High school summer camp was fast approaching at Foursquare camp in Washington, but I really didn’t want to go. What was the point? I knew God wasn’t going to show up anyway.
I had meningitis as a baby, so I’ve had cerebral palsy and epilepsy my whole life. My mom prayed for me for years, but it always ended the same—with me still dealing with this disability.
My mom encouraged me to go to camp, though, so I caved and went. On Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, my mom dragged me into a pre-service prayer time and asked the camp speaker, John Hammer, to pray for healing for me. John and my pastor, Shawn Roberts, laid hands on me and began to pray. I looked up and saw that about 50 people had gathered around me—all praying for my healing.
It was incredibly powerful and overwhelming. After praying for a little while, John asked if I could do anything I couldn’t before. I started walking around and realized that I could walk flat-footed—something I had not been able to do my entire life! The pain I had dealt with for years in my foot and leg was also gone.
Everyone was going crazy. They were so excited to see God moving, so they kept asking Him to bring more healing to me. After a little while, my mom said that God had told her He wanted my heart before He would heal me further.
I had always struggled with fully giving my life to Jesus. Somehow, I had held back—not willing to make that commitment. But in that moment, I knew I had to do it. I wanted to do it! So I accepted Jesus as my Savior.
When the service started, some of the leaders took me to another room to continue praying. My mom walked in, and Pastor Shawn asked me to cover my good eye—I’ve been blind in one eye since I was a baby. He asked me how many fingers he was holding up. I could see he had two fingers up, so I told him two. He held up five fingers, and I said five. My mom went crazy! I could see!
Then they prayed for my arm, that God would restore the muscles in it. And He did! I can now grip things and lift my arm over my head—both things I couldn’t do before. If anyone has any doubt about if God heals, I am living proof of the power of prayer.
By Elicia Hutchinson, 16, who attends The Father’s House (Granite Falls Foursquare Church) in Granite Falls, Wash., as told to Shannon Linton, a content strategist in the Los Angeles area.
