Having grown up going to church and being a Christian for quite a few years, I've heard my fair share of testimonies from other fellow Christians about how God has answered their prayers. Some of the stories I've heard could easily have been brushed off as a coincidence, but I've heard many other stories that were too unbelievable to be just a mere coincidence. I'm still a bit of a skeptic at heart, but hearing so many of such amazingly uncanny stories has helped me strengthen my faith and trust in God to the point that I am pretty sure that this God of mine can do very amazing things if He wants to, and also if we really believe He can. You see, He's kind of a funny guy in that for some reason, it's not just enough for us Christians to pray for Him to do something, but He wants us to believe that He can and will answer our prayers before He does. James 1:6-7 says a little something along those lines..."But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord".
And so even though I'm completely hopeless when it comes to obeying what He says in the Bible, and also to me personally, I've learned to have faith that He can and will answer prayers if I truly believe so. In other works, what I lack in obedience, I make up for in faith! :Þ Not a very well-rounded Christian I am, but it's a journey that won't end until I finally konk out.
Anyway, after hearing so many cool stories of God doing cool things in people's lives, I've always wished something equally cool would happen to me. Not something that anybody could brush off as a mere coincidence, but something that could make even skeptics go "whoa!". Perhaps even a miracle! Not so much because I wanted 'proof' that God is there and He does answer prayers and all that blah coz' I knew all that myself already. I wanted my own cool little 'miracle story' so I could share it with other people and help Christians grow in faith, as well as let non-Christians know more about the powerful God we serve. And little uncanny things have happened to me in my life that I take as God's way of touching my life, but they've mostly been related to Him touching me emotional or something intangible that skeptics could scoff and say it's all in my head. And I've kept on asking God to show Himself to me in a bit more spectacular way. Something more tangible, and not just something I can feel in my heart. Something that could make at least a few people go "whoa!". Today, I think I got something pretty close to that.
Last year sometime in August, I got a serious knee injury during a Taekwondo training session. I was doing a spectacular Bruce Lee-like flying kick, when I landed improperly on my right leg, causing it to twist and tearing something in my knee (Ok, ok, the spectacular Bruce Lee part isn't quite true...:Þ). It was followed by a heckuva lot of pain and a week or two of walking around like a crippled person. I've had Taekwondo injuries before, so I thought this one would heal in no time, and so left it alone. After a while I could walk ok again, but my knee still wasn't quite right. I could not squat properly coz' it was too painful to bend my knee all the way. And although I continued to train Taekwondo after my accident, sometimes when I made sudden twisting motions or straightened my knee too fast, a sharp pain would hit my knee...painful enough to force me to fall to the floor and roll around in agony for a few minutes. After a while, I finally saw a few doctors in Australia and in Malaysia once I came home. They said I had either torn a ligament or a cartilage in my knee, and it would need surgery to fix. If not, I can still walk, but I'd have to take it a lot more easy on my Taekwondo.
Yesterday morning, I went to church as usual. The service today was longer than usual, but it was worth it for me, and maybe some other people. At the end of the service, the pastor asked anybody who wanted healing for any sickness or condition to go up front so they could be prayed for healing. I'd been having my personal spiritual issues with God lately (mainly coz' I've been trying to get out of obeying Him :Þ), so I was a bit hesitant to go up. But eventually I did, and I told the pastor my problem. As he prayed for me, I could feel a tingly feeling in my body...not at my knee as I thought it would, but around my chest. And when he was done, I didn't feel any difference in my knee. It was only later when I had to squat down to do something when I realised that my right knee no longer hurt and I could bend it all the way without it hurting at all! And I've 'tested' it by bending it again since, with the same results. I wasn't too surprised though... I knew God could do it, and really thank Him for it. I don't know if it's completely ok coz' I haven't 'tested' it out in a Taekwondo training session, and I haven't seen a doctor to check it out. And anyhow, I think God told me He would heal it over time, which means I shouldn't get out there and stressing it out too much. But the fact that there's no pain anymore when I bend my knee...well, that's my cool little 'miracle story'. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment