Her Best Shift

Kari was my partner for the next 8 hours. My regular partner wasn’t able to work, so Kari filled in. We had a slow day—just two transports. That gave us time to talk. Kari told me about her life. She’s interested in archaeology and earned a Master’s degree then began working on her Ph.D. Near the end of the process, she ran into funding problems and never completed her doctorate. As a temporary way to earn a paycheck she went to EMT school.

After discussing her life for a while she asked about mine; what plans did a guy my age have for the future?

I told her that I’d worked in nearly every type of  EMS environment and that I’d gone through every career stage you can go through – from an excited newbie to an experienced trainer to a burned-out, jaded veteran and everything in between. Then I told her about the dreams that began in 2008. Hundreds of dreams about praying for patients in the ambulance.

I shared a few healing testimonies with her. She was a bit shocked, but wanted to know more about what God was doing in my life, so I shared a few more stories. She asked if I could help with a few medical problems of her own. I told her I’d do what I could.

She asked if I’d pray for her father to be healed of chronic back pain. Then she recalled the tragic tale of her best friend, who was severely injured in a car accident. Her friend has a metal plate in her foot that’s slowly separating from the bone it was screwed to. It’s extremely painful and her surgeon doesn’t think anything can be done about it.

I told her I’d be happy to pray for both of them, but asked if she’d contact them and ask if they actually want to be healed. I said I’d be happy to visit her friend in person since she lives in the area.

Kari asked if I’d pray for her eyes healed. She wears corrective lenses for near-nearsightedness and hates wearing glasses. I placed my hand on her forehead just above her eyes and commanded them to be healed. She felt a sensation of warmth invade her lower eyelids. She removed her glasses and noticed that her distant vision was improving. She was surprised at how quickly her vision changed. I prayed a second time and the warmth increased. Then I prayed a third time.

She removed her glasses again and remarked that although her vision wasn’t perfect yet, it was much improved over just a few minutes earlier.

Satisfied with the improvement, she asked if I’d pray for her neck and shoulders to be healed. Like most of us who work in EMS, she suffers from chronic muscle strain and fatigue. She feels as if her neck and upper back muscles are under constant tension, causing a nagging pain that never goes away.

I placed my hand near the back of her neck, just above her shirt collar, but didn’t actually touch her. As I commanded her muscles to be healed, I felt something I’ve never felt before.

Heat.

I felt waves of heat coming from her upper back, just below my hand. She felt it too.

“Let me see your hand.”

I held my hand out in front of her. She felt my palm.

“That’s crazy….when you put your hand near my neck, I could feel heat coming from it, almost like a hot pack. But your palm feels normal.”

I felt it too.

She moved her shoulders around. All the pain was gone.

We talked some more. She had a lot of questions, which I answered the best I could. She understood that I’m something like a conduit for God’s power, which flows through me and heals people. I told her the only reason His power flows through me, is because Jesus gave me the authority to heal people and he gave the same authority to all of His disciples.

She remarked that today was probably the best shift of her life.

Isn’t that how Jesus is?

This is an excerpt from the book My Craziest Adventures With God Volume 2.