Just before Easter, my boss had organised a staff BBQ. I was really looking forward to it because it would give me a chance to get to know my work colleagues a bit more, plus having a cheeky beer and burger while looking out across Sydney Harbour was equally appealing.
After an hour or so, we were all in the conference room and one of ladies was chatting to a friend and was talking about the fact she'd had severe pain for six months due to sciatica and was explaining that she'd been to all sorts of physiotherapists and doctors and they couldn't help her. Instantly my heart started beating really fast and God said to me; "Go and pray for her... now!"
It was really funny at the time, I remember saying straight back, "not here, surely!" But my heart raced all the more and so it was a case of being obedient to what I felt was God's voice, or carrying on chatting and leaving it alone. The latter, though, was never an option. When I feel prompted by God to do something like this, I would rather leave with egg on my face than pass up an opportunity to see God do something brilliant. So I chose to approach her and ask if I could pray.
I said; "Sorry to overhear your conversation but I heard you had a lot of pain and I would like to pray for you if that's OK?" Much to my amazement she looked at me straight in the eyes and said "Go for it, I'd do anything to not have this." Praise God! This isn't a usual reaction but anyway, as I sat on the floor to pray for her, the room fell silent and someone even started to video it.
I asked her if her hips were out of alignment and if one leg might be slightly shorter than the other. She didn't know so I asked her to put her legs out straight. Sure enough the right leg was about 10mm shorter than the left and everyone looked and agreed it was shorter. It's funny what goes through your mind in situations like this. I was thinking, 'what am I doing? My boss is in the room and I hope I don't have to look for a new job after this.' But I needn't have worried. Everyone wanted to see what would happen. This was God's moment to do what He loves to do.
So I said a simple prayer out loud; "Father, you love to heal. Make this leg come down to the same as the other. Thank you, Dad." Sure enough, within a couple of seconds both feet were perfectly lined up. I remember the person behind me gasping and saying "WOE!" I giggled a bit to myself and said to her; "Can you see your feet now line up?" She agreed and told me she'd let me know how she goes.
Pretty soon after this, people started to leave the party and I had that sinking feeling that I'd made the whole thing totally awkward and everyone was thinking I was a nutcase. My boss had disappeared into another room to answer emails and I was just standing there not really knowing what to say. So I approached my boss and asked him if everything was OK. His answer was different to what I was expecting: "So I'm thinking of offering you a permanent position with us soon. I'd really like you to keep working with us. Would you like that?" WOW! This completely caught me by surprise. Of course I said yes!
Since that day, I had started to feel more and more sheepish about the whole thing and wondered why God would put me in that situation. It wasn't that I didn't want to be obedient but more due to the fact that I felt like it would make my job more difficult. I am new to this role and realise that I hold a much higher professional obligation than I used to. I kept feeling very overwhelmed with embarrassment and the more I thought about it the worse that feeling got.
But, I'm glad to say, I need not have worried. This week I finally got to ask the lady whom I prayed for how she was. She then stood up and said; "You know, two days after you prayed I woke up in the morning and thought 'oh, the pain has gone', and that was three weeks ago. I have not had any pain since, so thank you for praying for me!"
I was competely gob-smacked! It was the best thing to hear and I could tell from her face that she meant it, too. I think the biggest feeling in my heart was knowing that I had obeyed the voice of God even though it was such a strange moment to start praying for someone, so publically. I'm just glad I did and am totally overjoyed that God healed that lady.
Have a blessed week, everyone.
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