My children are healthy and rarely ever sick. However, my daughter, who was about seven years old at the time, was battling a cold. I took note, monitored and observed her activities to make sure that her immune system was fighting the cold. I have learned through having multiple children that when a child does not engage in play that they are sick and in need of a doctor’s visit. Oddly, after a week, the cold symptoms had only worsened.
My husband came home from work and was not met with the typical leap into his arms by his daughter. He inquired about her condition and suggested giving her our famous all natural home remedy that worked one hundred percent of the time. He went to the store and purchased the antidote. While he was gone, I told God that I did not want to use the concoction, but that if He did not come through for me I would have no choice. By the time my husband returned, it was time for the family to leave for Bible study. My daughter and I were left behind because she was still not feeling well. At that juncture, I plotted to delay the remedy until bedtime, which would give God the opportunity to answer my prayer for healing my daughter. I pondered as to why my daughter had not already been healed. Could unrepented sin be the culprit? Prayer had worked in the past but what was wrong? Something inside would not let me accept defeat, because God had been faithful in the past. So, I expected Him to be faithful again.
I asked my daughter if she needed to confess any sin and she claimed that she did not. Then I proceeded to prepare her for bed. I grabbed some clothes from her chest of drawers and laid them across the edge of the bed. The clothes slipped between the footboard and the mattress. As I pulled the pieces from underneath, I found all kinds of trash, toys and clothes hidden under her bed. I was outraged that she had defied my previous instructions days before she had gotten sick to clean up and that she rather chose to deceive me. I wanted to give her a good spanking, but she was sick. We then prayed a prayer of repentance. At least this would not be a blockage to prayer I postulated.
While my daughter lay lethargic on the couch, I reminded her that she was already healed because the Word says that by His stripes you ARE healed. Jesus had already taken the stripes, leaving us the recipient of His healing power. I continued explaining that those who are healed do not lie down like sick people. So, I told her to get up. However, she did not respond to my request. I reiterated and helped her to her feet. I then proceeded to tell her that we will praise God for His healing. The thought came to me that God inhabits the praises of his people, so I began to sing “Hallelujah, Lord we love you, Lord we praise you”, and so on and so forth. It came to my mind that Hallelujah is the highest praise. That drove me to continue to sing all the more and insist that my daughter sing along with me. Then we added dancing. Mind you, she did not feel like standing, let alone dancing, but I knew we had to walk out the truth we knew—“By his stripes we are healed.” Intermittently, I asked her if she was feeling better. She mumbled no. We continued to sing the Hallelujah song among others. Eventually my vocal chords became fatigued. I turned on a gospel CD and we continued to praise and dance. About an hour and half into worship, I asked my daughter again whether she felt any improvement; she said that she was feeling better.
Feeling revived by the improvement, I pressed on, and we returned to our Hallelujah song and dance. About fifteen minutes later, she exclaimed that she was no longer sick. She was healed! Hallelujah, God had proven Himself to me again for He said, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God.” About ten minutes later, my husband and kids returned from Bible study. When my husband came around the corner and saw our daughter standing in the kitchen, surprise radiated from his face. With jubilation he asked, “What happened to her?” and I unabashedly declared, “God healed her.”
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