Migraines and Miracles

A few weeks before our pastor invited our international congregation to enter into a period of fasting in preparation for Easter,  I knew.  I knew God was asking me to fast.  Yuck.

I had fasted before ... sorta.  I would take a day here ... a day there ... suffer through not eating until finally devouring whatever was in the leftover containers in the fridge at 5:00 pm and thought I had completed a successful fast.  I had come to believe fasting was just not a thing for me.

Day 1, 2 and 3 of my 21 day fast I was sick.  Ironic because one of the things I was concentrating on during my fast was my health.  Without going into a long backstory, I've been sick way too many times over the past few years with a myriad of symptoms.

Day 4 - 12 ish I felt great!  I felt as if I was on a spiritual high.  Every encounter with God was amazing.   Quickly I got the impression He was asking me to expect three things:  miracles, breakthroughs, and needs being met.  Cool.  I began to see some significant breakthroughs.  I saw needs met.  No miracles but that was OK.  After all, was God still performing miracles today anyway?

Without prolonging the subject of this title, I will say that I have been chronologically reading through the Bible.  This year-by-year journey through Biblical history has been enlightening.  One of the stand out themes that can't be ignored is the outrageous miracles God performed:  water to blood, seas parted, breakfast provided in the desert, and water pouring out of rocks just to name a few.  Miracles just seem to be the way God operates; it's His "M.O.".  If He doesn't change, why should the manner in which He operates change?

I began dialoguing with Him about this ... wondering if He would do some miracles in my own life ... if I should dare ask for them.  For example, as many of you know, when we move to Norman, OK, we need some pretty hefty miracles.  Instead of trying to figure out how we are going to obtain these things, I've been bold enough to ask God for ... miracles.

Day 19 of my fast I fell victim to a migraine headache.  I was unable to move, be exposed to light, eat, was nauseous, and was bothered by sound.  This went on throughout the day on Monday.  Monday night I was in so much pain I could not sleep.  All during this time, we prayed. Chris prayed for healing.  I cried out for healing.  Nothing.

Day 21, Tuesday morning, brought no relief.  I was finally able to get a few hours of sleep.  Upon waking up, I was so done.  As I was asking God to do a miracle, I heard His Spirit say to mine, "Get up.  Walk in your healing."  What??  Didn't God, creator of heaven and earth, knitter of all my inward parts in my mothers' womb know what kind of pain I was in??  Didn't he know that I could hardly walk and that movement of any kind sent me into a nauseous spasm?  "Get up.  Walk in your healing."  Because God is good and I know He does good things, I began to get up. I got dressed for the first time in 2 days.  I even put on makeup.  I  made a cup of coffee.  I went into my living room, sat next to a large window and basked in the sunshine.  I began to pray.

In less than an hour, my migraine was gone.  I felt my head and scalp tingle.  The more it tingled, the less my head hurt.  I even began to shake my head to see if the pain was lingering around anywhere.  Nothing.  It felt as if a rubber band had been stretched to its full capacity and then popped.  Something somewhere had happened and I knew - in giddy excitement - that I had been healed.  I had been the recipient of a miracle.

God doesn't change.  He still does miracles.  What would happen if His people would begin to ask and expect them?  Ask and expect, not to fulfill some sort of prosperity identity, but ask and expect to bring honor, glory, and the wow factor to a holy God smack dab in the middle of a crazy world that needs to see God?

I'm going to brag on God.  I had a migraine.  Now I don't.  God did a miracle.

Expecting more,
Christina