KEYS TO LIVING GOD'S WILL
by Father John Hampsch, C.M.F.
Faith: Key to the Heart of God
Twelfthth installment: High Octane Healing part one
I'd like to share with you several true incidences of healing because of faith. One evening several years ago I was anointing with oil after teaching about healing. About 100 people were still there, most having left already. After I went a few feet past one woman I anointed, she suddenly began to scream. I ran over and asked her what was the matter. "I'm healed, I'm healed!" she shouted.
I asked her what exactly she had been healed of. "When I came in here tonight, I was blind, "she replied. "And now I can see!" Her husband came running over, hugged her and cried. He was almost delirious. We all stopped what we were doing and began to sing and praise God. She had tremendous faith, faith enough to believe that she was going to be healed of blindness. And she was.
On another occasion, I was in a hotel in San Diego following a local television appearance. It was past midnight after a charismatic conference that was being held there, and many participants were jostling to be prayed over before leaving. There was one fellow who kept getting pushed out of the way. He waited until everyone else was finished, then came up to me. I asked his need and he let me know that he had a congenital total deafness, with consequent impairment of speech. Through a genetic inheritance factor, every member of his family had no eardrums. This was a brilliant young man who could speak seven languages but could hear none of them.
He was certain he was going to be healed. As we prayed over him he heard something pop in his right ear. He was amazed for now he could hear in his right ear. We told him to check with a doctor which he did the following day. He went to his own specialist, a Jewish doctor who did not believe in Christ as a Healer or in miraculous healing. Upon examining this patient, however, he was astonished at what he saw. An eardrum had grown in the man's right ear and he could pass the hearing tests! Still deaf in the left ear, he now had perfect hearing in the right ear. With unquestioning faith, the young man invited the flabbergasted doctor to attend the charismatic conference with him the following night to watch the other ear get healed!
I had breakfast with the healed man the next morning. I asked how he liked his gift of hearing. He said, "This is an unbelievable experience. I often wondered what a barking dog sounded like and this morning I heard a dog bark. What an experience! And I've never been able to hear my girlfriend's voice. Today I heard her voice. I'd never used a telephone before today. I called San Francisco from San Diego and talked to my friends who were elated and couldn't believe I was using a phone. They are so excited that they are flying down this afternoon to celebrate the miracle with me!"
One ear at a time was healed - a two-phase miracle. This young man had no-doubt faith, which enabled others to see that God is alive, really alive. He wants to do things for us - all we have to do is release His power by exercising faith.
Next week: High Octane Healing - part two
November 4, 1997 volume 8, no. 23 DAILY CATHOLIC - COLUMNS
