Anita's Testimony...

​I was sixteen years old when the illness began.
At first, the doctors believed I was suffering from chronic bladder infections. One to three times every week, for more than three years, I found myself in doctors’ offices, laboratories, pharmacies, and emergency rooms because of excruciating pain, burning, and passing blood.
Finally, I was diagnosed with a rare bladder disease that very few doctors understood at the time.
I will never forget the day the specialist called my mother and me into his office.
“I’m so very sorry,” he said.
“It will only get worse.”
Then he explained my options.
“You can live on pain medication for the rest of your life.”
“One of my nurses can teach you how to instill an industrial chemical into your bladder several times a day to numb the pain.”
“Or…”
“We can remove your bladder.”
He paused before quietly saying again,
“I’m so sorry.”
“You and your mother should go home and think about it. Then let me know what you decide.”
I was only eighteen years old.
That day I went home, and the pain became unbearable.
I curled into a ball on my bedroom floor and began to pray.
My family wasn’t religious.
The only memories I had of church were attending Catholic Mass on Christmas and Easter when I was about six years old. I had also been baptized as a young child.
My mother had always told me,
“God hears our prayers, and His angels watch over us.”
So there I was…
Curled into a little ball in my own little corner of the world.
I prayed the only prayer I knew.
“God…
Please let me die so the pain will stop.”
Again.
And again.
And again.
Just before I lost consciousness, I heard an audible voice.
“Don’t be afraid.
This too will pass.”
Then everything went black.
When I awoke the next morning, something had changed.
Deep inside, I simply knew.
I knew…
that I knew…
that I knew…
One day I would no longer be sick.
It didn’t matter what the doctors believed.
It didn’t matter what anyone else said.
One day I would be healed.
From that day forward, I stopped going to doctors and began researching alternative medicine while holding tightly to every word I had heard spoken to me that night.
Ten years passed.
Then, on my twenty-ninth birthday, everything changed.
The man I loved deeply told me he was leaving me…
For a Christian woman.
He explained that he had recently given his life to Christ and wanted someone who shared his faith.
My world collapsed.
Once again, I found myself lying on the floor, curled into a little ball.
This time I wasn’t broken by physical pain.
I was angry.
Angry with God.
“Why have I suffered so much?”
“Why can’t I be happy?”
“Why can’t I know You?”
Then I prayed one of the most honest prayers of my life.
“Lord…
If You are real…
prove it.”
I lay there until I heard another voice.
“Go to church…
and get baptized.”
At first, I thought I was losing my mind.
After all, I had already been sprinkled as a child in the Catholic Church.
But the voice would not leave me alone.
Finally, one Sunday, I walked into a church just down the street from my house.
For the first time in my life, someone explained who Jesus really was.
They told me He heals.
They told me He restores.
They told me He takes away our pain.
That morning I surrendered my life to Christ.
The pastor placed my very first Bible into my hands and encouraged me to begin reading the Gospel of Matthew. He also gave me a small booklet explaining what it meant to be a new Christian.
A few days later, I became frustrated while reading my Bible.
The same stories seemed to appear over and over again.
I honestly wondered if the Bible had been misprinted.
Then I picked up the booklet.
One sentence caught my attention.
“If you ask, seek, and knock, Jesus will answer.”
So I closed my eyes…
and I asked Him to be real in my life.
On November 25, 2005…
Jesus answered.
Everything around me disappeared into darkness except for Him.
He stood before me.
Then He pointed to His right.
A pool of water appeared, illuminated by the light of the moon.
Suddenly, I saw my former boyfriend walking across the surface of the water as though it were solid ground.
I looked at Jesus, wondering what He wanted me to do.
He smiled and said,
“Dance in the light of God.”
Then He placed my hand into my former boyfriend’s hand, and we began to dance.
I laughed.
Then, suddenly, with a voice that thundered through my entire being, Jesus said,
“Let go!”
Fear gripped me.
I let go…
looked down…
and immediately began to sink beneath the water.
Instantly, Jesus reached down, took hold of my hand, lifted me up, looked directly into my eyes, and said,
“As long as you believe in Me, you will never fall.
I promised you…
this too will pass.”
Immediately I recognized His voice.
It was the very same voice I had heard all those years earlier lying on my bedroom floor.
In that moment…
my body was completely healed.
Then Jesus began dancing with me beneath the moonlight.
A few moments later…
He was gone.
Once again, I found myself sitting alone on the floor.
The only words I could pray were,
“Here I am, Lord.
Use me.
Whatever is left of me that You can use…
I am Yours.”
From that day until this one, I have remained completely healed.
I can never deny the miracles…
the signs…
the wonders…
the power…
the grace…
and the love of Jesus Christ.
I am a living testimony.
And I will testify for the rest of my life.
That day marked the beginning of a completely new life.
A journey of intimate encounters with Christ that continues to this very day.

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