Distractions, Dreams and a Surprise Healing

When the weather turns cool, cloudy and wet in the northwest – our call volume usually drops off. I’m still waiting for the change. It was a busy weekend on my unit. I’ve been drinking a lot of coffee to help keep me going. Somehow it’s losing it’s effect. I find myself very tired in the middle of the day, dozing off while sipping a cup of Starbucks – I hate that.

Friday was busy. We ran steady most of the day. I had a lot of distractions – people calling me asking me to fix their problems. Being a people- pleaser by nature, it’s difficult to say no. Even when I’m swamped with other things.

I came home with a headache at the end of shift. My usually social attitude turned inward. Soon after getting home I crashed on the bed. Saturday was a repeat. When we weren’t running calls, we were driving all over town covering for other units. I had a lot of phone calls again, with people wanting help for various problems. I came home with another headache.

I don’t often have headaches. I knew something had changed for the worse. It was time to identify and remove the problem. Saturday evening at bedtime, I heard God telling me all the phone calls and hassles of the last two days were distractions coming from the enemy.

Hmmm…really?

He reminded me of the story of Elijah and Elisha. The student and mentor were going to be parting ways. Elisha’s request was a double dose of miracles. Elijah said, “If your eyes are on me when I leave – it’s yours”. The day Elijah left was a day of constant distractions. A gang of prophets began bugging Elisha -telling him his master was about to check out. He told them to shut up. Elijah repeatedly tried to ditch Elisha. “Hey, you stay here, while I go to such and such a place” Elisha never left his master. Then God sent a chariot of fire out of heaven. It must have been awesome to watch – but Elisha’s eyes were on Elijah. Then suddenly, Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind. Because his eyes were fixed on his master, Elisha received the mantle and his request for a double portion of miracles. (See 2 Kings 2)

God told me to keep my eyes fixed on Him because He is moving. Jesus was always on the move, going from town to town. That’s how God is, always moving. He’s about to make a major move in the northwest. A tremendous wave of His presence will soon hit us. Miracles of healing and signs and wonders will increase and many will come to know God in the coming season. But I have to put aside the distractions of the enemy and keep my eyes focused on the Lord.

I prayed for a few of my patients this weekend. I didn’t see any of them healed. I met an amazing older woman who has a lot in common with me. She receives revelation from God about people’s medical problems and believes many of the conditions we suffer from are spiritual and emotional in origin. We transported her husband home. He’s suffering from a potentially life-ending condition. She told me he’s ready to go home to be with God. She asked me to pray at his bedside and tell her if I saw anything indicating healing, or a home-going. As I prayed I saw the heavens open, with a large black cross silhouetted by brilliant white light behind it. I believe it indicates he’ll be going home to heaven soon.

Sunday night I had a dream. I didn’t remember this one until I was driving to work Monday morning. It was about a co-worker (Teresa) who sent me an e-mail. I remember opening the e-mail in the dream, but I don’t remember what the message was. When I got to work, I told my partner about the dream. He looked at me with a smile and said “Well, Teresa did send out an e-mail last night”.

I said, “Are you kidding me?”

He said, “Nope, she was asking crews to stop stealing food from other people’s quarters.”

I checked my e-mail after he told me this, and sure enough, there was one unopened e-mail in my inbox, from Teresa.

I believe God gave me this dream to show my partner something about dreams and God’s ability to give us information in advance.

Finally – I witnessed an amazing healing yesterday. While lifting a patient onto the gurney, I pulled a muscle in my back, between my shoulder blades. I felt a sharp pain, then the muscle tightened and began to spasm after the lift. My partner knew something was wrong by the look on my face. After getting the patient situated, we had to raise the gurney from the lowered position to the highest. He suggested we switch ends to make the lift easier for me. During the lift, I felt some dull pain. I began to envision a couple of days of Advil and lying on cold packs waiting to feel better. Then a few more days of lying on a heating pad. Dang! I hate that.

But as we left the patient’s room I noticed the pain was suddenly gone. I flexed in every direction and felt no pain at all. I was pain-free the rest of the shift and this morning there’s still no sign that I was ever injured. I’ve suffered so many injuries like this over the years, I can’t count them all. But yesterday, God healed me instantly – and I never even asked for it!

That’s a wrap for my weekend. I met some wonderful people, did a fair amount of vision-casting between calls and built a few bridges. God is awesome – always moving and wanting to heal, sometimes in unexpected ways. He’s always speaking, even if we aren’t listening. He’s always in love with the people we transport. We need to let them know that.

’till next time –