The Checkout Woman

I was working on the ambulance and needed to buy potatoes & onions for dinner. I waited in line at the checkout and noticed the clerk rolling her head from side to side with a look of pain on her face. She asked how I was doing tonight. I asked about her obvious neck pain. She explained that she’s had it for a while. I asked if she wanted to be healed.

She was curious and asked if I was a massage therapist. I told her I prayed with people and saw a lot of them healed; often miraculously. She said, “I’m sold!” But we had a problem. She had a line of customers waiting and I couldn’t stay long. I gave her a card to my website, told her my e-mail address was on it and that I’d be back soon.

I left the store with mixed feelings; glad for the opportunity to plant a seed of hope, but disappointed that I didn’t get to pray with her.

I came to work the next day & ended up at the same store again. As I approached the store, I met two men who were taking donations to help disabled veterans. I introduced myself and shared my admiration for what they were doing.

I noticed that one man was wearing dark sunglasses, even though they were in a shaded area. Few people wear sunglasses in dark places unless they have vision problems. Normal pupils dilate and constrict to allow the right amount of light to enter the eye. Problems with the pupil, like cataracts, make the pupil unable to correct for different lighting conditions. I asked what kind of problems he had.

With a puzzled look, he asked how I knew about his eye problems. I explained. He told me he had glaucoma and cataract surgery to his left eye, leaving him partially blind. I asked if he wanted to be healed. With a big smile, he said, “Sure”. I asked if I could place my hand on his shoulder and he agreed. I invited the Holy Spirit to come and bring his presence and power to heal. I asked for peace to fill him and commanded darkness to flee. I commanded his eye to be healed and glaucoma to leave then I asked how he felt.

Smiling and laughing he said, “I fell like all my anxiety just left and I feel that peace you were talking about”. He also said his vision was a little better.

I explained that the peace he felt was the work of the Holy Spirit and asked if I could pray a second time to improve his vision. He agreed, so I prayed a second time, addressing the vision then I asked how it was. He reported that it was even better now.

I went inside the store and found the woman with neck pain at her checkstand with a line of people waiting their turn. I saw another store employee and explained what I wanted to do then asked if she knew when the next break was. It was coming up in 15 minutes. I decided to wait for her.

She saw me waiting and smiled, holding up one finger to let me know she’d be able to talk in a minute or two. She closed her checkstand. Walking toward me she exclaimed, “You came back!” I asked how she was feeling.

“You came at the right time. I have a migraine headache and my neck and shoulders are killing me.”

I wanted to give her hope that she could be healed so I shared the story about the store employee who was healed of migraines two years earlier from a word of knowledge. It worked, she was encouraged. We talked as we walked outside.

I asked about her symptoms then asked if I could place my hand on her shoulder and pray. She agreed. I asked the Holy Spirit to bring his presence and commanded the spirit of pain to leave.

Next, I commanded her headache and neck pain to leave and commanded the bones in her neck and back to come into alignment, then for all muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons and nerves to be healed. I asked how she felt. “I feel great. My headache is completely gone.”

I asked if she was lying and told her she didn’t need to worry about hurting my feelings. Smiling, she said “I’m a big girl, and I’m being honest. My headache really is gone.” But she still had a little pain between her shoulder blades so I placed my hand there and commanded the pain to leave then asked again how she felt.

Moving her shoulders up and down to see if she could make the pain come back she said all the pain was gone.

I said, “Isn’t God just amazing?”

With a knowing smile, she said, “yes he is.”

As we stood in front of the store, a bitter wind chilled our faces. We talked about the goodness of God, which she’d experienced many times. She knew the Lord well. Today’s encounter was a further revelation of His deep love and mercy toward her.

“Well…I suppose I need to go back to my checkstand.”

My partner slept in the front of the rig, oblivious to what had just happened. In the distance, I heard the wail of a fire engine.

“I guess I need to get back to work, too.”