I Can Walk Again!
By Shiloh Howard
On February 21, 2021, I went for a casual morning run. It was nothing more strenuous than it had been before, but I ended up on crutches and in a wheelchair for nearly two months. My X-rays showed no issues, physical therapy didn’t help, and there was no explanation for the pain, which steadily increased. Between pain management, insurance headaches, and the inevitable emotional upheaval that comes with an unknown injury forcing me into an inactive lifestyle, I struggled to focus on my studies. This, of course, only added to the stress.
At the beginning of April, my mom surprised me at college with a quick weekend visit. She suggested that I be anointed as it says to do in James 5 and, following her advice, I set up an appointment with a campus pastor.
After choir, I used crutches to work my way to his home where several others had already gathered and we briefly discussed both the injury and the effects of it on my personal life. We read several passages from the Bible before praying for healing in my knee, but more than that, for God’s Spirit to be present in my life. As each person around the circle prayed, the knee pain started stabbing worse and worse until it nearly reached a 9 on a scale of 1-10. The pastor, the last person, prayed, and as he did, he pressed oil to my forehead. Instantly, the pain stopped!
I didn’t say anything right then, but the next morning I walked, with no limp, to meet some friends in the prayer garden. After going for a short hike down to the river, I was delighted to see that I still had no pain, other than slightly sore muscles since I hadn’t used them for seven weeks. Every step is a literal miracle!
Fast forward a couple months. I finally got a follow-up MRI. To my surprise, the MRI showed that my quadriceps tendon was partially torn which opened up another round of appointments and insurance.
It also opened up an interesting thought process. After the miracle of walking with no pain, I had expected the imaging to show a perfect knee, but it still looked messed up on the imaging. “How am I supposed to react?” I thought. “What am I supposed to think? Why did I receive a miracle without a healing?”
I always thought those two (miracle and healing) were one and the same. To receive one without the other created a lot of fear and confusion in my mind. But, as a friend reminded me at a very timely moment, God doesn’t play with us to suit His whim. He doesn’t give us a gift only to take it away because He feels like it. That is not in His character!
Even though the MRI showed an injury, God gave me the gift of a miracle and I am still walking today pain free! So the question changed from “Why didn’t God heal me?” to “What did God do?” It shifted the mindset from a complaint to a mystery waiting to be uncovered! This was just another step in His plan, another detail in His story, another thread in the fabric that He is weaving in my life. I don’t know what the future holds; but I trust that it is the next step on an adventure I would never dream of missing!
Shiloh Howard is a student at Weimar College.
World Church Prayer Requests
November 26 – December 2, 2021
- Pray for all our high school and college students who are finishing their fall semester of classes. Pray they have strength and courage to stand for Jesus.
- Pray for wisdom for all those parents who are seeking to homeschool their younger children. Pray that God will raise up many missionary children for His Kingdom.
- Pray for Holy Spirit enabling for pastors worldwide as they continue to shepherd their members.
- Pray that churches will press together and that no one will be left out or turned away from the church fellowship during the crisis our world is facing.
- Pray for our believers struggling with floods and mudslides in Canada and in the Philippines. Pray for provision and shelter for those in need.
To download this week's testimony and prayer requests, click here!