What Does Healthy Feel Like?

First off, I would like to state that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and He is forever the king of the earth. Anything is possible with Him. I believe that you don’t need to be old and wise to deliver a powerful and touching testimony, as you will soon realize. I am not your average stereotypical teenager. I’ve delt with a horrible illness that I wish upon no one. On the outside I look like a happy person who has everything under control. On the inside, well, that’s another story.

During 4^th grade I started receiving headaches and stomach pain. Yeah, it was bothersome, but I learned to deal with the problem. I went to many doctors who ran countless numbers of tests and procedures, more than the average person has in their lifetime, but everything always came back normal. I prayed to God every night and asked him to heal my body, although I was never granted any answers.

In 7^th grade my health took a turn for the worse. I am a weather freak, so I can relate my life to a super cell storm. It starts with beautiful crisp blue sky; then the clouds roll in. They quickly turn black and destructive producing tornadoes, hail, wind, rain, lightning, and the devil himself. Those minor headaches I was having twice a week for the past four years now turned into severe headaches four or five days a week. I was a regular with the school nurse and I was always going home because I could not concentrate on my studies. I went to more specialists but still no answers. Eventually I was told that I was faking it, it was all in my head, and that my parents just wanted something to be wrong with me. I was overcome with anger and frustration. I thought I was at the end of this storm, but little did I know it was just beginning. This was only the peak of my storm, and the tornado had just touch ground bringing rage and power with it.

My freshman year was by far the worst. I had flipped my life upside down. I struggled with depression and questioned there being a God. He wasn’t healing me no matter how many times I prayed and looked to him for guidance. Why was He doing this to me? Didn’t He know I was dealing with enough already? I figured if God was real, He wouldn’t have made me go through this agony. By now my severe headaches have raged into roaring everyday migraines. I can remember once when my mom came to pick me up from school, she flipped on her turn signal and the clicking alone was enough to make me just about throw up.

The migraines felt like someone taking a shovel and smacking my head as many times as possible until their muscles gave way. The stomach pain was like taking a long, sharp, silver sword, and slowly piercing my abdomen swaying back and forth. I was on the brink of insanity. I could not take it anymore. That was what I was dealing with every day. This was also the year more symptoms were added to the list. I now had to deal with intense nausea and joint pain as well as migraines and stomach pain. I tried not to complain because my family was sick of hearing me whine, and therefore over the years I developed a very strong pain tolerance.

I had two choices: I could wallow in my problems and cry about it, or I could accept it and suck it up. I had rebelled and stopped believing that there is a God as well as accepting my pain as a way of life. I could not remember what it was like to feel normal. I didn’t know any difference.

Little did I know that on Good Friday of 2010 my life would be changed for forever. I did not want to go to the church service that night, but my parents dragged me anyways. When we arrived, the energy in the air was indescribable. I was amazed by the all the people in the room. Everyone was on fire for Jesus.

At the end of the pastor’s powerful message, he called out into the church and asked for anyone who has any sickness or pain, no matter how small, to raise their hands to the Lord and the people around them to lay hands on their shoulders, and in the name of the Lord they shall be healed. I wasn’t going to, thinking it was a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but for some reason I felt compelled not to. As small tears trickled down my cheek, I shyly raised my hand. Well, tried to. As I used up every last ounce of energy that was left in my body to raise my hand, it was halted mid-air. I realized it was the hand of Jesus himself restricting me from reaching out to him. At that moment I received a warm tingling wave of energy from the tip of my scalp all the way to my purple-painted toenails and he said to me,

There is no need, Melissa, for by the blood of grace, you are healed.

To this day I am living sickness- free. Yeah, I have my ups and downs, hey, who doesn’t? But I am now a firm believer in Jesus Christ who is my savior, and I have never questioned him since Good Friday. I don’t know what I would do without him. I am so grateful for what he has done for us so that sinners like you and I can spend eternal life partying with Jesus for all eternity. Thank you for taking your time to read my message.