Little Old Ladies

We responded on what would be a boring call for most paramedics: a little old lady with the flu. I informed her that there wasn’t anything the hospital could do and she might be better off staying home, but my objections were overruled. She was coming with us. While loading her in the ambulance, I got her medical history. She was pretty healthy except for severe scoliosis, arthritis, and a torn meniscus in her left knee. It was the torn meniscus that got my attention.

About a month earlier, I prayed for a young woman at a grocery store who had the same problem. I saw her in a wheelchair leaving the store and asked if I could pray for her. After a few minutes of prayer she was healed. Having done it once before, I believed my little old lady would be healed, too. I told her about the healing at the store. “Would you like me to pray with you to be healed?”

“That would be wonderful!”

She had limited range of motion in her left knee with severe pain when she flexed the joint. I had her relax and placed my hand on her knee. “I command this knee to be healed in Jesus’ name and I command spirits of pain to leave. What do you feel?”

“Wow, that’s strange. It feels very warm.”

I didn’t have to ask her to flex it, she did and her jaw dropped open.

“How did you do that?” She had full range of motion with no pain. She grabbed my hands. “Thank you. Thank you, so much!”

After a short celebration in the back of the ambulance, I asked about her back.

“So you have scoliosis, right?”

“I used to be four inches taller than I am now.”

“Can I pray for your back to be healed?”

“Of course you can!”

I placed my hand on her back and commanded it to be healed. She felt heat going down her back. She was on her way to having that healed, too. We talked about the goodness of God all the way to the hospital.

About an hour after dropping her off at the emergency department, we responded for another little old lady who tripped and fell. We got in the ambulance and drove to her house where we found her sprawled on the floor just inside the front door. I began to ask the usual questions.

“What happened, ma’am?”

“I’m so mad at myself.” She said in a beautiful Scottish brogue. “I should have waited for help.”

“Where are you from?”

“Glasgow.” She said with a smile.

I instantly took a liking to her.

“Please do not touch my leg, lads. It hurts like the devil.” Right on cue, a firefighter grabbed her ankle to see how badly she was injured. She let out an ear-piercing scream. I got down next to her and gave the firefighter a nudge to let him know his assessment was done and I was taking over. “Ma’am, let us help you to the gurney and we can transport you to the hospital.”

“I went to the hospital early this morning. They took a peek at me but they couldn’t do anything.”

“You went to the hospital already? What did they tell you?”

“They didn’t think it was broken and they sent me on my way.”

“Did you injure your leg today or is this an injury you already had?”

“I fell and hurt myself about two months ago, lad. The doctor said I had shin splints and he told me to go to therapy, so I went just like he said but the pain kept getting worse.”

“That’s not supposed to happen. I mean, it might hurt for a while when you start therapy, but the pain should eventually leave as you begin to heal.”

“Well lad, they misdiagnosed me. The stupid doctor never took an x-ray. I broke my leg and he didn’t even know it.”

We got her loaded on the gurney and wheeled her to the ambulance. I sat next to her and explained what happened on the previous transport. When I was done, I asked, “Can I pray for you?” She was so glad to have me pray she almost kissed me. I placed my hand gently on her leg and invited the Holy Spirit to join us. But before I could say a word, her hands shot up in the air.

“Praise the Lord, I’m healed!”

Her boisterous reaction caught me off guard.

“Ma’am. I’m glad you’re healed, but we’re going to be at the hospital soon and they’re going to need you to be a little… quieter.”

“Praise the Lord, and his holy name, lad… I’m healed! Thank you Jesus!”

She kept praising God, louder and louder. We dropped her off at the emergency department and she was still praising Him. I have no idea what she told them after we left and I never wanted to find out. Being a relative newbie to healing at the time, I never thought that if someone actually got healed in the ambulance it would be so… embarrassing!

As I quietly slipped out of the hospital, I whispered, “What next, Lord?”