Grocery Store Healing

I went with my daughter to the grocery store. I'm not deliberately trying to influence her in the direction of healing. It just sorta happens. While leaving the store, next to a beautiful display of flowers I noticed a middle-aged woman limping toward the parking lot. I felt like I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Go get her." As I approached I gave her my best smile. "Good morning ma'am. I couldn't help but notice you were limping. Do you mind if I ask how you injured yourself?"

“I don’t know you sir and I’m not sure that’s any of your business.”

“I'm a paramedic. I work in Tacoma. I'm not crazy and I'm not a stalker. I just like to see people blessed by the healing power of God. You can ask my lovely daughter....honest, lady!”

“You’re a paramedic huh? Do you always go around asking strangers about their personal problems?”

I was a little embarrassed. She didn't brush us off completely, but she wasn't exactly welcoming us into her life. I looked at the flowers sitting happily in their pots in the entrance to the store. “Look Ma’am. I don’t always do this with strangers. I try to obey the Lord when I feel like He wants me to talk to someone.”

“Well I’m sorry if it seems like I’m being defensive. I’m just not used to people I don’t know asking me things like that.”

“I’m sorry about that. I know this must be terribly awkward for you.”

She looked at my daughter. “You seem like a nice girl. Does he always do this kind of stuff?”

My daughter smiled. “Well actually, yes he does. We do pray for a lot of strangers.”

We were creating a scene in the entrance to the store and I wanted to take the conversation somewhere more private.  “Why don't we walk to your car and talk about it on the way there?”

She limped pathetically toward her car and let me push her shopping cart. As she walked I could see that it was her knee that was giving her trouble. She couldn't bend it.

“Looks like your knee is in pretty bad shape. Can I ask what’s wrong with it?”

“Well if you must know - I have a torn meniscus and I need surgery. And because I don’t have insurance right now I can’t afford the surgery. But if I don’t have the surgery and my knee gets worse I may not be able to work. So I’m in a bad spot right now and I’m not real happy about it.”

“May I please try to get your knee healed? What is it going to hurt if I just try?”

“Well it looks like you aren't going to leave me alone until I say yes, so go ahead.”

I placed my hand on her knee. “I command this knee to be healed in the name of Jesus. I command the meniscus to be healed. Inflammation leave right now!” I asked how she felt.

She bent down and felt her knee. “It feels a little better.”

I placed my hand on her knee again. “Meniscus I command you to be healed right now. Pain and inflammation I command you to leave.”

I asked again how she felt.

“Well what do you know…it doesn't hurt at all.” She looked at me like I was crazy and asked, “Are you for real?”

“Jesus is more real than you know, and He's the one who healed you. He loves you and he has a great plan for your future.”

I asked if she had any other conditions I could pray for. She let me pray for back pain and high blood pressure. We talked for a while about the goodness of God. She gave me a hug and we left her with a huge smile on her face.

I learned an important lesson that day. This woman had a lot of stress over her injury and my insistence on talking about it probably brought up worries she didn't want to think about. There’s a fine line we must walk when dealing with the personal problems of a stranger. If you become too aggressive, they may never develop trust toward you. I had to let the trust develop at a pace she was comfortable with and many times that can only be done by patiently talking with them about their concerns and putting them at ease.

This is an excerpt from book My Craziest adventures with God - Volume 1. 

Unicorns are Awesome and so is Jesus

We were early for the transport so I stopped at the nurse’s station to get a report on our patient. Annette was a 16 year old girl who had spent the last three days in the hospital after trying to kill herself. We were transporting her to a mental health facility for evaluation and treatment. There was just one problem. Annette’s mother was addicted to drugs and at the present time she was homeless. Before we could get her admitted to the receiving facility, her mother had to be there to sign her in. And with her being homeless, there was no guarantee she would be there. I’ve had to wait several hours for a parent or legal guardian to show up before a minor patient could be admitted, so when I hear that the parent’s whereabouts are unknown, it always makes me a little uneasy.

I walked to her room and peeked inside and was surprised to find my partner already joking around with her. I watched them for a few more minutes then introduced myself. Annette’s long hair was a layered with a deep red and electric pink. The pink was the same color as the stuffed unicorn she clutched in her hands.

We talked for a while and as I got to know more about her, I took an instant liking to her. She reminded me of my daughter; happy, smiling often and full of life. She didn’t seem like the type of person who would be depressed or suicidal. It was time to leave, so I told her to get her personal belongings together. Holding up her cell phone and her unicorn she said, “This is all I have. I’m ready."

I looked at the unicorn, then at her and said, “Unicorns are awesome. And you’re awesome….therefore you are a unicorn.”  She busted up laughing and I helped her to the gurney.

The trip would take about 30 minutes. I got a set of vitals and started asking about her medical history, prescription medications and allergies. She said she had scoliosis and was supposed to be taking a pain medication for it, but she didn’t have a way to get the prescription filled.

“Scoliosis?” I asked. “How bad is your pain on a scale of one to ten?”

“About a seven most of the time. My back bones pop and make this crunching sound whenever I turn to the left or right.”

I became silent for a few minutes, thinking about my next move. I wondered if she’d be open to prayer and of course, I wondered if she’d actually be healed if I prayed with her. “I’m afraid you might be one of those people.” I said.

She turned to look at me. “One of what people?”

“One of those people I pray with who gets healed.” 

“What do you mean healed?” 

"Well….I pray with a lot of my patients and a lot of them are healed. And you have back pain and I’m pretty sure that if I prayed with you, it would be healed. Have you ever seen a healing miracle?” I asked.

“Yeah….once,” She replied. “When my gramma got sick and she lost the feeling in her left leg, the doctors said they would have to amputate it or else she would die. We all gathered around her and prayed and asked God to heal her. She got all the feeling back in her leg and they never did amputate it.”

“Wow. That’s pretty cool.” I said.

She looked at me. "I don’t just have scoliosis.' She said with a serious look on her face. "I have a problem in my knee, too. Pointing to her fibula and her tibia, she said, “There’s nothing between these two bones in my leg. It’s bone on bone. My knee hurts all the time.”

“On a scale of one to ten how bad is the pain?” 

“It’s about a nine.”

I sighed, looked at her and said, “Well, do you want to be healed or not?”

“Yeah. That would be cool.” She said, smiling.

I moved to a different seat in the ambulance so I could be next to her and explained what I was going to do. Starting with her knee, I commanded spirits of pain to leave then commanded ligaments, tendons, bones, nerves and muscle to be healed. Since the pad between the upper and lower bones of the leg is called the meniscus, and it seemed like her meniscus had deteriorated to where it was no longer doing its job, I commanded a new one to be created.

“What do you feel?” 

“Wow! It feels great!” She exclaimed.

“Go ahead, move it around. Test it out. I guarantee you that thing is healed,” I said with a smile. She moved her leg and flexed her knee joint several times trying to make the pain return, but there was none. It was completely healed. So I asked about her back.

“Are you ready to have your back healed?”

“Yes!”

I asked where the pain was located and when she said it was near the middle of her back, I placed my hand there and commanded the bones of her spine to come into alignment. I commanded scoliosis to leave and commanded ligaments and nerves to be healed.

“What do you feel?” 

“Heat.” She said, grinning. It feels really warm and it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Well that’s because God is healing you.”

I prayed again, but this time I spoke to her destiny. I declared God’s identity over her and asked the Holy Spirit to remove painful emotions and memories and to heal her soul. I declared God's protection and provision. I figured a kid like her needed as much help as she could get. She became very relaxed and in a few minutes she was sleeping on the gurney with her unicorn clutched tightly to her chest. I let her sleep the rest of the way and my fears about her mom never materialized. She was waiting for us when we got there

Unicorns are awesome... and so is Jesus.

Doomsday Preppers

Over the last month God has been giving me dreams about meeting with survivalists, or as they're affectionately called, 'doomsday preppers'.

When most of us think about survivalists, we tend to think of those weird gun-toting people, who have an affinity for gas masks and gold. I've never had a friend who I would call a 'prepper'. But I recently met a couple of people who are. And they aren't the kind of people I thought they would be.

Two weeks ago, I had a dream about meeting up with survivalists in my area and joining their group. There's a longer story behind this, which I'll share at some point in the future, but if you've been following my Facebook notes, you already know the story.

My wife and I decided to check out the local 'prepper' groups to see if we could find someone to talk to. We located a guy who was interested in sharing information. We exchanged e-mails and had a long phone conversation that ended with an invitation for us to visit him. We took him up on the offer the next day.

We drove to his house, which is located in a nice neighborhood. I didn't see any machine gun turrets or signs of a bomb shelter. Just a nice woodworking shop that made me a bit envious.

Frank (not his real name) showed us around, proudly describing the unique features of the home he built himself. We parked ourselves on the back porch where we chatted for the next 8 hours about all things related to prepping.

Before moving to Arizona, I lived in Washington for 16 years, where we suffered frequent power outages. Eventually, I decided to buy a generator so I could make coffee for myself and the neighbors during the windstorms.

I've always liked the outdoors. I've been a rock-climber since I was a kid. As an adult I took up mountaineering and eventually became interested in high-angle rescue. As a firefighter and was trained to teach community preparedness for disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. Over the last three years I began having dreams about concerning events of the future, so I began to set aside more emergency supplies.

I've slowly been developing the lifestyle of a prepper. I'm not an expert in preparedness. I know a little, but I have gaps in my knowledge base and we're short on some of the things we need to have. There's also a lot of bad information out there and through the conversation we had on the phone, I knew this fellow was an 'expert' although he cringed every time I mentioned the word. We came to learn. And my wife, ever the good student, brought a notebook full of questions she'd written out beforehand.

Preppers and prophetic people have a lot in common. They both have an eye on the future. The Old Testament is full of people you might call preppers. Noah spent 120 years building an ark for a flood, when it had never rained before. How much do you think Noah's dreams stretched his imagination?

Joseph is the prototype of what modern preppers are all about. Pharaoh has a dream. Joseph interprets it. He sees famine and drought coming. He tells the king what he sees and develops a plan to mitigate the damage. Set aside a little each year to get the nation though the time of hardship. It worked perfectly and a nation was saved, all because of a prepper.

I had an ulterior motive when I met with Frank and his wife. I explained to him on the phone that I thought preppers were missing out on one major thing that could make their work a lot easier.

They seldom consider the miraculous.

Medical care in a disaster is a huge concern for preppers. Their theory is that medical care may not be available in a worst case scenario - so it's wise to have someone on your team who can treat illness and injuries. Most preppers recruit doctors, nurses or ideally combat medics for their team so that in a worst case scenario, they have someone around with experience in medicine.

I suggested to Frank that there was a better solution.

Preppers hold the view that one day there will be a lack of the things needed to survive. They believe that the best strategy is to store up what will be needed, as no one will provide it for them. My view is that there may be lack in the kingdom of man, but there is no lack in the kingdom of God and that my Father is willing and able to meet all my needs through His riches.

I told him that someone who is trained in divine healing would be indispensable, since this mode of healing requires no license to practice, no equipment or drugs, has no side effects and can be done over distances. Better yet - it can be done by anyone who is a disciple of Jesus and knows how to release the power of the kingdom.

I went one step further and explained that some of my friends have prayed over empty gas tanks, then drove hundreds of miles to church meetings without filling up the tank. I told him about people who take a few dozen hot dogs and buns to feed the poor and when hundreds of people show up- they pray over the food and it feeds everyone with some left over.

He understood my perspective, but for most people, seeing is believing.  I wanted to demonstrate the reality of the kingdom to him so he could see it firsthand.

I knew from our phone conversation that Frank suffered from Chrohn's disease. But I didn't know his wife had a torn meniscus in her right knee.

When I pray with a group of people with various conditions, I try to select someone to heal first who's healing can be verified immediately, without medical testing. One healing miracle at the beginning encourages everyone else who needs healing.

The best candidates to start with are people with orthopedic injuries like sprains, fractures, torn ligaments, torn cartilage, etc. Chronic back pain is a common complaint for many people. These injuries are usually painful and they limit range of motion. When healing manifests, the pain disappears and range of motion returns. The miracle can be verified immediately, without testing.

I wanted Frank to be healed, but I thought that if he saw his wife healed first, it would encourage him. So I asked if she wanted to be healed and she said yes.

I prayed over her knee a few times and had her stand up. What happened next was a shocker to me. I could see that she was standing slightly tilted to one side. With a stunned look on her face she asked why she couldn't stand up straight. She said it felt like one of her legs was too long. She took off the shoe on her right foot and removed a heel lift then put her shoe back on and said, "Oh my God, I think my short leg just got longer. I don't need my heel lift anymore!"

She got down on the floor and sat on her legs with her knees bent. She leaned as hard as she could on the right knee but couldn't make the pain return. She was healed and overjoyed.

Frank looked at her in disbelief.

We went in the house and made chili dogs then returned to the porch. We talked and shared stories and enjoyed the evening with our new friends. We really like these folks. But it was time for Frank to be healed so I got up and stood behind him. I said a few words, commanded sickness and inflammation to leave and blessed the work of healing God was about to do. Then I sat down and asked what he felt.

"This is really weird. We just ate, right? Right as you were praying, I became very hungry again."

I believed the hunger was a sign that he was healed. It was almost midnight so we made our way to the car and said farewell.

A few days later, I received an e-mail from Frank. Here's part of the report he gave me:

"...On a side note, (my wife's) knee still feels good, and I have not had any symptoms to the magnitude that is normal. Go figure??? Not a complete believer yet, but am keeping the door open!"


We're looking forward to the next doomsday prepper meeting. 

Grocery Store Healing

I went with my daughter to the grocery store. I'm not deliberately trying to influence her in the direction of healing. It just sorta....happens.

Leaving the store, I noticed a middle-aged woman limping toward the parking lot.

I almost heard the Holy Spirit say, " Go get her."

I approached, gave her my best smile and asked why she was limping.

She shot me a grin and asked why it was any of my business.

I presented my credentials:

I'm a paramedic. I work in Tacoma. I'm not crazy and I'm not a stalker. I just like to see people blessed by the healing power of God. You can ask my lovely daughter....honest, lady!

We talked for about ten minutes. She asked every question under the sun. I gave every decent answer I could think of. She grilled my daughter again about me.

I said, "look, why don't we walk to your car and talk about it on the way. (We were creating a scene in the entrance to the store)

She limped pathetically toward her car. She let me push the shopping cart.

As she walked I could see it was her knee. She couldn't bend it. I asked what was wrong. She had a torn meniscus in her left knee and needed surgery which she couldn't afford. She was terrified about what would happen if she couldn't work because of the injury.

I said, "May I please try to get your knee healed? What will it hurt if I just try?"

She reluctantly agreed.

I placed my hand on her knee and commanded the pain to leave in the name of Jesus. I commanded the spirit of pain to leave and never come back.

I asked how she felt. She said it was a little better. I commanded it to be healed one more time and asked how it felt. All the pain was gone.

She looked at me and said, "Are you for real?"

I said, "Jesus is more real that you know and he's the one who healed you. He loves you and he has a great plan for your future." I asked if she had any other conditions I could pray for. She let me pray for back pain and high blood pressure. I gave her a card to the website and we talked for a while about the goodness of God. She gave me a hug and we left her with with a huge smile on her face.

My daughter was grinning from ear to ear as we walked to the car. I love showing her how our Father loves His kids.

Jesus is the reason for the season. Have a wonderful Christmas.

Miracle In The Ambulance

I've waited two years to write this story.

My adventure down the rabbit hole began with a book written by a cardiologist who prayed for his patients and saw some miracles. I happened to pick up the book at a Goodwill store.

It challenged everything I believed about God.

Did God still heal people today?

Would He do it through me?

Would I have the guts to ask my patients?

Would they want me to pray for them?

Would He actually heal someone in the ambulance?

Would anyone be crazy enough to believe it really happened?

I've had so many dreams about healing people I've forgotten most of them. I've probably prayed for a thousand patients and haven't heard back from more than one or two. I've seen unexplained changes for the better in critically ill patients that made me wonder if God was healing them. But I can't say that one patient has been healed miraculously in the ambulance yet.

Today would be different.

We responded on what would be a boring call for most of us. A little old lady with the flu.

How exciting.

I suggested that there wasn't anything the hospital could do for her, but my objections were overruled. She was going with us. While loading her in the rig, I got her medical history. She was pretty healthy except for severe scoliosis, arthritis and a torn meniscus in her left knee. It was the torn meniscus got me excited.

About a month earlier, I prayed for a young woman at a grocery store who had the same problem. I saw her in a wheelchair leaving the store and asked if I could pray for her. After a few minutes of prayer she was healed. Having done it once, I believed my little old lady would be healed, too.

I told her about the healing at the store and asked if I could pray for her. She was delighted. She had limited range of motion in her left knee with severe pain when she flexed the joint. I had her relax and placed my hand on her knee and commanded it to be healed. I asked if she felt anything. She said it felt very warm. I didn't have to ask her to flex the knee, she did and her jaw dropped open. All she could say was "how did you do that?" She had full range of motion with no pain. She grabbed my hands and thanked me repeatedly. After a short celebration in the back of the rig, I asked about her back. She told me about the chronic back pain and that she used to be 4 inches taller than she is now. I asked if I could pray and she agreed, so I placed my hand on her back and commanded it to be healed. She felt heat going down her back. She was on the way to having that healed, too. She talked about the goodness of God all the way to the hospital.

About a hour after dropping her off at the emergency room, we responded for another little old lady who tripped and fell.

How exciting.

I instantly linked this woman. She had a beautiful Scottish brogue. I asked where she was from and she said, Glasgow. She gave us a sad history of a misdiagnosed injury to her left leg. She'd developed severe pain in her lower leg and was told she had shin splints. They never bothered to take an x-ray. She began physical therapy and the pain got worse. She had another exam and an x-ray they realized she had a fractured tibia. The pain in her lower leg and ankle was so bad she wouldn't let anyone touch it.

We got her loaded. I got down next to her and explained what happened on the previous transport. She was so glad to have me pray she almost kissed me. I placed my hand on her leg and invited the Holy Spirit to join us.

Her hands went up in the air immediately and she began praising God.

Very loudly...

In the ambulance....

I'm so glad my supervisor wasn't there.

In less than a minute the pain was almost gone. She said it was a 1 out of 10. I kept praying, thinking I could make it leave completely.

She kept praising God, louder and louder.

We dropped her off at the emergency room. I have no idea what she told them. I never want to find out.

So far in this little adventure, I've been keeping the healing thing a secret. (There hasn't been much to tell anyway) But if it keeps going like this, it won't be a secret for long.