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Today I am really thankful to be home with nothing pressing to do at the moment except to press into God and the moment. I love to go and do but in my heart of hearts I am more of a “be-er” than a “do-er” and there is no place I’d rather be than in the presence of the Lord. Besides, it is in these quiet moments that I finally get to engage in my other passion; writing.
I love having this time to reflect and share what God has been doing. Most of you know that my healing is coming at a more rapid pace now. Once I got to the gym and saw how much healing had taken place since the last time I’d worked out, I really almost couldn’t believe it myself! I knew this was the time to focus on my healing like never before because it was no longer something to pray would manifest. It was already happening in a visible way and time to pray into what we were seeing.
I know from experience how effective healing prayer is, especially in a situation like mine so I tried to gather some people to “soak” me in prayer. It just was not coming together, but I kept trying and kept going to the gym and watching the healing progress.
On Tuesday I went to the gym and was blown away again at the rapid progress. Tuesday night I did an interview for the In My Pajamas Show (you can listen to that interview at www.Blogtalkradio.com/inmypajamasshow) and shared what has happened and what is happening. It’s always fun to give God glory for what He is doing! He’s hard to keep up with, though, because He is always doing something new and it seems that the more we praise Him the more He gives us something to praise about!
I got home after the interview and got into bed when I got an unexpected phone call from a neighbor who I haven’t heard from in about a year. She seemed really excited and was a little hard to follow but she mentioned that she was with Dennis Brown. He runs the Healing Rooms in Charlotte and I am very familiar with him and I love the work he does, so I was starting to clue in. Ten my neighbor asked if she could come pray for me. I was thrilled! This is exactly what I’d been needing and God had it all set up! So I told her to come on over, thinking it was she and her husband.
Well, it was she an her husband and about eight other people plus Dennis! Apparently, Dennis was teaching a class on healing prayer and praying for the sick and the entire class came and I became the object lesson. How cool is that? I had been asking for soaking prayer and there was a whole class meeting in my neighborhood just itching to lay hands on the sick and the Holy Spirit put me on their hearts at just the right time. Of course God honored their prayers with His presence and I am certain we will get to see the results when I get back to the gym.
This is happening so rapidly that I bought a little video recorder to take to the gym so I can start posting the results on YouTube. Stay tuned…
Matthew 4:24 (Whole Chapter)
So the report of Him spread throughout all Syria, and they brought Him all who were sick, those afflicted with various diseases and torments, those under the power of demons, and epileptics, and paralyzed people, and He healed them.
I love this season of Passover, Good Friday and Resurrection Day. I am in more awe at the magnificent plan of God every year! This year I am a little more in awe because today is not only Good Friday, the day the Passover Lamb was sacrificed, but it is also the 30th anniversary of a very special and personal passover.
Thirty years ago today one of the largest tornadoes in recent history ripped through Wichita Falls, Texas destroying thousands of people’s homes and killing 42. Our home was destroyed while my parents,grandmother, dog, brother and myself huddled in a closet. The chimney fell into our living room. If it had fallen just inches in a different direction we would have all been crushed. None of us even had a scratch.
It seems that every year I live I am increasingly aware that it was surely the Hand of God that protected us. Just before the tornado hit, my mom handed a Bible to my brother and told him to read Psalm 91. Many people talk about the noise of that enormous storm, but honestly, the only thing I ever remember hearing was the sound of my mother’s prayers. I hadn’t thought about it until this year, but ironically, the tornado hit during Passover.
I look to that event as those in the Old Testament looked at the altars they built to commerate the Great things God had done for them so that future generations would know of the faithfulness of God. So I write about this event and post the photos not to re-live a tragedy, but to show that God was faithful to His Word. Everyone was hurt that day; some more than others. I mourn with those who lost more than just their homes. Sometimes there is a bit of survivors guilt that makes it hard, but I must give God the glory for what He did that day for my family.
Sometimes the healing takes a long time. The sting may never go away completely, but our God is a God of redemption and in the end, He makes all things beautiful. For my family, the redemption came two years ago with the birth of my brothers son Ethan on April 10, 2007. God has given us something to rejoice over on a day that is referred to as Terrible Tuesday to all who knew of it. Thank you Jesus, Our Redeemer for keeping us alive to see your redemption in the next generation.
The photos from left to right:
1. The merged tornadoes on the ground
2. My street
3. My living room
4. The four funnels just before they merged
My first book is now available for purchase! Its official release date is not unitl December 16, but it can be purchased directly from the publisher at:
I am excited and scared all at the same time. My prayer is simply that my readers encounter God in a profound way as they read this book. I want them to experience Him as their hope, courage, strength, and most of all, friend. If any of you want to let me know your response to the book, please comment on this blog, or check my website www.livingthecall.com for other ways to reach me. I’ve spent a long time trying to say what I thought the Lord would have me say and now I’m really ready to hear from you! Thank you so much for your faithfulness in praying for me and the book.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed… Isaiah 40:4-5
Today is November 17. Twelve years ago yesterday I lay in the ER becoming increasingly helpless as paralysis overtook my body. This used to be a very hard day for me. It was a day that I really had to fight the enemy just to keep my head above the waters of discouragement and sadness.
It’s different now. If I really think about it, I suppose it is emotional, but not like it was. I have twelve years of perspective on my side. Things look different from here. I have twelve years of watching God meet our every need and twelve years worth of incredible testimonies. I have twelve years of being held so tight in the arms of God that my tears are tears of thanksgiving! I have new and more pressing challenges than what happened in the past, and I have twelve more years with a faithful God to help look to the next twelve with hope and faith.
Incredible things have happened both beautiful and heartbreaking. I’ve learned to allow God to even out my path, and not allow the low places to bring me too far down, nor let the high places carry me away. It is in remaining focused on His face that our paths are made straight and when we hold onto the Rock we remain stable. It is then that He is able to reveal His glory to us, in us and through us. And isn’t that everything we ever wanted anyway? Suddenly, it doesn’t matter how we got there, but just that we are there, in His glory.
- John 3:28 (Whole Chapter)
You yourselves are my witnesses [you personally bear me out] that I stated, I am not the Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), but I have [only] been sent before Him [in advance of Him, to be His appointed forerunner, His messenger, His announcer]. [Mal 3:1 ]
John the Baptist could have just as easily been called John the Forerunner. Forerunners are those God appoints in the Body of Christ to announce to the rest of us some way in which God is about to show up or something God is about to do. Often forerunners actually experience these things first. Sometimes, as in the case of John, forerunners are looked at strangely because they are speaking prophetically, by faith, things that obviously have not yet occurred.
My cousin, Karen, is a prophetic forerunner. When she heard me declare that I would someday run a marathon, she started training so she could run with me! (See “Running Together” August) She’s been running, and telling everyone who would listen, that I’ll be running too. Every time she runs, she uses it as intercession for me. How cool is that! It gets even better!
Yesterday, she ran her first marathon! CONGRATULATIONS KAREN! 
Medicine Park
The race was held in the Wichita Mountains (a place we frequented as children) in a place called Medicine Park. The race was run in the wildlife refuge amongst the buffalo. She was actually told that if she wore her IPOD, the park would not be responsible if she got run over by a buffalo! Medicine Park was named after Medicine Creek. The Commanche Indians believed the creek had healing powers.
Karen is half Commanche Indian. I can’t help but believe that God used this Commanche Indian to run in the same place as her ancestors declaring by her actions of faith the True Source of all healing. Only He can put these incredible circumstances together and he can only do it as we give Him the opportunitiy by saying “Yes!” to Him!
I love going for prayer and just getting saturated in the presence of God. We went to a church for a short time that had no prayer teams, and it really made me appreciate it even more. God loves to move through His people. He always shows up! I’ve been prayed for probably thousands of times over the last eleven and a half years, and each time the Lord has met me. Sometimes the annointing is so strong that I can’t believe I’m not walking by the time we’re finished!
We had one of those prayer times this Sunday. God showed up, like always, and did an invisible work. For some reason, with me, I never get to see what He’s doing at the time we are praying. I’ve learned though, that God never wastes His annointing. It’s like when His word goes forth. It will always accomplish that for which it was sent. I’ve also learned that sometimes, we ask Him to come, and He does, but for reasons other than we understand. Sometimes I feel sorry for the people praying for me because they know God is doing something and they so badly want to see it right then, but with me, it has never happened right then, but it shows up later.
Yesterday I went to therapy. One of the therapists stretched me out as always. I’m naturally extremely flexible, but my left leg has always had problems. When I was a baby, my left hip was out of sockcet, so I was braced to cause it to go back into place. As I grew, that leg never grew or worked properly because the hamstring was really tight. It caused me to limp a little and eventually I had surgery when I was 10. I’m not sure how much the surgery helped because the hamstring was still tight and eventually led to scoliosis. Even as a small child, I was not able to sit with my legs straight out in front of me. My left leg has always had to be bent. It couldn’t be forced either becuse then it felt like my hamstring would rip!
I’ve never been able to sit like that, until yesterday! The therapist had to hold my knee down because it’s so used to bending, but even that would have been impossible before. Not only was I able to sit like that with no support, I was able to pick up objects and move them to either side of me!
Here is another interesting note. The man who prayed for me said he felt the Lord was going back in time to heal me of something that had occured in the past. I didn’t put it all together at the time, but I know that what he discerned is directly related to the part of my body that is getting better now! How good is our God?! He is more than good and faithful!
My mom used to rub my leg with oil, praying for God to heal it. That was a long time ago to us. But to God, who lives outside of time, those prayers are as fresh in His ears as when she first prayed them. He hasn’t forgotten. He hears our prayers long after we’ve prayed them and He is faithful.
I’m sure that all of us have unanswered prayers out there in the faith realm. Be encouraged not to give up on them being answered. The amount of time that has passed is unimportant. Keep seeking Him and His presence. It’s not always possible for us to see what God is doing when we are with Him, but if we remain in Him and He in us, the things that we believe for will come to pass.
- John 15:7 (Whole Chapter)
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
The last time I went to physical therapy the wheelchair mechanic was there to work on my chair. He was a really nice guy who really knew what he was doing. Getting a wheelchair to work properly for the individual who has to sit in it is complicated, especially for me because of the severe scoliosis. The thing about Todd, the wheelchair mechanic, was that he just couldn’t get his brain wrapped around the idea that someone who has been paralyzed for almost twelve years is actually getting improvement, especially enough improvement to make progress in physical therapy. He’s done this for years and has never seen anything like it.
In his world, paralyzed people just don’t get better after the first year or so. I really like being around people in this field right now because they have a concrete understanding of paralysis and therefore an acute appreciation of what God is doing in my body. Paralysis is so hard for people to understand. Sometimes people think that therapy will help “bring back” the damaged neurology. The problem is that if a limb is paralyzed, active therapy cannot be done. Passive therapy can be done, which means that someone or something else moves your limb for you. Even if passive therapy can help increase the chances of neurologicasl return, the chances are so slim that no insurance company will pay for it. The bottom line is this, the nerves inside the spinal cord and then throughout the body, have to heal before therapy is possible. In my case, the toxicity was so high, and I was so weak, physical therapy would have been counter productive for the first five or six years, or in the minds of most in the medical field, ever. It was explained to me that my body needed that energy to live and heal.
Todd understands all of this and just couldn’t stop asking questions. He finally asked me what I think is causing all of this return. I told him it was a combination of the cleanses to clear my body of the toxins, prayer and really beleiving that it was going to happen.
He didn’t say anything, but stayed an extra hour to watch me in physical therapy. He picked a great day to observe. He saw me stand in a stander for five minutes. Admittedly, I almost barfed on all of them, but it was still a miracle becuase my blood pressure remained normal. Since my paralysis, I’ve had a severe case of orthostatic hypotension, which means my blood pressure drops dangerously low especially when I sit up, let alone stand. After that he watched me meet 4 of my physical therapy goals. These goals are set when a patient first enters the program, and are checked at a set time, then results are sent to the insurance company. If the patient cannot meet the goals at any given time, they are released from the program. To get back into the program the patient has to show enough improvement that a therapist believes that she can meet new goals. Here are the goals that I met:
1. Rolls to the right and left without assistance and without holding onto anything
2.Transfers to the right and left independently into and out of wheelchair
3.Can go from lying to sitting from the right side and the left side
4.Ok. Now this is the one I’m most excited about, so it’s worth some explanation. Being paralyzed at the quadrapalegic level means that one has zero trunk ability, and little to know neck. Sitting on the side of a bed is an absolute imposibility. I’ve been getting better, to the point that I could sit on the side of a bed if I braced myself with my arms. When I was evaluated a month ago I was asked to sit on the side of the mat without using my arms. I did it for 5 seconds. The goal was set at 20 seconds. Yesterday I met that goal by sitting unsupported for 90 seconds! Praise God!!!
Not only does this mean a lot to me on an every day basis, but it also means the insurance company will probably allow me to continue in therapy. The healing has been happening! It’s so exciting to be at the point where my work actually makes a difference. Prayer and faith are still the most important factors, but it just feels so good to be able to actively make a difference!
I was driving my six year old to his day camp this morning. There was nothing extraordinary about it, then suddenly (I love when God throws out a suddenly) I had this very strange sensation on my right arm. It was so unusual that I could almost feel my brain trying desparately to find a file somewhere that had information to explain this small phenomenon. It was taking too long. I started to feel a little anxious. So much so that I was about to ask my teenaged daughter about it. Then, BINGO! My brain reached back into an 11 1/2 year old file and found a match for the feeling on my arm. It was the air conditioner! It’s been that long, since I was paralyzed, that I’ve felt air brush against my right arm! The thing that made it even more difficult to discern is that I couldn’t feel that it was cold. I still don’t have that piece back yet. I was so relieved to know what it was, then I was so thankful to realize I’d gotten more healing.
My thoughts immediately turned to The Body of Christ. Oh, that the Lord would give us the sensitivity to feel the subtleness of His breath. Job 33:4 says [It is] the Spirit of God that made me [which has stirred me up], and the breath of the Almighty that gives me life [which inspires me]. One definition of inspire is: To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence. I know he wants to meet with His Bride, both corporately and individually, in the secret place and He wants us to be so close to Him that we don’t even have to hear His voice, but only sense the touch of His breath (His annointing) in order to be giuded and aroused to action. The only way to gain that kind of sesitivity is to spend time with Him, meditate on His Word, worship Him and listen to His heart. He is so in love with us that it just takes our turning our attention to Him, for Him to come running to lavish His beloved with His presence.
