I’ve had osteoarthritis for years, especially in my left knee. A few days before Christmas, I tripped and fell, landing on my right knee on the concrete floor. I was able to get up and move around with only mild pain and a little bruising. However, the pain continued to worsen. By the day after Jack’s birthday party, it was getting hard for me to get around. The next day, my right knee gave way, and I fell flat on my face in the laundry room.
The pain was excruciating, and I couldn’t get up. Jack heard me fall and came running, but when he tried to help me up, the pain was too severe for me to stand, even with his help. I drug myself through the house, lying flat on the floor and maneuvering myself forward with my arms. Jack helped me sit in a chair and change out of my pajamas into clothes. We called EMS, and they helped me into the wheelchair Jack pulled out of the storeroom, wheeled me outside, and assisted me to make the transfer to the car for the trip to the doctor’s office.
X-rays showed nothing was broken, but the arthritic damage was badly aggravated. The doctor prescribed painkillers and a soft knee brace, which Jack picked up at the pharmacy on the way home. He wondered aloud how we were going to get me into the house without help—two aides had assisted me in and out of the doctor’s office. While I was still in the car, we opened the knee brace and managed it to get it on. With my knee braced and with Jack’s help, I made it into the house though the pain was severe. I stayed in a recliner most of the next couple of weeks except when Jack helped me to the bathroom or to the table for a meal he prepared. Even that little bit of walking irritated my “bad” left knee so Jack got a brace for it also. I did manage to get to my office to let my readers know I wouldn’t be around much.
Nearly two weeks later, I was moving around enough with a walker to go to church. Father Chip did a “first aid” prayer after the service. On the next Wednesday, he did healing prayer after Evensong. Although no one has ever told me my legs weren’t even, Father Chip held my legs out in front of me and pointed out that the left leg was shorter. He prayed, commanding the left leg to become even with the right … and I and the intercessors praying with us saw the leg stretch until it was even with the right leg. The only thing I felt was heat from Father Chip’s hands. Every time he has done healing prayer for me, wherever he lays his hands becomes hot.
After Father Chip finished praying and anointed me with oil, I moved from the chair I’d been sitting in to a pew.
When I expressed amazement that I could bend my right knee, Father Chip responded, “Why are you surprised?”
Why, indeed? God has granted me so many healings that I should expect miracles. I do expect miracles … but I will never cease to be amazed, awed, and grateful for every miracle of God.