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by Kevin MillerFreedom from PainEvery Christian knows that God heals - at least, we all read about Him doing these sorts of things in the Bible. But few of us get to witness such healings firsthand, especially dramatic healings where someone’s limbs are healed before our eyes or they get up off their deathbed and walk. Roger Sabourin of Medicine Hat, Alberta is one of those fortunate people. When he traveled to India last fall as leader of a short-term mission team, he had no idea what he would be getting into. But, having just been miraculously healed himself, Roger knew God had something special in store for him and his team.
About three weeks prior to their departure date, Roger was feeling inadequately prepared to be the team’s spiritual leader, so he decided to attend an upcoming seminar in Lethbridge that taught about healing, breaking generational curses and dealing with the demonic. Roger reasoned that his team would be facing all three of these situations in India, so best to be prepared.
After the first session on healing, Roger stayed behind and asked the speaker, Ray McGraw of Ray of Hope Ministries, if he would pray to heal Roger’s fibromyalgia. Ray was hesitant at first, because Roger had struggled with the illness for 38 years, and he wasn’t sure if total healing was possible. However, he promised to put Roger in touch with a ministry team who could help him.
Roger was both puzzled and disappointed as he drove home that night. “I was crying out to God, asking ‘Why not?’ If prayer worked for every other disease, then why not mine?”
At this stage, Roger was in so much pain that he was wearing a patch of synthetic opium 24 hours a day. He was also on antidepressants, Tylenol 3s and sleeping pills. “Luckily I wasn’t touching alcohol or any other drugs at the time,” Roger says jokingly.
As Roger made preparations to return the following evening, it was as if some unseen force was trying to prevent him from going. When Roger ate a quick bite of supper, he got violently ill. Despite having a migraine and stomach cramps, Roger decided to make the nearly two-hour trip anyway. As soon as he got in the door, someone stopped him and asked if he was the fellow who had asked for healing prayer the previous evening. After acknowledging that he was, Roger was taken to Ray, who informed Roger that God had impressed upon him to pray for healing for Roger before he left for India.
The next day, Roger returned to Lethbridge, taking Lynne (his wife) with him. Ray’s ministry team started by praying against generational curses, harassing spirits and so forth. Then he had Roger go through a time of repentance and forgiveness. When this was over, Ray’s team laid hands on Roger and prayed. Suddenly, Roger felt intense heat emanating from their hands. The heat slowly penetrated Roger’s body, starting in his neck, working its way down into his shoulders, his back, his hips and his legs. Roger’s body relaxed completely, tension melted away, and for the first time in decades, he didn’t feel any pain. “I knew right away that I was healed,” Roger says.
But the healing didn’t stop there. Roger also had a history of ulcers, which had scarred his stomach lining. In fact, Roger had an active ulcer at the time of his healing and had previously booked a doctor’s appointment to get some tests done. Even though Roger knew he was healed, he kept that appointment. To his doctor’s astonishment, when the tests came back, they showed Roger’s stomach to be completely healthy. No active ulcer and no scar tissue! “It was just an amazing confirmation,” Roger says. “I felt like a completely different person.”
So now Roger was all set for the India trip. But if he thought the healing he had just experienced was amazing, that was nothing compared to what he and his team were about to witness.
Witnessing Miracles FirsthandIt all started at a school for girls who were both deaf and unable to speak. As team members prayed for each girl, including one who was also blind, amazingly, every one of the twenty-eight girls were healed!
Shortly afterwards, Roger and his team went into a hospital to pray for patients. The doctor took them directly to the intensive care unit (ICU). The first person they prayed for was a man who was dying of tuberculosis. He had a terrible fever and he was wheezing terribly. Several team members, including Roger, laid hands on the man and prayed. Within fifteen seconds, Roger says he felt the fever completely disappeared. When Roger opened his eyes, the pain was gone from the man’s face, and he was now breathing normally as he slept peacefully on the bed. “I was shocked,” says Roger.
Next, they prayed for a woman who was haemorrhaging badly after having a baby. Nothing happened immediately, so they continued on to an older woman who was paralysed on one half of her body. Although there was no immediate physical change in this woman either, both she and her daughter, who was there with her, accepted Christ on the spot.
“We weren’t even praying in her language. Just amazing!” Roger says.
Finally, they prayed for a young couple that had drank pure sulphuric acid in a failed suicide attempt. It turns out they were in love and wanted to get married, but each of them had been promised to someone else through an arranged marriage. In despair, they chose to try and end their lives rather than live in unhappiness. Now their insides had been terribly burned.
A Triumphant ReturnThe next day, Roger and his team felt they needed to go back to the hospital, even though it was not on their itinerary. When they returned, the doctor had a big smile on his face. He led them straight back to the ICU. When they got to the room where the man with TB had been lying, they saw that he was gone. At first, Roger thought the man had died. But the doctor told them he was upstairs waiting to be discharged. He was completely healed! Then they saw the young lady who had drank the acid. She was gargling water while her boyfriend was lying on his bed enjoying a cool drink - something that would have been impossible for them to do only a day earlier. Both were smiling and full of joy. The doctor said he was about to release them as well. As they moved on, they discovered the woman with the haemorrhaging problem had also been healed. The other woman was still paralysed, but Roger felt convinced she would get better in time.
In addition to what they witnessed at this hospital, Roger’s team also saw mass conversions and healings in the surrounding villages as they showed the JESUS film each night. One man who had shrivelled and deformed leg was totally healed at one of these gatherings. Deaf people were able to hear again, people with fevers and other afflictions were healed, and alcoholics and people with other bondages were delivered.
“We’re always told these things can happen. We learn about it in the Scriptures and so on,” says Roger. “But it’s not something that happens very often at your local church on the corner, because we don’t expect God to move that strongly. I believe as time goes on, we will see a growing number of similar signs and wonders as our openness to that sort of thing increases. Praise God!”
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Kevin Miller is a freelance writer, editor and educator from Abbotsford, BC, Canada. Over the past several years, he has written, co-written and contributed to 26 books, both fiction and non-fiction. He has also written dozens of articles for web sites, magazines and newspapers, including Faith Today, BC Christian News and Maranatha News. Learn more about Kevin by clicking here to visit his website.