Have you ever received instant gratification from a prayer offered up to God?  Have you ever ‘tried’ Him by asking in prayer for Him to use a particular object to perform a miracle?  Have you ever envisioned just how you would react if all that you asked of God was granted instantaneously?  Well, this blogger has!

……………………I was sick and tired of being sick and tired!……………

The date was Tuesday evening, May 10, 1983.  As I lay in bed, sick with a nasty head cold and severe sore throat which had caused me to cough up blood earlier that day, I wondered if I would ever get a good night’s sleep.  After tossing and turning for several hours, I decided to begin preparing my Sunday School lesson which was found in the Book of Acts 19:11 and 12.

“Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and evil spirits went out of them.”

As I continued to study, my attention kept going back to verse 12.  Finally, I asked myself, ‘I wonder if a cloth could heal my throat.’  Immediately, my mother came to mind and the Lord reminded me of her true devotion to Him all the day long.  My mother lived in another town and earlier that year she had crocheted some table doilies and mailed me a ten-piece set.  I could picture her sitting in her rocking chair, crocheting, while at the same time, humming a tune and giving praises to God in prayer.

Carefully, I got out of my bed and went downstairs to the hall closet where I had placed the newly crocheted doilies.  Very slowly, and with a lot of hesitation, I removed the box from the top shelf.  I selected a small round coaster doily.  I then tipped toed back upstairs.  Boy! was I nervous and was praying all the while I returned to bed.

As I braced myself against the pillows, I held the doily in one hand and begin praying over it very softly, asking God if I was doing the right thing.  My intent was to assure God I was not ‘trying’ Him, but just wanted very much to trust Him for His healing power.  So, while quietly continuing to pray…almost apologetically, I laid the doily on my sore throat and pressed it with both hands securely around my throat.

Surprisingly, something began to happen in the room.  The first thing I noticed was that a cool breeze of air was coming towards me.  It passed through my nostrils.  Actually, it rushed through my nostrils.  My eyelids popped open and I put one hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.  Sensing it was the Holy Spirit, my first instinct was to shout out a praise to our Lord and Savior.  But at that precise moment, I had to swallow.  When I did, everything went right down my throat with ease.  No pain!  My eyes got bigger and I began to sweat.  Somehow I found the courage to whisper, ‘Lord is that you?’  In a still small voice He responded, ‘You asked to be healed, didn’t you?  Well, do not waver!’

Tears of joy began to stream down my cheeks.  Praises were coming from my mouth.  My voice still sounded as though I had a cold, but my head was all cleared up.  My eyes stopped watering.  My fever had dropped.  Hallelujah, I was healed!  With the aide of the Holy Spirit, my mother’s doily had healed me just as Paul’s handkerchief had healed those saints in the Book of Acts.

The next evening, while watching television, the Holy Spirit nudged me to turn off the TV and go upstairs to my bedroom.  Once there, I picked up my Bible from off the bed and flipped it open to Mark 3.  My eyes fell on verse ten.

“For he healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about him to touch him.”

As I meditated on those words I believe Jesus was reassuring me that it was all right to have ‘tried’ Him the night before for my healing.  He was saying to me in that same still small voice, “My child, I have been there and have done that!”  Praise God!

(Below is a picture of the white coaster doily my mother sent me. She prayed for me and now I pray for you.)

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