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NOTE...This was written in the Spring 2001 issue of The Blessed Mother Magazine, it was also the first time I had experienced
my Daddy's healing. Sorry...I know that LOTS of text is a web page 'no-no,' but this story, that is ALL ABOUT HIM and HOW
GOOD HE IS, will bring encouragement to you...He is no respector of persons! He will do it for ANYBODY who believes and acts
in faith!
It was back in 1989 that my Mom heard about a Christian rock 'n' roll church not too far from my home. She gathered all the
information gave it to me and hoped that my boyfriend and I would find Jesus. At that time I was almost 18 and I had moved
out of my home and rented room with my boyfriend's parents.
I couldn't get my boyfriend to go, so off I went by myself. When I pulled up to the church, I couldn't believe there were
so many long hairs and hippies that loved the Lord! I went and sat right in the front (didn't want to miss a thing!) the music
was wonderful and even though I hadn't given my heart to the Lord, I can remember that feeling of just wanting to drop to
my knees and worship God. The man who got up from the piano went right to the pulpit…he was the pastor with hair down
to his waist! I was just devouring every word that came from his lips, every word of God was so soothing, like a balm. It
took a few Sundays before I confessed him as Lord, and now I had a new life.
I had been planning on marrying my boyfriend (don't throw up mom and dad) but I was still a baby and didn't know about being
unequally yoked. One Sunday a couple came up to me and gave me a tract about being unequally yoked, I read it in my van before
leaving church and knew that my boyfriend must not see the book. When I got home I went up into my room, into my closet and
hid the tract between the dressers under some clothes. That evening when my boyfriend came home he went right up into my room
and went directly to the dresser and then pulled out the tract and asked me, 'what is this!' I wonder who told him it was
there???
Now I knew I had to move out and move out fast! So the next day I moved into a one-bedroom apartment and continued to work,
go to school, and met with other believers for fellowship at this church called Sanctuary. I dated a little and ended up with
guys who were either luke warm, or who seemed it appropriate to chain smoke on our dates. Finally I just said, 'Lord, I want
to be married to you! I want to stay fixed on you until you bring me the man of my dreams.' And 2 years later I met Eric at
a little diner in the city we now live. I have been a Christian now for 12 years, and I love him because He gave it all for
me!
But…something unusual was about to take place. I had been a Walter Martin/Hank Hannegraff listener my entire walk and
I knew the 'right-off-ers' from the 'right-on-ers' (and by the way, I was a 'right -on-er.') so when this older Christian
lady walked into my life sharing all about God's word and what he says he means, and that he really does heal, and that we
can really trust him, I knew I had encountered a 'right-off-er.' I met with her and others to hear what she had to say and
I was just blown away. I diligently wrote down everything she said and went on my journey to prove her wrong from scripture.
So, I called a Calvary Chapel in my area and talked with a pastor on and off for a few days. And…he couldn't help me.
Even he, himself the pastor, was at a loss for words. All he could tell me was, 'well, that scripture really doesn't mean
that, it means this.'
My read flag alert went off. O.k. I thought, I am going to come to a closure on this whole thing. So I pulled away from the
bible study because I didn't want to be influenced one way or the other. Almost every night I stayed awake going through the
Strong's concordance and the bible. I was on a mission to find out the truth about God's nature. My main questions were, 'could
I really trust Him, does His word REALLY mean what it says, and does He really heal those who believe He will.' This went
on for weeks, and then for months. I stopped listening to Hank.
I was at an above rubies retreat talking with Nancy Campbell and for some reason (God) she recommended the book 'Born In Zion.'
I had never heard of the book before, but as I lay in bed that night tears just streamed from my eyes. This book had been
the closure for me on all my research. Even after I had come to my conclusion, I still didn't want to believe it, I mean I
did but, it was against everything I had been taught my entire Christian walk, and one of the worst parts of this whole thing
for me, was that everyone I knew (except this older lady and her daughter) were against this type of believing the Lord, to
many it is even considered cultic.
He started moving…
My daughter Mikayla had a serious yeast infection on her neck, behind her ears, and under her arms and I had treated it with
everything. Herbs, homeopathy, and I even completely cut out sugar. Still the infection persisted and we took her to the doctor
who couldn't even believe how bad it was. We continued using the recommended doctor's medicine 3x's a day, and it only got
worse. She now had blood dripping from her neck and even to move her neck from side to side usually resulted in skin pulling
and breaking and opening up to a bleeding wound. We didn't go out of the house for a while because I was afraid of someone
seeing this and reporting it to social services.
One day my friend came over (the older lady's daughter) and she said to me, 'Shannon, why don't you trust the Lord with her
neck.' I knew what she meant she meant, she meant take my daughter off the medication and trust God to heal her. I continued
to seek deeper into the word regarding healing, and had an idea that I was 'getting ready for battle.'
A few nights later we went to some friend’s house down the street and they (about 10 of them) prayed for her, laid hands
on her, and anointed her with oil. They did this for about 2 hours and then finally I could not keep it in any longer, the
Holy Spirit wanted to speak (through me) and He did! I said 'friends, I don't want to disappoint you tonight, I know you want
the Lord to heal her, but He will not do that tonight. He will heal her only after I take her off the medication. He does
not need assistance in healing; he is sufficient on His own. Either he is Jehovah Rapha the God that heals or he is a liar.
After that they proceeded to tell me about John Whimber (founder of the Vineyard churches) and how he died of cancer. And
the only thing I could say was, 'well, I don't know about John, all I can tell you is what the scriptures declare, and they
say He will heal those who believe He will.'
Everyday I confessed the word of God, I sang scripture, cried scripture, and was up many nights thanking God for what he was
about to do. It was a long difficult time watching Mikayla suffer, the medicine wasn't working, so what did I have to loose?
It was about 4 or 6 weeks into me trusting God for her healing and things still 'looked' the same. One night I said, 'Lord,
I'm going to get with you tonight and make sure I am in your will.' So when the children fell asleep I got on my knees and
just broke down and said, 'Lord, I want to be doing the right thing, you got to show me.' And right then His spirit spoke
to me and told me to 'start eating sugar again, that me trying to help Him out was not necessary, He could do it on His own,'
and then the Spirit moved upon me mightily in a way that I had never experienced. So, I started eating sugar again, and plenty
of it! If any of you know me, you know I love chocolate and it was Christmas time…fudge!!!!
On the third morning I awoke and Mikayla's infection was completely healed! She Had NEW skin under her arms, neck, and behind
her ears!!!
A new path less traveled…
Since I have begun putting my feet on the road, and believing the Lord that his word is indeed valid, my walk has changed.
Don't you ever feel like maybe there is more to this Christian walk? Not that we should base our life on feelings, then on
the other hand nor should we base our walk on stale words. I believe that our walk with Him is a mixture of both, physical
and spiritual experience and the word. Isn't that a picture of how our Lord worked in the Old and New Testament? Why would
it be different than today? Hebrews 13:8 say, 'Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and always,' His nature never changes.
I have had flues, major headaches, a breast infection, and a yeast infection. None of these were treated with any medicine,
but rather I turned to the word of God to heal me. Stay with me here…in most of these cases when I sang scripture and
claimed God's word, I could actually feel the symptoms leave me. In the other cases, I didn't feel anything, but nonetheless
I was relieved of all symptoms just by claiming His word.
In Exodus 15:26 scripture says, 'He is the God that health thee.' In proverbs 4:20-22 scripture says, (His word is)'…life
to those who find them, and health to all their whole body.' My take on this is that God is the physician, and His medicine
is the word. Now wait a minute you might say, your saying that we are redeemed from sickness, so why are you getting sick.
Well, in John 10:10 Jesus says, 'the thief (Satan) comes only to steal, to kill and destroy; I came that they may have life
and have it abundantly.' When we are coming down with any type of sickness, that is Satan trying to steal the word!’
So, just throw away the medicine?
NO!!! That would be sheer stupidity UNTIL you know for yourself. Know what for yourself? Know the Lord, know His nature (how
He works), and know what He says.
One lady on the web site message board just couldn't understand how I was sharing all his ‘faith stuff’ and then
I recommended to a sister NOT to take her child off medication.
Ephesians 6 10 - 17 says, (in a nut shell) 'be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, put on the full armor
that you maybe able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, for we struggle not against flesh and but against the
spiritual forces of wickedness, take up the full armor that you may be able to resist and having done everything stand firm.'
Everything we go through is spiritual. We do not struggle against flesh and the evil spiritual forces. We stand firm to follow
God’s leading and we can expect radical opposition. Now, how can any of us stand, and stand firm on God's word if we
don't know it? Satan will come and say to you, 'are you sure that is God’s word, are you sure you are doing the right
thing, how do you know God will not fail you?'
And do you know our job; do you know what will get us the victory that is rightfully ours in Christ? The word of God! We must
know scripture; we must be able to confess His word (notice I didn't say confess an SUV or a diamond) I said, " CONFESS WHAT
HE SAID!" we must change our words from,"I’m so sick, I can’t get up, babies got a disease" to "Lord, YOUR WORD
says, You have come that we may have life, You sent your word and healed us, You bore it all, sickness and disease on the
cross (you got to look up the scriptures your self!)
If this Momma took her child off medication she WOULD NOT BE ABLE to stand. For she would have no foundation. We would be
wise to build our house BEFORE the storm…isn't it a little hard to build a house while a storm is raging? Matthew 7:24
says, " everyone who hears these words of mine, and then acts upon them, maybe compared to a wise man, who built his house
upon a rock. The rains descended, the floods came, and the winds blew against the house, but it didn't fall for it had been
founded upon a rock. And every one who hears these words of Mine and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who
built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew, and burst against the house,
and it fell, and great was its fall.
Where do I start?
You should get a concordance of the bible (I have a Strong's exhaustive concordance) a concordance lists in alphabetic order
every single word in the bible and where it is found. Then there is a number listed next to each word that will bring you
to the back of the book in order to give you the literal meaning of that word in the Hebrew or Greek. With a bible and a concordance
you can do word studies on health, physicians, Holy Spirit, breast-feeding, babies, life and death, the topics to choose from
are endless! As you jot down words and their literal meaning you will wonder why you never heard that. If you have the Holy
Spirit indwelling in you, you should have no problem understanding (John 14:26, … ‘the Holy Spirit will teach
you all things.’)
I am not perfect, I do not process this certain level of ‘faith’ (this is an excellent word study, but if I may
recommend... ask the Lord where to begin, He speaks to those who listen, follow the leading of the Spirit) and I am no one
special that God lavishes His gifts and blessings upon my family. All I can tell you is that there is another ‘spiritual
realm’ we can walk in, one that He has purposed for all who believe.
Love and blessings,
Shannon
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