“I realise that although hot, it was not hurting me…”
When I was 17, I was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, which is a type of inflammatory arthritis mostly affecting the hip and spinal joints, but also other joints throughout the body. For the next few years I battled with episodes of painful joints, randomly affecting my toes, ankles, elbows, ribs, spine and neck, before the arthritis settled in my hips. The pain would come for a few weeks at a time, making walking very difficult. Lying down to sleep was agonising. During a particularly long bout of pain, when I was 32, I went for prayer after a church service – not something I had ever done before. A lady prayed in tongues over me, with her hands on my shoulders. During the prayer, she moved one of her hands to my hip, and at the same time I felt a third hand on my head. I was very surprised that someone else had started praying for me without asking if they could lay hands on me, but I kept my eyes closed and the lady kept praying. Suddenly I became aware of a pins-and-needles/hot/burning sensation from the hand on my hip…it slowly spread out from the hand and down towards my knee. I remember thinking with a bit of a fright that it was going to burn my skin! But I realised that although hot, it was not hurting me. The lady finished praying… I felt all three hands leave me, and the sensation on my leg faded away. I looked up: there was only the lady standing in front of me. I asked her where the other person was who had put their hand on my head. She said no-one else had come to pray for me, it was her hands on my head and shoulder – she had not touched my hip at any point. I realised that he pain in my hip was totally gone! And it has been gone for the last 13 years. What an incredible blessing – I have felt the hand of the Holy Spirit! Jesus heals! Praise God!