of yours, especially after the prayer request I shared with you on Facebook the other day about my Bell's Palsy.
Rejoicing with you, and praying and believing in my own healing.
I remember reading this story and I still love it. And thank you for the reminder that God is the healer of everything, not just physical health/sickness. I needed that reminder. 🙂
That is amazing! God did a similar thing with a close friend of ours. She had MS that took her sight. She had some sight left (could read LARGE letters really close to her face,) but the doctors said that after having no sight for so long, she would never have complete sight again. Well, one day, God healed her. Now she drives, works and sees almost perfectly. God is truly awesome!!!
WOW! You had referenced this before but I never read it. Wow! God is good – all the time!
Simply amazing, Linny! I hadn't read this entire story before… WOW!! How HE is glorified through this story, and more so through your beautiful LIFE!!!
Thank you for sharing this again, you have blessed me this morning!!
Lifting you and your sweet hubby up while he is in Africa!!!
Loved reading again what He has done for you 🙂 Halleluyah!!! 🙂
I also got to read your previous Memorial Box Monday about breaking free from fear, and I enjoyed reading that too… I loved your prayer at the end of it… I agree with you that our thoughts… we need to ensure to recognise and silence them if they are contrary to His Word and His promises.
Jill just recently made a new post over at forevernevernalways1.blogspot.com you will probably enjoy reading, it is beautiful and lifts up Christ and His love for us. 🙂
(Her post is titled, "You and I… Made New")
YHWH bless you and keep you (and all your family safe) (hugs)
I love this story so much!!!God is amazing!
I get goosebumps everytime I hear this story. It's incredible how amazing our God is. Hugs and love
Thank you for sharing, i am so rejoycing with you!
Awesome God!
praying for you while your hubby and older kids are in Uganda.
Love Adriana
Thank you! I needed to hear this story again! I am sitting here with my second broken kneecap. Everytime I step off of a curb or step with my good leg I am gripped with fear. The Lord has already blessed me big time..It was pretty certain that I had torn my acl too but while I was laying in the mri machine (praying) I felt a warm tingle run up the outside of my leg. I knew then I was not going to have to have surgery! Thank you Lord! I know in my heart I shouldn't be fearful and negative in my thinking..I keep thinking, I want to go to Africa with you before I can't walk and how will anyone ever approve us to bring home sweet kids if I can't walk or need to nap in the middle of the day!! HE is bigger than those silly things though. Thank you. Sheri
Happy tears for you as I read this! To God be the glory! I am rejoicing with you.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!
What an AMAZING testimony!!
I loved it! Awesome God indeed!
Julie
I have never posted on your blog before, but I used your name for God(Miracle-Working, Mountain-Moving, Awe-Inspiring, Gasp-Giving God!! Yippee Jesus!!)on my blog, and I feel like I need to share my post with you. So here it is:
http://vanderzwaagfamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/ride.html
I love to read how God is and has gone before you and your family, and it is so exciting to see him go before us as well!
Thanks for sharing his faithfulness, I am inspired to always do the same! We serve an awesome God.
Stacy