A while ago I wrote about the fact that God still heals people in miraculous ways today. Celebrations in order! I have been asked to give some examples of how I have experienced this personally, and can describe a few very clear instances. Several times I have also recovered fairly quickly, after someone has prayed for me, from illnesses or injuries when I would have expected to have got better anyway, perhaps more slowly though. In those cases God probably intervened, but there is no specific proof. I have also gained complete movement in one of my elbows after breaking it, when my GP said that it was unlikely that that would ever happen, and I am over chronic fatigue syndrome after several months of being awake for only a few hours each day, followed by a slow recovery over a couple of years. I had a few sessions of very helpful support from a wellbeing clinic in this last case, but the prognosis had been very uncertain. I am very grateful to God and the medical practitioners for these cures.
However, sometimes it is pretty much irrefutable that a miracle has happened. In the earlier post I mentioned a time when one of my fingers was healed in a church meeting. That was a fairly small matter physically, but because it was affecting my ability to play the piano, it was quite a big issue for me personally. Another instant healing was several years ago, in 2003, when I had been developing symptoms of arthritis for several months and my GP said that nothing could be done other than trying to manage the situation. It was becoming difficult to walk at times and I had to go to a conference in Florida. By the time I arrived at the hotel I was in agony and could hardly walk at all. I rang Irene, my wife, and almost cried down the telephone about the pain. (It might have been a text message, but if it was I know that you can cry through those as well!)
She was going to a church meeting in another town that night, where they believe strongly in the miracle working power of God. She said that she would ask them to pray for me at the meeting, which they did. I was, of course, several hours ahead of the UK, so I was well asleep (or trying to sleep) by the time the meeting was in full swing. When I awoke, there was no pain at all and I haven't had any problems with arthritis in my knees since. That's 17 years.
As a final example, in 1979 I was due to go on a weekend away with my church in Bristol. I was really looking forward to it but came down with 'flu the day before. I was in a bad way and had to cancel going. I was a student at the time and another student who lived nearby had been delayed by work commitments, so he prayed for me before leaving to join the others. About an hour later I lost all my symptoms and decided to make my way to the venue for the weekend away. Perhaps one might now think that caution would suggest still not going, especially in these days of Covid-19, but I was young, feeling completely well, no one could tell all weekend that I had been ill and, most importantly, no one caught anything off me.
These are the most dramatic cases of personal healing that spring to mind. I have also seen others healed when I have prayed, and there are verified cases involving people whom I know. God likes to get involved in our lives. He quite often does that through healing us physically or mentally, but he is more interested in relationship; sometimes he doesn't do everything that we would like, but he is there with us in the situation.