Category: Unknown Illness

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Planting and Watering for God’s Increase

HI Faith Travelers!

I can recall the time when I would stress myself over wondering if I did what God asked me to do correctly. For instance, when God would lead me to pray for someone, encourage them, share my story or even buy them food, I would sometimes second guess if I did enough. I would think to myself, “Oh no I should have invited them to church, I should have given them my number so I can continue to talk and pray with them or I should have led them through the salvation prayer. I should’ve done more!” I can recall the internal battle I had after giving the loaf of bread to a family God led me to, as written in my blog post on Following the Voice of God. Even then God told me I could have gone to any house and He would have made it well. It was more about my obedience than anything so that He could continue to direct me in similar ways and use me as a vessel for His glory. Well I didn’t understand it then, but when God directs us to minister to someone whether through prayer, encouragement, providing a meal, etc., we don’t have to make sure we do everything in that one moment to disciple them especially if God has given specific instructions on how to minister to that individual. Consider seeing ministering as seed sowing/planting. For example, my encounter with the family I was led to give the loaf of bread to was a seed planted. I didn’t need to worry about not having done anything else during that exchange except what God instructed me to do which was just to provide the bread. That was the seed planted. I don’t know this personally but I trust that God sent someone else to water the seed that I initially planted and from there, God will give the increase and make it grow. This example is found in I Corinthians 3:5-7.

5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

I Corinthians 3:5-7

This scripture shows us that in this biblical scenario, Paul planted, Apollos watered and God gave the increase. So we never have to worry about trying to be a mini Jesus to someone or to a situation because God has already ordered the steps as He draws all men to Him (See John 12:32). Nothing is impossible for God, He can orchestrate a divine encounter that sets a person on the path of salvation and righteousness before they even realize. Just think back in your own lives. The people you ran into who gave you that encouragement in the exact moment you needed it. That person who just so happened to stop for you while you were stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire and before you know it, you two end up attending the same church and growing in God because of a seed they planted and someone else watered.

I can recall a friend from college and “my before living for Christ days” who used to throw these grand parties where I would bring my group of friends to hang out and enjoy. Well as I started truly walking in the things of God our connection phased out. Years later, he contacted me and told me he was struggling with faith and it was causing an issue in his relationship. He said he would watch my Facebook posts and figured I was someone he could talk to about this. God led me to share my testimony with him, sharing the faithfulness of God in my lowest moments of battling an unknown illness. I shared my story, sent a scripture, a local church option and a sermon a few days later and that was the extent of the conversation. He thanked me and told me he would continue to read and study what I shared. Fast forward 5 years to this year, he reached out for a professional contact he and his wife were looking for. I shared my contacts and he proceeded to tell me that I had been an extreme blessing in his life more than I knew. He mentioned how I played a part in getting him over the hurdle when he struggled with faith. He even shared that hearing my testimony gave him the mustard seed of faith that has grown so much that God has him and his wife on a journey doing things they could never have imagined. I recall reading the text and tearing up while thanking God for the reminder of why I continue to live my life for Him.

While I planted seeds into my friend, at some point in those 5 years the seed was watered and God gave the increase and is still increasing him and his family. Well, I also want to add that not only did I plant a seed for my friend but he watered a seed that God planted in me about this very blog of sharing faith to spread faith. Him sharing the impact of me sharing my testimony only gave me the full impacting vision of what God is trying to do through Faith Travels. My prayer is that each blog post and testimony shared is a seed sown on good ground in your hearts, that continues to be watered and cultivated for God to increase. Consider sharing your faith to spread faith, planting and watering seeds one testimony at a time.

To be a part of the movement, share your own faith story Here!

Until the next faith story…

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Faith Healed Miracle Miracle Testimony Unknown Illness

Unknown Illness Miraculously Healed Pt. 2

So I shared my battle with the unknown illness with you in Part 1 and now I want to share My Victory over that unknown illness in Part 2. The Bible says, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world– our faith. (1 John 5:4) ” By faith, sickness and disease was eradicated from my body and defeated!

The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy but God has come to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). I received my full healing and restoration back in March of 2016! I went from barely being able to move to dancing before the Lord at my church. How you ask? Here’s the part you’ve been waiting on since Part 1.

Well during that time my Pastor was teaching on healing in the Bible. He mentioned the Bible story of the woman with the issue of blood (See Matthew 9, Mark 5 and Luke 8) and how her faith was in being healed once she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. He said the Centurion’s servant was sick but the Centurion felt that he wasn’t worthy of Jesus coming to his house so his faith was in Jesus just saying the word and he knew his servant would be healed. Then the story of Jairus whose daughter was said to be dead, his faith was in Jesus coming to his house and healing his daughter. My pastor asked the general question “what is your faith in for receiving your healing?” Then he asked, if you feel like you need to be touched (by the laying on of hands) and prayed for to receive your healing that Jesus already died on the cross for, then come to the altar. In that moment, I felt like he was talking to me but I began to feel fear rise up in me. In the midst of feeling afraid, I heard a still voice say, “ this is what you asked me for, go up there”. I said under my breath while looking around, “Jesus is that you?!” As I walked up there I had already had this conversation in my mind that out of all the people praying I wanted the pastor to do it( not that it would’ve made a difference…God can use anyone). Well I got up there and I closed my eyes while praying to myself. I then hear the pastor say, “ Tell me what’s going on”. I open my eyes while thinking, “Lord did you tell this man my business already” (sarcasm…because me and the Lord have that kind of relationship). I began to tell him what was going on and said I want full healing and restoration. He said “well full healing and restoration, that’s easy for God…That’s easy right?”….as he looked for me to agree, I just shook my head in a yeah sure kind of way. He began to pray over me and someone behind me was praying in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:14). Next thing I know I was laid out on the ground. And here I was thinking that people were being polite and falling out to appease the pastor. This was not the case here. I got up in expectation that something had changed even though I didn’t feel 100% better; I knew God was going to do what He said.

The next day I went to dance ministry practice. Even though I couldn’t dance because of my condition, I would still go to help and serve where I could. Well, they were practicing a ballet move for the next ministry performance and I decided to try the move. Just a bit of a back-story, I have never taken any ballet or dance classes and the restrictions I still had limited me from doing low extremity moves. In that moment as I began to do the ballet leg lift move, I watched my leg rise like I had taken classes for years. This was the same leg rising that at one point would not even move and had to be dragged around the house. I stopped and with tears in my eyes I said, God you did it, you healed me!!!

From being unable to move to Ministering through dance. Me: Bottom Left corner

In the next couple of weeks, I ministered through dance for the first time before the congregation. I can remember fighting back the ugly cry during my performance because I was still in awe of what God had done for me. My friend Tiffany was in the audience and after service I asked if she was able to record me. She said, “I’m sorry I didn’t because I was crying so hard at the goodness of God because I saw you when you couldn’t move!” There was nothing but tears of gratefulness and joy as I reflected on the same.

I went from being unable to move to a mighty move of God on my behalf. These are the moments that took my faith and walk with God to another level and part of the reason why I share my faith and testimony with you today. Someone else’s faith story helped me in the midst of my trials and my prayer is that my story and the many more that I will share here will help someone to also see and experience the faithfulness of God in whatever circumstance they may be going through.

Until the next faith testimony…

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Faith Healed Jesus Miracle Testimony Unknown Illness

Unknown Illness Miraculously Healed Pt.1

If its one thing in this world that I love, it’s seeing God be glorified. I absolutely love hearing testimonies from people on how God brought them out of the impossible. This passion stems from some of my own life experiences. While I have quite a few testimonies that I will share at some point, the one I will share today is the one that took my Faith to another level in my journey with Jesus.

One day in 2015, I woke up tingling and numb on the left side of my body. I couldn’t sit upright without pressure and pain rising in my neck and head. My back had spasmed inward to the point where I couldn’t lay flat on any surface. I was in and out of the ER with no clue as to what was wrong with me. I couldn’t sleep in any position without pain. I had sporadic muscle weakness in certain parts of my body on the left side and shooting jolts of pain that came and went sporadically. There were days when my left leg would stop functioning and I’d have to drag it just to get to the bathroom in my own home. I couldn’t sit up or sit long in any chair without pressure rising in my head to the point I would get dizzy and have to lie down. I had random pain, swelling, inflammation and pulling in my face. I had days where my temples felt like they were going to explode unrelated to a headache or migraine. There were days where I woke up and my entire body felt like it was on fire. There were lots of days when my vision was extremely blurry. I even had days where I couldn’t even move and was home bound for weeks at a time.

I averaged 5 doctor appointments a week and sometimes up to 3 in one day. I had so many other unexplainable symptoms that ER, primary and specialty doctors all looked at me perplexed every visit, while making arbitrary guesses of what they thought it might be; Multiple Sclerosis being among the assumptions. This all resulted in a couple of ER visits, a team of 7 different doctors and specialists, 5 X-rays, 2 CT scans, 4 MRIs, 2 ultrasounds, and an EMG where they stuck needles in different parts of my body and made me flex to check for muscle weakness. Alongside all of that, I was given a nerve conduction study where they electric shocked me in different parts of my body to check for nerve damage, that was the worse pain of my life. I had a couple of blood work panels, 2 incorrect prescriptions of meds that led to side effects of insomnia, anxiety and emotional hysteria for a couple of weeks, a reaction to the meds that I was pumped with in the ER that caused my face to burn and throat to close to the point where I could barely talk for a few days. This all ended with several months of being unable to go to work or work period due to all of my restrictions. The several doctors appointments all concluded with no diagnosis and no clue as to what was wrong.

In and out of the ER for months but smiling because I knew God was bigger than what I was going through

The doctors couldn’t help me…But God!

All of this was going on and I still had peace God would work it out as He’d done so many times before. In these moments I didn’t just wait around for things to change, I prayed with expectation and went to God’s word that showed me all of His promises already proclaimed over my life. My favorite scripture, Jeremiah 29:11 showed me, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” I knew God had a plan for me and it was not my current situation. My cousin, Sylvia Grant, who was miraculously healed from Dystonia (See previous blog post for her story) showed me the stories in the Bible where Jesus healed the sick and shared with me that healing is still available in present day when we are open to receiving what’s already been given to us through the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross.

God put the right people in place to help me through all of this even when I wanted to act prideful and handle it on my own. God sent friends, strangers, co-workers, church family and people I didn’t even know had my phone number from high school to cross my path in the moments I needed it the most.

The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy but God has come to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). I received my full healing and restoration back in March of 2016! I went from barely being able to move to dancing before the Lord at my church. How, you ask? Well you will just have to stick around for Part 2 to find out.

Until the next faith testimony…