Healing For a Co-worker

After a few days off work, I came back one day to find my EMT partner hobbling toward the ambulance at the start of our first call. He winced in pain as we lifted the gurney. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

Rather than answer my question, he asked his own question. “Do you know if our company provides short-term disability benefits?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I hurt my back on our last shift. My lower back is killing me and the pain goes down the back of my leg. I’m pretty sure I blew out a disc, so I need to know if my time off work is going to be compensated.”

“If you have a job-related injury, and you need to take time off work for rehab, you’ll be paid for it, but it will only be about half of what you’re being paid now.”

I could tell that my answer didn’t give him much hope. After our first call, we made it back to our station, where he collapsed in a recliner. He had already been healed on four previous occasions while on duty: once from a headache, once from neck pain, another time from back pain and you read the story about his hand injury from a broken tree branch. I walked over to where he was sitting and went for healing number five.

“Where’s the pain the worst?”

He pointed to his lower back. “Right here.”

I had him lean forward and I placed my hand on the middle of his back. “I command the spirit of pain and the spirit of trauma to leave right now in the name of Jesus.” As I walked away I added, “You’re healed, now stop being a sissy.”

Later that day (after we ran a few more calls) I asked how he felt. He reported that all the pain and muscle spasms were gone. I checked with him again a few days later and the pain never returned. My friend had many concerns: would he require surgery? How would the injury affect his life at home? Would he lose a few months of work while going through physical therapy or rehabilitation?

Forget all that worry and hassle. No doctor’s appointment. No MRI. No pain medications or time off work. None of them came to pass, thanks to a God who heals.