Beautiful In It's Time

Wednesday night comes. It has become my favorite night of the week since December. I arrive at Wednesday Night for prayer and see my brothers and sisters and I am overwhelmed by all these new faces. We had some family visiting us from GA. Anyway, this guy, Micah gets up to share his testimony. I am thinking to myself, “YES! Share your testimony. Let’s claim that victory in Jesus!” Oh man, just about everything to trials and faith to believing and receiving was all in the message coming from his lips. I was smacked with some affirmation to what God had been showing me.

We move into some time of individual prayer corporately just going to the Lord, coming into His presence and acknowledging him. I begin to see myself dancing with Jesus and He is delighting in me. We are holding hands and I see myself as this small child and he is twirling me around.

This Micah guy gets up and begins to speak out about specific sicknesses that are plaguing people in the room. He says that there is someone here with digestive problems and I immediately receive it from the Lord. When he was finished speaking about every single thing the Lord showed him, he began to pray. I understood that he was praying for the specific healing of the sicknesses and at one point he was praying healing for me specifically, only it wasn’t Him praying. It was the Holy Spirit interceding. Micah had no idea who I was or that I was the one with digestive problems and yet, I heard this prayer being offered up for me. I placed my hand on my stomach and I could see the Lord’s hand on my stomach and I began to see my intestines become new. Tears of joy and thanksgiving rolled down my cheeks and I could not stop thanking Him. I kept saying, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, thank you Jesus.” I kept singing and praising Him. He had touched me again. We never stay the same after He touches us.

I can’t even explain what Thursday felt like. My stomach felt different. Certain things that had been broken, that I had just accepted as normal, were suddenly functioning differently. I mean, my stomach sounds like a fish tank after almost every meal. Yet I ate, and nothing. I am laughing right now because I didn’t know it could be different. I also saw that the swelling in my knee had significantly decreased. I was stiff and sore in my Achilles but I decided to go walking last night. I could not just walk…I had to run. As I ran, this freedom and peace washed over my mind once again. Matthew 6:33, 34 came to my mind as I was running…

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Any thought that may have said, “No, you better not run, it’s going to cost you later when you are in pain,” vanished, completely. I made a confession to the Lord saying, “Lord, I am going to run to you, as fast and hard as I can, by your grace, each day!” I meant physically but as I said it, I realized I meant it about everything in my life, my relationship with Him. I am SO excited about this because now when I physically run, I am reminded to run that hard after Jesus in this life! It reminds me to run after Him first, not worrying about what may happen to me the next day because I pursued Him this hard today, and that is ALL He desires from me. Whatever pain comes, He’ll get me through the next day. The next day has its own lessons. He wants us to run HARD and FAST each day empowered by His Spirit, our eyes on the prize, which is Jesus. As it says in Philippians 3:12-14:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

By the way, I am writing this as my feet are elevated, with an ice pack on my knee and one on my Achilles tendon. My calve muscles are as stiff as blocks of wood, but I am rejoicing to feel sore muscles that I was able to work. I am rejoicing that my hip was loose enough for me to have the range of motion to run. I am rejoicing that I didn’t even feel ANY pain in my hip today!!! Seriously, praise the Lord with me! He is making ALL things new! Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise my Redeemer, Creator, Friend, Father, Lover, and Healer! Praise the One who has called me out of darkness into marvelous light. His name is Jesus. He is Lord. And one day…I’m going to run to Him in Heaven…I am going to kneel before Him and weep and weep with joy that His body broken made my body whole that His blood poured out poured living water into my blood. I will spend eternity singing on my knees, and He will sing over me as He does even now.

I am healed by Him and sealed in Him.

Jesus…the most powerful name above every name (Acts 4:12). It’s in your name I pray, by your name I am saved, and your voice that calls me home. Yes, I believe. Yes, I receive. Yes, I’m running after you.

Amen.

-Joy VanDeLoo

*This is only a portion of Joy's wonderful and beautiful testimony to how good the Lord has been to her. If you would like to read the full testimony check out
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=50444054867