We wanted to publish the following story to share some of what God has been doing recently and to encourage you in your prayer life. Below are words written by Ian Watt about recent events. It’s worth noting that he competed in the Run Gatwick half marathon event yesterday just weeks after writing this account for us.
In May 2018 I ran my first ever half marathon- this was my first ever ‘race’ of any distance since my schooldays. It was a good one to start with and it was a fundraising event. I had plans of running more in the autumn, but was struck by an injury that prevented me running at all. My left knee was swollen and my calves constantly ached. The plans I had made to run another half marathon in March, with my daughter, seemed like a distant dream.
There was much unanswered prayer from me and others through this time, but to be completely honest, my faith for healing has never been high, and my expectation was low. We had a Saturday out with friends in late January. My knee was no longer swollen but I had so much pain in one leg if I went running, I couldn’t run further than a kilometre.
Just before leaving them at the end of the day, our friends offered to pray for healing- Claire had spoken to them about it during the day, unbeknown to me. I agreed and perhaps because it took me by surprise, had no time to polish my unbelief. As soon as Claire laid hands on my knee and they began to pray, my whole leg became really warm. I had no way of knowing if anything had happened, because the pain only came on when I run.
The following morning during worship someone brought a word of knowledge for people going through big troubles and encouraged a response. I felt God nudge me to respond, even though in the back of my mind, I was discounting myself and -in the scheme of things- my frankly trivial ailment. Immediately, as I lifted my hands to Jesus I felt peace and a certainty that I had been healed. That afternoon I ran 5 kilometres straight off, for the first time in about six months. A week later, I ran eight. Six weeks after that, an inconceivably short time to train, and having only run a maximum 12 kilometres at a stretch, I ran that second half marathon.
This journey has reminded me of three things that we all know so well.
- Persevere in prayer. Just because healing doesn’t happen the first time you pray for someone, doesn’t mean it will never happen. Push in to God, persevere in prayer, and trust in His perfect timing.
- Have faith! I honestly believe God was teaching me to be faithful in prayer and develop my faith for healing by not healing me immediately. He was healing my heart as much as He was healing my legs.
- Don’t second-guess Jesus! Our God is God of the small things in our lives as well as the big ones. When he prompts you to respond… respond! Bring everything to Him in prayer and don’t ever discount yourself or your situation as being unimportant to our Lord. He can do ALL things!
Praise God, for His faithful and constant presence, for being in our minor as well as our massive issues, and for His super, supernatural healing!