Category Archives: Healing

SEPTEMBER THE ELEVENTH

Posted in Healing, My thoughts, Travel by

On Monday I returned from Scotland after leaving my youngest and last child off to university in Edinburgh. Fourteen years ago Brendan and I left our daughter Mary up to Aberdeen. We returned home to rear nine more of our children. Whew!!!! How did we do it? I can say it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that we accomplished the work. God gave us the strength one day at a time. Thank you Lord.
As I was thinking back I began to wonder what work I will return to do when I go home this time.
I did not have to wait long to find out. A taxi picked me up to take me to Glasgow airport. The taxi driver was friendly but I did not want to engage in conversation. After a while I thought I should respond to say something to him. He asked if I had enjoyed my time in Glasgow. I told him I was leaving my fourteenth child off to university. The questions came fast and furious after that. How old were my other children? How did you manage to rear that big family? You don’t look old enough to have all those children. I felt free to tell him how Jesus had helped me over the years, how he gave me strength to keep going, how he healed me of cancer. It turned out his mother was from Donegal and he was from a family of ten.
When I arrived in Belfast I got a lift with a young man to pick up my car. He was asking me if I had been to anywhere nice. I started over again telling him my story. He said I was too young to have so many children. I went on to give God the glory for him renewing my youth and keeping me alive.
Psalm 103 says He renews your youth like the eagles and satisfies you with good things.
I was feeling quite encouraged as I drove off home.
I saw a sign along the road which said “Potatoes for sale”. I screeched the brakes and turned left off into a side road. I always enjoy fresh potatoes grown locally. You can’t beat freshly boiled new potatoes and butter. I don’t like the packaged potatoes from the supermarket. It has been the staple food in Ireland. The crops of potatoes failed in the mid eighteen hundreds due to disease and many people died or left the country because of the famine. I have always had a bag of potatoes in my kitchen. My children would never go hungry.
One year a young lady from Boston came to help me for the summer, as my husband was travelling to India. Her mum rang her one day and her mum could not believe she was sitting down to a dinner of potatoes and beans! Back home Sheila would live on Mc Donald’s food or her favourite was a Sub sandwich with lashings of Ranch sauce. She was none the worse from living with us.
Sheila was to fly home on September the eleventh, when the twin towers fell. She was in shock as we watched the tragedy unfold on T V. We comforted her as best we could as she cried with her people back in America. She was able to get a flight home a few days later.
I am reminded of another young American woman who arrived into Dublin a few years later on the eleventh of September. Susan was coming to stay with her mum who lived here in Ireland. I met her in the airport. She was in a wheel chair with one suitcase. She had advanced M.E. a fatigue syndrome. It was amazing they let her fly in her condition. A kind friend on the other side in America had helped her get on the plane.
Susan lived with her mum for the next while and with rest, good food, love and the beauty of the Irish scenery she was getting more strength, but could not walk unaided. She came to visit us with her mum. Brendan and I offered to pray for her. The power of God touched her and she rose up and walked unaided. She completely recovered. In time she got married and had a child. There is a story in the bible where Peter and John spoke to a man who was crippled and commanded him to walk in the name of Jesus in Acts 3 v 6.
Back to my story about the potatoes. I met the potato man. I asked him if his potatoes were grown locally. He went on to tell me he used to grow crops himself but had to stop because he had arthritis in his spine and was in constant pain. He brought the potatoes in from Portrush. I soon forgot about the potatoes. I felt compassion for this young man who could not do the work he loved and support his family. I had been healed of cancer and pain and I wanted to tell James that Jesus could heal him too.
I spent the next thirty minutes telling him how I was healed by prayer to God. He told me his wife and children were praying for him. Well I said “God is about to answer their prayers, because I would like to pray for you”. He was agreeable. I believe the next time I call with him he will be healed and restored and growing his own potatoes. God, who made the universe and who made you and I, is kind. He can deliver us from our troubles, heal and restore.

I have just had potatoes for dinner.  Every time I have these potatoes I will remember James. I believe my work is to continue what I did on Monday, telling others what God has done for me.

Angela

A Little Tender Loving Care

Posted in Healing, My thoughts, Prayer by

I needed to visit my hairdresser badly.  I had my left arm in a cast and could not drive so I was dependant on my son or husband taking me into town.  I had put off going but there comes a time when a girl knows she needs to visit the hairdresser.

I made the appointment and my son left me off. This was the first time I was in town since I broke my wrist. I looked at my left hand.  It had been pulled and bruised in order to set my bone in my wrist.  My thumb and four fingers were protruding just a few inches out of the cast.  I decided they needed a little tender loving care.  I made an appointment in a beauty saloon nearby to have a manicure.

When I visit Rosaleen, my hairdresser, I catch up on how her children are doing and how she is coping as a single mum with four teenage boys.  Very often she talks away, the scissors keep snipping and before we know I have a shorter haircut than I had planned. Does that happen to you?

I think hairdressers have an important job.  They are counsellors and comforters.  Very often they are the only people some pensioners meet in the week.  Getting one’s hair washed is soothing.  They know all the news in the community.  They tell you how well you look.  It is a lot cheaper going to Rosaleen than going to a therapist.

Rosaleen was one of the first people I told I had cancer.  She kept me looking beautiful through the weeks of my treatment and was always caring.  The saloon would be all abuzz when I came in and told them I was healed of cancer.  Rosaleen has read my book and passes it onto her customers.  I enjoyed my beauty treatment at the hairdressers, so on to my next stop the manicurist.

I had not told my husband I was going to have a manicure.  I thought everyone is okay at home and will get on with whatever they are doing while mum is down town,  the first in a long while.  I thought I would treat myself and get a little pampered after the trauma of suffering a broken wrist.

I was not taken immediately for my appointment.  My mobile phone kept making noises telling me it was out of battery, so I turned it off.

Eventually Michelle invited me to get my nails done.  She was soft spoken. She massaged my hands.  She applied the nail polish and chatted.  One hand had to dry under the heated box, while she finished the other hand.  I was put at ease and was very relaxed. I did not notice the time passing.  I thought Michele would be finished soon.  No, she started the whole process all over again.

Another assistant came in and offered to paint my toenails.  I had not time to refuse.  In my mind I thought time is going on.  Maybe this is taking too long.

Bronagh knelt down at my feet and proceeded to wipe them.  Whooa.  This has not happened to me before.  I continued to enjoy all this attention.  I could not get a quick get away now.

I had lost all tract of time.  Perhaps Brendan will be wondering where I am.  I checked my mobile phone when I was finished at the nail parlour.  Sure enough Brendan had been trying to get in touch.  I called him.  I had completely forgotten that we had to have our passport photos signed by an official in order to get them sent off in the post that day.  Brendan had tried to contact a few people who could have signed them but they were not available.  He could not get in touch with me either!  It was now five o’clock and the post went at five thirty.  The pressure was on.  Those passport applications had to be in the post that evening.  I said a quick prayer. Help Lord.

I suggested Brendan and I meet at the police station and an officer there could sign them.  We met there, got the photos signed and rushed to the post office before closing.  We made it.  I am so glad we did.  I did not let on to anyone I was in another world for an hour when all my cares had blown away.  I got a quick wakeup call back to reality.   I did not care if the nail varnish was all smudged.  I smiled to myself. Thank you Lord for getting to the post on time.

Angela

Restored to Health – 4th Stage Cancer

Posted in Healing, My thoughts by

On April 5th 2010 I was diagnosed with 4th stage colon cancer.

I had been bleeding from my back passage for three years but had not told anyone.  I thought it was something that would go away on its own, perhaps I had haemorrhoids or colitis.  I had met some people with these conditions and they seemed to be coping.   I was fifty six years old when my condition started.  I had five children still living at home.

Up until then I coped well as a mother of my big family of fourteen children, doing the cooking , shopping, caring and managing the household.  I am a woman of many talents; an engineer, putting in woodburner stoves; a carpenter, my son and I made a big table for all of us to sit at for meals; and a gardener, my sons helped me clear our neglected big garden.  I made nourishing meals on a budget.  A lady I met at an IT class said I should get a job in management.  I continued my job as a mother at home.   Nine children had left home already and had gone on to university.

Being a stay at home mother is not an honoured job in the world.  Some people think you are not right in your mind to have a big family.  As our family grew we got less invitations to visit with friends.   My son was telling me that the hot plates he took out of the oven were a health hazard.  I said back to him, “Having children is a health hazard.”

My energy began to wain and I lost interest in the garden and home.  I did not go outside the home much.  I just kept things ticking over. The children had always helped with meals and my husband picked up the groceries.  I was feeling rejected, discouraged, depressed and hopeless.  My children were getting stronger and doing well at school and work.  Those who were married did not live nearby so I did not get to see them so often.  Everyone seemed to be getting along fine without me.

Tensions built up between my husband and me as we were both under pressure.  I would argue a lot.  I began to get annoyed with the children if they did not co operate with me.  I began to get bitter and angry.  Things were not working out the way I had hoped.  I had to get up in the night to use the bathroom and often I did not get back to sleep.  The bleeding continued and my life was spiralling downhill.

I told my husband that Easter Monday that I wasn’t feeling well, that I had been bleeding for a while.  I didn’t tell him the truth.  We went to the hospital and I was referred on to a specialist in cancer.  I was diagnosed with malignant colon cancer, fourth stage.  I had an eight centimetre tumour the size of an orange.  When the nurse told me what I had I did not panic.  I was already numb and had lost the will to live.

My husband rang round my family to tell them the news.  They were sad of course, but they and my husband had courage to believe I would get better.  They began to pray for me.  They showed their love and cared for me.  This began the road to my recovery.  People I didn’t even know prayed for me when they heard I had cancer.  My symptoms changed.  The bleeding stopped and my appetite returned.

I went through five weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in July.  I would get the maximum dose of radiotherapy one can have in a lifetime.  The treatment was given to reduce the tumour before an operation to remove the tumour and part of my bowel.   I had no side effects from the treatment.  I believe I was being healed.

Three months later I was called to the hospital to arrange a time to have the operation.  I knew I did not need an operation.  The doctor wanted to check and arranged a colonoscopy.  The monitor showed there was no trace of the tumour and the wall of the colon was like a baby’s skin.  I have a letter from that doctor to say there was no tumour.  I did not have an operation.

Three years later I am in better health.  I do not argue any more.  If someone annoys me I don’t retaliate.  I don’t get angry.  I try to be more loving and thankful.  I cast my care onto The Lord.  I know Jesus has forgiven me my failures and healed me from cancer so I chose to forgive others and tell others about what God has done for me.

My husband has written a book about my healing called “Staying Alive”  It is available on kindle.  I hope you will take courage from my story.

Angela

Ps. This article was written as I am taking part in the following writing challenge – http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/writing-challenge-health/

PRAYING FOR A CHILD

Posted in Healing, Prayer by

Three weeks ago, I fell and broke my wrist.  I praise God that I do not have more serious injuries because my head hit a wall and then my body slumped onto my left arm.  My friend, who saw me fall, was in shock.  There were some angels about that day.

Brendan took me to the Accident and Emergency.  A young man who seemed quite shy, walked in and sat down beside me.  He spoke over to my husband and it turned out they knew each other.  He had a frozen shoulder and was in pain.  Jesus said, “They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16 v 18.   I offered to pray for his arm to be healed.  He was happy and accepted my offer as he knew I had been healed of cancer.  He realised there was a long waiting time so he opted to come back in the morning.  A few minutes later he came back into the waiting room waving his arms and saying, “The pain has gone,” and told the other patients, “Let this woman pray for you “.  No one else took up the offer.

I had been waiting in casualty for some time so I was relieved to be called behind the magical doors where one will get the attention of the overworked doctor.  He looked at my arm and saw it was broken and sent me for an x ray.  While waiting there, a kind nurse named Angela, reassured me everything was going to be all right.  Her care and words were bringing healing to me already.  I am grateful to doctors and nurses for the courageous work they do.

I had my left lower arm in plaster and experienced some pain.  The doctor prescribed  pain killers which leave me drowsy.  Undeterred I will continue to write with one hand.  As the song goes “I get knocked down but I get up again”.

Three weeks on I attended the fracture clinic.  The doctor checked my x rays taken today and she said your bone is healing.  It looks perfect. She caught herself on and said “Perhaps I should not say that”.  But it was good for me to hear her say it because I believe that God is healing my wrist.  Sometimes people get healed quickly, other times slower. I have a lighter cast on for the next three weeks.

One morning my friend rang to sympathise with me on hearing of my broken wrist.  She was telling me about two young beautiful mothers she knew, who were abandoned by their husbands. They did not want the responsibility of being fathers.  I can understand how difficult it is to rear children with the two parents, how much more so with one parent.  I feel for these young women having to endure the rejection and abandonment and try to face the future on their own. Can these young mothers have hope?

It was when I was a young mother that I began to seek for meaning to life.  What had I got to offer my two young children for their future?  What example was I giving them?

My husband and I were young and rebellious.  We feared neither God nor man.  Those were the days of the Beatles, “All you need is love”, peace marches, riots, protests, internment, war on our doorsteps.  How could I find a pathway through all this?

Could I find a road to give to my children, to show them a way through the maze of life?

I was given a New Testament at that time.  I began to read it.  I was excited about what I read and thought, “Can this be true?”  I read that Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life”. John 14 v 6.  Is this man a head case to make these claims?  Could he show me the way to life.  I thought I would find out more about Jesus.

About that time I read in the bible that children are a gift from God. Psalm 127 v 3.  I decided to pray and ask God for the gift of a child.  God answered and I became pregnant with my third child Nora!

I began to walk along the path of life!

References are from New International Version bible.

Seeing is Believing

Posted in Healing, My thoughts by

Seeing is Believing

I am excited about the story of a man who was crippled from birth and was healed in Acts3 v 1.

Peter declares,

The name of Jesus has healed this man and you know how lame he was before.  Faith in Jesus name has caused this healing before your very eyes.  (New Living Bible)

The Oncology consultant at the hospital told me I had fourth stage cancer in my colon.  He showed me pictures that were taken during a colonoscopy.  My husband and I saw the pictures.  At the time I did not know how serious my condition was.  He decided to treat my condition with chemotherapy and radiotherapy to reduce the tumour and then operate to remove the tumour.  I would receive the maximum dose of radiotherapy one can have in their lifetime.

Seven months later that same consultant examined me again and could not find any tumour.  The lining of my colon was like a baby’s skin.  I saw that my colon was healed.  The doctors and nurses in that theatre saw the clear skin with their eyes.   The doctor said “You can’t get a better result.”

Another doctor, to whom I was referred for a second opinion, and who would have performed the operation, was adamant that the treatment would only have reduced the tumour.   He still wanted me to have an operation.

My daughter found out that I had a tumour the size of an orange.  Someone told me later that fourth stage cancer is terminal even with treatment and surgery.  There is no fifth stage.  I did not realise that at the time.  More glory to God.

I can say that Jesus healed me from cancer completely, like Peter said in Acts 4 v 6 and 12 (New Living Bible)

“Do you want to know how he was healed?  Let me clearly state to you that he was healed in the name and the power of Jesus Christ from Nazereth.  There is no salvation in anyone else.”

Angela

 

 

 

Going to Church

Posted in Healing, My thoughts by

Going to Church

Good morning to all of you.

I recently cut out of a paper an article titled “Going to church is good for you.”  I will quote some of what it says.

“Going to church may be good for the soul, but scientists have discovered it is good for the body. Researchers found that attending services lowers blood pressure and the more often you go the lower it becomes.  Professor Jostein Holmen from the faculty of Medicine at the Norwegian University of Medicine and Technology, and one of the study’s authors, said “It would appear that religious belief is relevant to your health.””

One gets high blood pressure through living under stressful conditions at work or at home. Stress without being dealt with, causes many diseases that are life threatening, for example diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Peace is the opposite of stress.  Our busy lives cause our souls to cry out for peace and serenity longing for a quiet beach, or still waters to get away from the immediate situation that is stressful. God our Father knows we will face difficulties and stress living in this world.  He provided a solution by sending Jesus.

“He is the Prince of peace,” Isaiah 9 v 6.

That is why  Matthew 11 v 9 says

 “Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”

I have found as I go to Jesus each day, praying and reading the Word of God I continue to be kept well, physically and mentally.  I am staying alive!

Jesus said to his disciples in John 14 v 27

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.  I do not give you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

After Jesus was crucified, he arose from the dead and appeared to his disciples twice.  Both times he said peace be to you.

To the woman whom Jesus healed of the issue of blood, he said, in Mark 5 v 25, your faith has saved you, go in peace.  God gave me this peace and I was healed of my bleeding too.

When we have peace, our body and mind relax.  Perhaps that is why going to church lowers blood pressure and brings peace.  The church represents the body of Christ.  He is present among his people.

Greetings  Angela

Made Whole!

Posted in Healing, My thoughts, Testimony Tuesday by
Giving thanks to God at the Family Gathering in 2012.

Giving thanks to God at the Family Gathering in 2012.

It is two and a half years since I was healed of cancer.  It is Jesus name and the faith that comes through him that I am healed.  I am feeling great and am feeling better than I was before I had cancer.  This is testimony to God’s healing power and promise of wholeness.

Luke 17:12-19 KJV

12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

17 And Jesus answering said, were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

This passage tells us about Jesus healing ten men from leprosy.  One of them praised God and returned to find Jesus and thank him.  Jesus declared to him you are made whole.

I believe a key to being whole is to praise and thank God.  We are made up of body, soul and spirit.  As they are healed one is made whole.

My spirit was healed as I confessed my sins and curses, my body was healed from the cancerous tumour, but I needed healed in my mind and soul.  I needed healed of traumas that my mind and soul remembered.

Malachi 4 v2  says

 the Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.

And in Revelation 1 v 14 and 16

His eyes were like blazing fire and his face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

I enjoy resting in the sun when I am on holidays.  The heat is comforting to my body and gives me a sense of well being.  The above word says Jesus face is brighter than the sun.  I decided to rest in the sunshine of his face and his eyes and let him heal me when any memory of a past trauma would arise.   I am being made whole as I thank and praise God and as I rest in the presence of Jesus’ face shining on me.

Rest in His light today!

Angela

Staying Alive!

Posted in Healing, My thoughts by

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I’d been bleeding from my back passage for three years. I hadn’t told my husband. Hadn’t told anyone. Just hoped it’d go away. I wouldn’t even think the word cancer. I know God heals. Brendan and I have been committed believers for over thirty years. Brendan is a full time prophet and author. I am an intercessor with a gift of healing. We have fourteen children. Brendan has ministered in over sixty nations. I have often accompanied him. Our Christian journey has been one of agony and ecstasy, the agony of dying to self and the ecstasy of being Christ’s friends and hearing his voice.

Our children all excelled at school. All won places in grammar schools and have gone to the best universities – Oxford, Cambridge, LSE London, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Trinity, Queens and the University of Ulster. I loved it when they were young and in bed early, prayers said, teeth brushed and lights out. But now I was feeling neglected and battle weary. Satan was attacking and winning on many fronts. I was maintaining our home and praying for our family but it felt like an endless and thankless task. It seemed my family were doing their own thing and I was left behind. My bleeding started around this time.

On Easter Monday 2010 I finally told Brendan. Thinks moved quickly after that. It was discovered I had a 4th degree colon cancer as big as an orange. The doctor recommended five weeks of chemotherapy & radiotherapy and later an operation to remove the cancer. He’d then create an opening in my side and I’d have to wear a bag in order to collect my body waste. Hopefully this would be reversible.

Now all my family knew I’d cancer. They were anxious to know whether it’d spread or not. Everyone wondered what the future held. Would God heal me? Would I live to celebrate my 60th birthday and my 40th wedding anniversary? Live to see my children graduate from university? Live to see my children’s children? See all my beautiful girls married? Hold their lovely babies in my arms?

In Northern Ireland we have physically and verbally murdered one another for over 800 years. Here Catholics and Protestants so easily consign one another to hell. Brendan and I, born Catholics and born again Catholics, have ministered in the midst of Catholics and Protestants for over thirty years. Brendan says we are called to the whole church and the whole world. Although I knew we should love one another so that everyone will know we are Jesus’ disciples I wasn’t finding it easy. In fact I was at loggerheads with many people. I’d often complain Brendan didn’t love or understand me, my children didn’t love or understand me, other Christians didn’t love or understand me. I was keeping many believers at arms length. Yet in my day of trouble God used all kinds of believers to love and heal me. God treated me to a practical outworking of the body of Christ.

Romans 16:20 says if we walk in unity and love then God will soon crush Satan beneath our feet. The moment I stopped hiding my bleeding from Brendan there was an immediate shift in the pressure. Some great weight lifted. A stone rolled away. As if God kicked in and the body of Christ was freed up to work. And work it did! Catholics and Protestants. Irish and English. Christians I’d previously quarrelled with were moved to help me. God used the body of Christ to heal me. After Brendan told our family some log-jam moved and love flowed freely. Brendan and our children prayed for me. Within a week my bleeding ceased never to return again.

God spoke to us through dreams and visions and supernatural happenings. Brendan had nine dreams, I had five, four of our children each had one and other believers had three dreams. Many people had visions. Prophets came to our home. Three of our children each fasted for twenty-one days. Other believers fasted for smaller periods of time. God used parables, scriptures and prophecy. An English prophetess, Shirley Bowers, came and repented of all the evil the English dictator Oliver Cromwell inflicted upon the Irish. Shirley said Cromwell’s hatred of Catholics was like a cancer spreading across our land. We live in a large home formerly occupied by Cromwell’s niece.

I was also delivered from two demons, a generational spirit of rebellion and a spirit of bitterness. After I was delivered I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I was healed. So I stopped all treatment but restated it again after Brendan said he wanted me to continue with it. Apart from one day I suffered no ill affects whatsoever from my cancer treatment. In the end I didn’t need an operation. A colonoscopy confirmed the cancer had disappeared and my colon was now as pink and as healthy a baby’s skin. At that point Brendan and I were now in agreement. I’d shown myself to the priest and I was healed. Nothing further was needed.

Brendan and I have written a book about my healing called Staying Alive. It contains over one hundred supernatural happenings and events that occurred during my healing. It has also been translated into Slovakian by the very capable Branislav Skripe. It’s just over a hundred pages long, called …a stále živá! I hope you get a chance to read it in order to see just how much God loves each and everyone of us and how much he desires to heal us. He really does care for us.

To get your copy of Staying Alive! email: irishprophet@hotmail.com