But, as the announcer says in the cheap TV infomercials – But wait! There’s more!

Isaiah 9:3-5 – You have multiplied the nation. And increased its joy; They rejoice before You According to the joy of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You have broken the yoke of his burden And the staff of his shoulder, The rod of his oppressor, As in the day of Midian. For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle, And garments rolled in blood, Will be used for burning and fuel of fire.

(Continued from the Blog Post of 7/9/2018)

The day after our gathering at the lake, I was up early to drive Chuck and his team to JFK airport. The drive to the airport was a great opportunity for me to pick their brains about how they work the ministry they are in and ways that we can encourage churches in our area to move a little bit further out in their expectation of how God can work.

As we were driving Chuck asked me if there was anything they could pray for me about. I gave it some thought and the lightbulb clicked on.

I had been suffering from a damaged right shoulder resulting from a ski accident. I had gone to several doctors but couldn’t get a definitive answer. They just said it was something that I should rehab with a certain set of exercises. But, the exercises were not working. My range of motion was severely restricted. If I tried to extend my arm in any significant way in any direction, there was a great deal of pain. My sleep was suffering for the pain caused whenever I moved about in bed. Our prayer team had prayed for this on a number of occasions but not resulting in much improvement.

Finally, I had concluded from speaking with others that it was a torn rotator cuff injury. The prayer/supernatural approach had not seemed to work,  so perhaps God wanted to used the medical system to do His healing. I had decided it was time to go to the doctor to investigate having surgery.

Now, with the lightbulb burning brightly above my head, I was taken back to the night before when Chris first asked if there was anyone with an “arm” problem. I guess because I didn’t hear “shoulder” it didn’t register. (I checked this out – the shoulder is most definitely part of the arm). I told the guys about my shoulder and right then and there driving down I95 to JFK they laid their hands on my shoulder.

Chuck prayed a simple prayer like, “God, please heal Dave’s shoulder.” They all concluded with “Thanks and Amen” and a then Chuck asked me to check it out. One thing I knew that was most painful was trying to take my right hand and stretch it across my body to beyond my heart. Normally, I could stretch my right arm to reach accross to scratch the back of my left shoulder. With this injury I couldn’t come close.

So, now I reached across my body for my left shoulder and I felt a sensation of something tearing in my shoulder. It was like ripping a piece of paper. It was not painful. It was freeing. What had been restricting my movement and causing such pain now seemed gone.

Just as we were pulling into the airport I began moving my arm all around and declaring, “There’s no pain!” I was stunned but the guys took it in stride, nonchalantly praising God for something that was a pretty typical experience for them – much like how I imagine Jesus might react, “What else did you expect?” They jumped out to catch their plane and said their thanks and good-byes.

I drove off in a dazed state. They prayed. I was healed. They were gone. What just happened? Rather than overjoyed, there seemed more doubt and confusion. Was I really healed? What was my shoulder like before they prayed? All the way driving home I was throwing my arm in every direction to see if there was any pain at all. There was none. But, I still could hardly believe it. I could only imagine the look on the other driver’s faces as they drove by and watched some nut driving while waving his arm all over the place.

I was really healed! But, the doubt lingered. How could this happen so quickly and so casually? I had been miraculously healed. Wow! Was this for real?

Several days later, with my shoulder still having the full range of motion with no pain, I was still trying to come to grips with it. What I have since concluded is that there is one particular factor as part of a miracle that must be dealt with. It is the doubt factor. The first thing many others, even Christians, will be inclined to do when dealing with something that is unexplainable is to dismiss it. Sure, okay, maybe, maybe not. There is likely a simple, logical explanation to it. And questions will sow seeds of doubt – even in the mind of the one who experienced the healing! Maybe there is another logical explanation so don’t oversell it. Maybe I won’t share this with others because it will sound silly.

The simple, perfect testimony to those who doubt is this – no matter what others think or choose to believe is to testify even as the healed blind man offered, “All I know is that I once was blind but now I can see.” In my case, “All I know is that my shoulder was once damaged but now it is free.” It’s all God’s work and He deserves the credit and the glory regardless of how He does it.

Why then? Why my shoulder? What’s the formula? Is there a formula? What’s the story?

But as Paul Harvey would famously say, “And now . . . for the rest of the story.”

(This is Pat II of a 3 Part series to be continued in a coming week)