Jehovah Rophe - The Lord my Healer

Over the years I have had many healings, some instant and some partial, some not so instant and some I am still waiting for.
If we were never unwell, how would we ever come to know that the Lord is our Healer?

My brother had a brain hemorrhage when he was 18. He was flown from Mt. Isa hospital to Brisbane. There was breeding from the surgery to stop the original bleeding and he was unconscious for 2 weeks. The brain surgeon told my mother to let him die. She had 5 other healthy children and he would probably be a vegetable, but my mother did not. She moved into the hospital and cared for him, cleaning his teeth etc. I was very upset. I could not stay in the hospital. I went outside and cried. I begged God not to let him die before becoming a Christian. We shifted to Brisbane to be near him. I asked the church to pray for him too and God answered our prayers. We helped him to walk and talk again and eventually he became a Christian, married and had children. Click to view his first born son's wedding. Two of his other children are also in this photo.

I was an athlete in my teens and early twenties. I used to train most nights, as a discus thrower, but I also excelled at some of the other track and field events too. Click to view After some sessions of high jumping I ended up with shin splints, a very painful condition. I decided to visit Milton, the pastor of the church I attended on the way home and ask for prayer. He prayed and said "God wants you to be well". I thought "Yes he does". The following day the pain was gone and to this day it has not recurred. However a most interesting thing happened a few years ago. I was having physiotherapy following a torn calf muscle and the physiotherapist said, "Do you know that you have shin splints?". I was surprised. I remembered how God had healed them and wondered if the condition had returned or He had just removed the pain, however I felt well and was able to continue training.

1982
I had a dream that many golden arrows were hitting me. As I woke I felt them physically and my body ached. I cried out to God about it and immediately I felt warmth go through my body and a very deep peace. Three times over the following few days as I was praying God warmed my feet. He brought to my mind many of the promises He had given to me in the past and I felt comforted, assured that I did not need to be afraid in any situation for he surrounded me like a mountain.

1982
While breast feeding my first baby I got a breast infection and because I was becoming more feverish I rang Niven, the minister of the church I was a part of and asked him to pray. He did and immediately the fever left and I was able to feed my baby more comfortably.
Over the years on a number of occasions I have rebuked the fevers my children have had and seen them go.

1987
I had a dream that one of our church members went over seas and a lady in a car was trying to run him over. I dreamt that he came back in a coffin. I prayed that God would protect him. The following Sunday at church I heard that he was going overseas so I told him about the dream and that I had prayed for his protection. Soon after that a lady failed to stop at the stop sign and drove into my car hitting my back. My 15 month old toddler screamed out. She must have seen the car hit us. I did not know babies could scream like that. I tried to see if she was ok. The baby seat was well padded and she seemed to be ok. This was the first of 5 car accidents.
Immediately after being hit, I had such terrible pain in my chest that I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I cried out to God to protect my heart and immediately felt a peace come into it. I told God I wanted to live. My children needed me as their mother. I prayed out loud earnestly and a girl came and sat on the seat beside me. She was reading her book. It was very strange. I didn't know what she was doing in my car. Well it just so happened that a doctor I used to go to was passing by and stopped to see how I was. The pain was still so severe that I was taken to hospital, as I had difficulty breathing and didn't even know that I was bleeding from a few lacerations. The doctor noticed them. I was given morphine and injections down each of the ribs in my back including the broken one, which 3 years later was discovered to have been displaced by about an inch. My body felt like a very painful cage but I could feel the wonderful presence of Jesus like a ball of soft light. We were side by side inside it.
The following day or so I was taken to have a shower. The nurse left me and went to wash another patient and I thought I was going to black out. I called out to her and she told me to bend over. I told her I couldn't. She said "No that's right" but did not come to help me. I cried out to Jesus and felt a warm sensation strengthening me and I was able to continue standing.
The man I had prayed for was the first person to come and visit me in hospital, apart from my husband and children.
The church I belonged to were wonderful. The ladies made a roster to care for our children and house until a few weeks latee when I was given home help.
I spent most of the following year in bed as I could not stand up for long without feeling as though I was going to faint.
About 2 or 3 years later I was finally able to go out and try some gardening. However every time I stood up after kneeling down everything went black. I was alive inside but could not see...it was very black. It felt like the blood supply was being squeezed off in the back of my neck and then everything would go black. One day after this had happened 3 times, I went and sat down on the door step and cried out to God saying that I just had to be able to do the gardening. God answered me instantly and I have not experienced that problem since.

About 3 years later I was at the hospital having physiotherapy treatment. The physiotherapist asked if I minded having a student work with me. I said that was ok. Well...it just so happened that the student was a Christian. I was sitting on the edge of the bed and she said, "Bend over!". I saw Jesus again like I had seen Him in my caged body. He was like a light around my left side and immediately I bent over. This was the first time since the accident that I was able to bend down. After that I was able to do up my shoelaces easily.

1989
During the labour of our 3rd child, Roseanne, I could not find the muscles needed to push the baby out. This action had been affected during the car accident. Finally I cried out loud to Jesus for help. Immediately I felt strength coming down through my head showing me how to push. The baby had very wide shoulders and the cord was tight around her neck. The doctor cut the cord but could not get her out. Finally she was born gray and not breathing. The doctor looked very anxious and unsure of who to help first. He left the baby and turned to help me. I thought he was going to let her die. I told him to go and help the baby to breathe and to forget about me. He went back to her and I prayed silently until she was breathing. The baby was whisked off somewhere and I felt very ill and vomited. The placenta was more like broken up bits of jelly not at all like the firm ones I had had with the previous two babies, so it was a miracle that our baby lived. She had a heart mummer and was very big as I had been diabetic during the pregnancy, but it just so happened that when I was still in the hospital, the leading New Zealand heart specialist was visiting Napier for a few days and had his special heart equipment with him. So baby Roseanne was given an anesthetic and her heart checked out. She had a small hole in it that was checked from time to time but he said she was ok. I continued to pray for her and some years later the mummer was no longer heard. Some time after the birth the doctor told me he had been very worried about both of us and hadn't known who to help first. When Roseanne went to school she was tested and discovered to be intellectually gifted which is amazing considering her lack of oxygen at birth and the length of time it took her to begin breathing. Nothing is impossible for God...He is God.

1997
After the 3rd car accident my memory was affected so I asked Niven, an ex minister to pray that my memory would be improved. The following day I could suddenly see both sides of the road as I drove and later discovered that not only my memory had improved but that my peripheral vision had been restored. I had not realized that it had been affected until I got it back! I only knew that I had hated driving as I found it very scary and couldn't remember seeing the road signs! The following Sunday I was in church and suddenly I felt very happy and warm and light. My body relaxed and I felt as though I was going to slip off the chair onto the floor. Afterwards I had a lot more mobility.

Paul the apostle was ship wrecked 5 times and I have been in 5 car accidents....may the last one be the last of them!

.................to be continued.....................