I have so many things I still want to catch everyone up on and pictures to post; however, the story of God healing Ava is of first priority!!!
As many of you know since Ava was six weeks old she has not been able to have dairy or soy. We tried several times over the first year of her life to give her soy or dairy and it always ended up with Ava being sick, in pain, not sleeping, etc... So, when she turned one we were giving it another shot.
I began giving her just 2 ounces of milk each day for four days then four ounces for three days and then six ounces one day. As the days went on she began to get much more irritable, had no idea what she wanted, constantly crying, not sleeping, and her skin was reacting in a few places- ughh! I took her off and knew I had to wait a few days before we could continue with another plan of action. I was frustrated, weary, and discouraged!
That Sunday morning at church David McQueen was starting a new sermon series about the Spirit. He was talking about how the God of Old is the same God of today. He walked us through the life of Jesus and how so much of his time was spent performing miracles of healing. He discussed that there is without a doubt a place for doctors and medicine and how blessed we are with modern medicine and technology. However, he also mentioned how the church as a whole doesn't stop often enough and pray first for God's hand in healing and sickness! I am not doing justice for the words God spoke through David that morning, but hopefully you get the idea!
Anyhow, on the way home from church that morning I just felt God saying to me, "Go back to formula only for this entire week and pray over her faithfully every night for her healing". Of course, I am thinking of all the excuses not to do that... the timing isn't convenient, is that really you, etc! And of course he was persistent in letting me know that He was leading me to do just that!
So I prayed over Ava every night as I was putting her to bed and Jason and I prayed over Ava as a couple every night once he was home. Throughout the week God kept placing the scripture on my heart that states if any of you are sick- go to the elders, be anointed with oil, and you will be healed. So I knew at that point the Sunday that would fall at the end of this week of praying would need to include Ava being prayed over and anointed by elders at Beltway.
At Beltway they have prayer partners who pray during service and give a list to David of things the Holy Spirit has spoken to them the people need prayer over. Over the last three months of this practice there has never been the following mentioned.... At the end of the service that Sunday, a prayer partner had received a word of knowledge that someone who has been struggling with chronic reflux and lactose intolerance needs to be prayed over this morning! ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW??! So as you may guess we went forward after service for Ava to be prayed over!
We felt strongly it needed to be an elder and were unsure of how to handle that if the first available prayer partner wasn't an elder. (God is probably saying if you hadn't noticed I got this... I have set this in motion...) Anyhow, of course the first available prayer partner was an elder and the first thing he said was I am going to anoint her with oil because that is what the scripture teaches us! WHAT?! Anyhow, he prayed over Ava.
Since that day Ava has been drinking milk, eating yogurt, eating cheese, etc... etc... etc.... She has had not one problem or negative consequence of it! GOD HEALED AVA!!! What a GOOD AND GRACIOUS God! He didn't heal her because He had to but because He loves us and her and has compassion for us!
I won't go into detail but through the week of praying over Ava and the first few days of her having dairy the enemy was at work in full force trying to cause skepticism and fear! THANK THE LORD ABOVE that He has already won the battle and He is victorious! We had people surrounding us who stood in faith with us and in the gap for us when we were tempted to give way and doubt!
We are so in awe, humbled, and thankful-- we had to share!!
