I’m Not Very Religious

I’ve been spending a lot of time inside gas stations. If I’m not buying coffee, I’m buying water. Summer is here and the weather is scorching. As I approached the checkout stand, I saw a woman wearing an immobilizer on her leg. She had a noticeable limp. I made a simple comment as she passed. “Wow, that looks like it hurts.”

“It hurts all the time,” she replied.

“Do you mind telling me how it happened?”

“I broke it, but when I went to my doctor, he said it was just a sprain. I went through physical therapy and it wasn’t getting any better, so I got a second opinion. Turns out I had two broken bones, and they put a cast on my foot. The cast didn’t help and the doctor decided to try this immobilizer. I’ve been wearing it for eight months, but it still isn’t any better.”

We paid for our things and I asked if she had a few minutes to talk. We walked outside and sat on a stone wall in front of the building. I thought I might as well get right to the point. “Would you have any desire to be healed by God?”

With a smirk, she said, “I need to tell you something.”

For the next ten minutes, she recalled different events from her childhood. I thought she would eventually tell me why she didn’t believe in God. Then she shared a recent story about being bitten by a venomous snake. “When the ambulance arrived, they didn’t know how to treat the snake bite, so they pulled out a first aid manual and began reading it in my living room, hoping to find instructions on what to do. I was getting weaker and they needed to get me to a hospital soon. I told them to call for a helicopter to fly me to a hospital before I died. The helicopter landed six miles from my house so they put me in the ambulance and drove me to the landing zone. I remember like it was yesterday… as the helicopter lifted off into the sky, my body and spirit separated and I found myself standing before God in eternity. It was the most awesome experience I ever had.”

I told her about my love of near-death stories. She told me about meeting her parents again and what it felt like to be surrounded by the all-consuming love of the Father. We talked about the absolute sense of peace in eternity. After she finished her story, I asked if I could pray for her foot to be healed.

With a bit of apprehension, she said, “I’m not one of those people who goes to church every week. I believe in God, but I’m not very religious.”

“I don’t go to church, either. I work every Sunday. I see Jesus a little differently than most people. He’s the kind of guy who met strangers wherever He found them and wasn’t afraid to be friends with the sinners that religious people looked down on.”

She smiled in agreement. “You can pray for my foot now if you want.”

I placed my hand on her ankle. “Holy Spirit, I ask you to touch this young lady. Ligaments, nerves, tendons, bones, and cartilage, be healed in the name of Jesus.” I asked what she felt.

She pointed to her toes. “It’s tingling right there.”

“God’s beginning to heal your foot.” Her smile grew bigger.

I placed my hand on the immobilizer again and commanded more healing and asked what she felt.

“Now my ankle is tingling.”

“Pain, inflammation, and swelling, I command you to leave. Ligaments, muscles, tendons, and bones, be healed.” I asked a third time what she felt.

“Now the back of my leg is tingling, just below my calf muscle.”

“Is there any pain at all?”

She flexed her foot. “No. It’s gone.”

“Are you lying?” I asked, beginning to chuckle.

Laughing with me, she said, “I’m not lying, it doesn’t hurt at all. It’s completely gone.”

We sat in the shade and sipped our drinks. I told her that God loves her. I taught her how to keep her healing and explained what to do if the pain returned. She thanked me for taking the time to pray with her.

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