Did you know that your simple act of obedience or your small step of faith could change another person's life forever?
It can.
I know because my life was changed forever by one person obeying God and taking a step of faith. Let me tell you my story.....
When I was born, I had a crippling condition that could not be cured medically. I was born with one leg shorter than the other and my feet and knees were twisted inward. My parents had taken me to doctors and the only thing they could do was place me in leg braces and "hope for the best". So, they measured me for the braces and ordered them. But, I never had to wear them and I'm not crippled today - because God healed me.
My parents were attending a revival in a small country church in a rural north Florida town. There was an Evangelist there and he called me up to the front and had me sit on the alter. He asked me if I believed that Jesus could heal me and I said "yes". He then prayed a simple prayer - nothing fancy, nothing wild, just a simple prayer - "Jesus heal this little girl's legs". And guess what? Jesus did it! Right there in front of everyone, my shorter leg grew to be equal length with the longer leg and my feet and knees returned to their normal position.
I was healed that night and my life was forever changed....In just a few minutes I went from a child who would have to wear leg braces (like Forrest Gump) to a child who was able to walk and run and play like any other child. I never really knew who that man was....I've been talking about him for 30 years, sharing my "testimony" with people, telling them what God did for me and how I'm literally a "walking miracle".
Never saw the guy again - until today. As it turns out, he lives here in Tallahassee, his name is Jerry, and my mom connected with his wife through work. She happened to mention it to me and when it occurred to me that this was the guy who prayed for me, I was so excited. I asked her to see if they would meet us for lunch or something so that I could meet him. We did that today, and I was finally able to meet Jerry and his wife today. May sound like a small thing to most people, but it's not to me. It's huge. Not only that Jesus healed me 30 years ago and gave me the chance at a "normal" life, but that now he was giving me the opportunity to thank the vessel he used to heal me. How cool is that? C'mon!
As I thought this week about what I wanted to say to him, it was simply "Thank you for being obedient and taking a step of faith to pray for me...my life was changed because you weren't afraid to pray for a cripple."
Then I started thinking about something Joan Hunter (wwwjoanhunter.org) taught me - how many people have never received their healing because someone who God wanted to use to pray for them was afraid of being embarrassed or afraid that nothing would happen? How many people have I walked past and said "God bless them or God heal them" and he couldn't because I was too afraid to stop them and say "Can I pray with/for you?" Jesus said that believers would lay hands on the sick and they would recover. Jesus wants to heal people, he died on the cross so that we wouldn't have to be sick, diseased, crippled, or left in emotional pain - yet so many people go through their whole life and never know the freedom of his healing. Could it be that someone wasn't obedient to pray for them? Could it be that someone was afraid to step out in faith because they thought nothing would happen?
I've determined that I will not be one of those people. I want to be someone's "Jerry" or someone's "Joan". I want to feel the compassion of God move on my heart for a person, and I want to pray for them, and I want to see them healed and I want to see their life changed forever. So, if I'm in Wal-Mart and I see someone who needs prayer....will I walk by them? No! I will stop and I will ask them if I can pray for them. I'm gonna pray for people, and I'm going to see lives changed. I encourage you to do the same...and if you are looking for some good resources to help you - Joan Hunter has a great book "Healing the Whole Man Handbook" that is an awesome tool in the hand of a believer. If you need prayer for healing (body, heart, emotions), then call me or stop me when you see me and ask me to pray for you. I have faith and I'm not afraid to use it.
"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him wiht oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." James 5:13-15
One simple act of obedience. One simple act of faith. That's all it takes to change a life.
Let's bring change to the world by impacting one life at a time!
Blessings!
Krista
© Krista L. Abbott, April 15, 2007, Tallahassee Florida
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
The Beloved
As I awakened this morning, my eyes immediately fell to the book Abba's Child laying on my night stand. I resisted for a few moments, thinking I needed to be "more spiritual" and read my Bible instead. The pull to the book, however, was stronger than I could resist and I was unsuccessful with my attempts to "law myself" into reading the Bible. So, I reached for the book and opened it up to where I closed it last, Chapter 3.
As I read, I became more intrigued by the concept Brennan Manning discusses in this incredible book, the concept of the beloved. Then on page 51, I read these words, "While the imposter draws his identity from past achievements and the adulation of others, the true self claims identity in its belovedness. We encounter God in the ordinariness of life: not in the search for spiritual highs and extraordinary, mystical experiences but in our simple presence in life." Wow! Why is it so difficult for everyone (me included) to just be themselves, to just live life as God created us, without performing or putting on a façade for those around us? This "imposter person" that we have created for ourselves has us all deceived into thinking that our identity is found in what we do, where we live, what we drive, who we associate with, etc. All the while, God is sitting there waiting for us to take a moment of quiet solitude and find Him, so he can tell us who we really are – the beloved.
What does it mean to be the beloved? It means that we embrace the inherent truth that God loves us just as we are. We don't have to change for him to love us. We don't have to perform and be the best at everything for him to love us. He loves us just as we are. He loves us with all of our faults, all of our insecurities, all of our mistakes…He loves everything about us. He created us as human and humans are imperfect creatures. He loves what He created – why do we fight so hard to be something different than what He created us to be.
I personally, am very saddened by "cookie cutter" Christians, those who try and mold themselves and take on the persona of someone they have admiration or respect for. No! This is not what God intended. To become "plastic" or to be like everyone else is to deny the masterpiece that God has created in you. To mold your personality around societal expectations or to become like another person (other than Christ) is to create an "imposter" and insult God's creative intellect. This would be the equivalent of allowing a child to finger-paint over a DaVinci or a Picasso. When God created each person, it was an original, a masterpiece. Why then do we feel the need to create our own persona or worse yet, imitate someone else's persona?
The question we have to ask ourselves is this – Do we want to be a worthless piece of art, a cheap imitation, or do we want to be an original? As for me, I know what I want. I want to be an original. I choose to embrace the valuable me, the original me that God created. I choose to be me, not a replica, not a copy, not an imposter, but an original. Imagine how beautiful the world would be if everyone else did the same.
As I read, I became more intrigued by the concept Brennan Manning discusses in this incredible book, the concept of the beloved. Then on page 51, I read these words, "While the imposter draws his identity from past achievements and the adulation of others, the true self claims identity in its belovedness. We encounter God in the ordinariness of life: not in the search for spiritual highs and extraordinary, mystical experiences but in our simple presence in life." Wow! Why is it so difficult for everyone (me included) to just be themselves, to just live life as God created us, without performing or putting on a façade for those around us? This "imposter person" that we have created for ourselves has us all deceived into thinking that our identity is found in what we do, where we live, what we drive, who we associate with, etc. All the while, God is sitting there waiting for us to take a moment of quiet solitude and find Him, so he can tell us who we really are – the beloved.
What does it mean to be the beloved? It means that we embrace the inherent truth that God loves us just as we are. We don't have to change for him to love us. We don't have to perform and be the best at everything for him to love us. He loves us just as we are. He loves us with all of our faults, all of our insecurities, all of our mistakes…He loves everything about us. He created us as human and humans are imperfect creatures. He loves what He created – why do we fight so hard to be something different than what He created us to be.
I personally, am very saddened by "cookie cutter" Christians, those who try and mold themselves and take on the persona of someone they have admiration or respect for. No! This is not what God intended. To become "plastic" or to be like everyone else is to deny the masterpiece that God has created in you. To mold your personality around societal expectations or to become like another person (other than Christ) is to create an "imposter" and insult God's creative intellect. This would be the equivalent of allowing a child to finger-paint over a DaVinci or a Picasso. When God created each person, it was an original, a masterpiece. Why then do we feel the need to create our own persona or worse yet, imitate someone else's persona?
The question we have to ask ourselves is this – Do we want to be a worthless piece of art, a cheap imitation, or do we want to be an original? As for me, I know what I want. I want to be an original. I choose to embrace the valuable me, the original me that God created. I choose to be me, not a replica, not a copy, not an imposter, but an original. Imagine how beautiful the world would be if everyone else did the same.
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