Here goes the story:
The whole purpose of this story is to share the complexity of how God works in our lives. When most of us think that we are not doing anything for Him, just realize if you are being obedient to Him then you are doing His work. No matter how insignificant your task may seem, each little piece is ultimately important to his whole plan. I am beginning to realize that just being obedient to Him is more important than we could ever imagine. We are always looking to be a part of that “Great ministry” and all God calls us to be is obedient. I also began to realize the importance of journaling. I will explain this later in the story.
It all started in my last year of college. I had begun to experience severe pain in my right hip joint. It would get to the point that I had extreme difficulty walking on it. I went to doctors, chiropractors and anybody that might be able to tell me what was going on. I was about 22 at the time and should not be dealing with these types of aches and pains. The pain over the years never really stopped but would come and go. The problem is that when it came back, it came back more intense each time. This was about the same time that I began dating Julia (my beautiful wife, man did I luck out on this one, I digress but she is one of the few that gets more beautiful each year). At 23 I began my first “real” job as a computer programmer. Due to all the sitting, the pain in my hip would progress to my lower back. I can still remember times that Julia would have to help me walk because the pain was so intense. I was taking some pain medication, which did help to an extent but never eliminated the pain. I always had people suggesting that you should do this or do that but none of the suggestions helped. People would tell you to go to a chiropractor (this aggravated it), you need a firm mattress (this made sleep unbearable), you need to walk more (this caused excruciating pain) ... When I was 24, Julia and I were married, the pain was manageable, but due the fact that I worked many hours and had to deal with the constant pain, I was always tired.
All this time, I am still going to different doctors with no real solution. There was an incident at a Christmas party where I was in so much pain that I took any pain reliever that I could find. I could not tell you what the medication was. I got up from the table and worked my way to the bathroom and passed out on the way due to the pain and reaction to the pain medication.
My daughter, Makala, was born in 1996. For the first six months of her life, she had colic. If anybody knows what this is, you will understand. The child experiences stomach pains and constantly cries. The only relief would come is when I would hold her like a football and carry her around the house. Keep in mind, I am still experiencing back pain and “walking does not help”, especially with a 10 pound football on your arm. Thank God that the colic ended after 6 months because 8 months after that my son Sam was born. There is a whole other story here that I will get into at another time.
A significant incident occurred in 2000. I experience a problem know as iritis. This is the swelling of the inner part of the eye. It starts off with blurred vision and sensitivity to light and then progresses to extreme pain in the eye. It feels like your eye is about to explode in your head. I went to the eye doctor and he asked me an interesting question “do you experience back pain?” It was a strange question to hear from an eye doctor but I told him that I definitely did. He informed me that I needed to get a genetic test that might explain my back pain. I had the test done and it was positive for the HLA-B27 gene. Those with this gene are susceptible to iritis and arthritic condition called Ankylosing Spondilitis. This is a condition that causes extreme pain in the joints, in particular the spine, and eventual fusing of the spine. It causes many other problems that I will not get into now. I went to a rheumatologist and within five minutes of looking at my x-rays, he confirmed the condition. Two of my lower vertebras were fused together. Even though I know that God has healed me, it was a relief to know what to pray for and what the problem was. He prescribed varying levels of anti-inflammatory medications to keep the problem under control. If the condition is left unchecked, it will eventually fuse all the vertebrae in the spine and start to cause many other debilitating problems. I had to also take prilosec to counteract the stomach problems caused by the medications. The medicine helped some but did not stop the pain. I still had events of excessive pain that would put be on the floor without the ability to get up without help. I began to take stronger and stronger medications. I was about to get moved to the very expensive medicines until the next event occurred.
My wife, Julia saw an anti-aging diet on TV that she would like to try. Since I had gained some weight due to the inactivity, I decided to join her in this adventure. It is amazing how God moves in your life with you just listen. I thank God for a wife that was just listening and obeying. About a month into the diet, I noticed that my back pain began to subside. I eventually stopped taking all medications. I was no longer taking pain or stomach medicines. Shortly after this, we went back to eating normally and the pain returned even more than before. The diet included a juice called Acai. This is a berry that only grows in the Brazilian rain forest. This berry has the highest anti-oxidants of any know fruit. Anti-oxidants fight free-radicals which cause inflammation in the body. I decided to start back on the juice and within a few days the pain in my body decreased. I went through two other times of not drinking the juice to make sure it was not all in my head. Each time, I ended up in extreme pain. The pain was so intense that I was ready to take anything available to just get some relief. I was again on the floor hoping I did not have to breathe because breathing would cause pain. In fact, every movement in my body caused pain. From this point on, I decided to keep drinking the juice. Since then, I have not experienced any more of that kind of pain.
This is where it gets really interesting. June 16, 2009, Julia received an email from Jackie Yates about a man Rob Franklin that was suffering from Ankylosing Spondilitis. We are still not sure how Julia was added to the email list but we know that God defiantly orchestrated this. I read the email and immediately knew I had to pray for this man. The next day, Jackie Yates organized a group of people go and pray for Rob. Without a second thought, I joined this group and went to Rob’s house. This is where journaling would have been a great benefit. Up till now, I had mostly forgotten how much pain I was experiencing until I saw Rob. He was confined to bed in unbearable pain taking a cocktail of at least four different prescriptions. God then reminded me that if it was not for Him and my wife listening to Him, that is the condition I would be in. By going to meet Rob, I was able to instill hope that he will be healed and he will recover. I knew in my heart that God had healed him and he will have an incredible testimony. Rob had even said that since this diagnosis, he had to put his dreams behind him. One of his dreams that he thought was dead was getting a motorcycle. The funny thing that God did was what I drove that day; I arrived at his house on my motorcycle. This gave him hope that his dreams would not die.
Rob was scheduled to go to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL on June 29th. On June 28th, I took Julia to Rob’s house so that we could pray with him together. After praying with Rob, God kept saying “miracle” to Julia. She later told me that she wanted to say something but did not because of the fear, “what if nothing happens and he gets his hopes up to be disappointed”. At this point, three rheumatologists have agreed that Rob had AS (Ankylosing Spondilitis) and some of his vertebrae were fused together. This is where the miracle comes in to play. The Mayo clinic came to the conclusion that he did not have AS, but that he had a really bad case of Fibromyalgia and none of his vertebrae were fused. Either the tree doctors were wrong (which is possible but hard to believe) or Rob was healed of the AS. I choose to agree with God and my wife that Rob was healed. We are still praying for Rob’s full recovery from Fibromyalgia.
The below letter is from Jackie Yates regarding Rob’s current state:
“
Good morning,
I woke up this morning with a pressing issue upon my heart. "Am I a good enough man to receive the love of God , to be called His child?" And I know what you're thinking you probably think I have lost my sense of reason, because you see me doing for the Lord, and don't realize I am striving for being in the Lord. It is a hard task, because you must sit and listen and that is certainly hard for a man like me to do. I blame that on the women I deal with each day for they love conversation. (Ha Ha) No, it boils down to my acceptance of God loving me no matter who I am and what I do, good or bad, and believing that God will fight for me. All I have to do is be still and know He is God and He will wage the war for me. That ultimately I have worth and value far beyond what I assume I possess in this shell of mine.
I offered a word of hope to Rob yesterday and saw a new man. He shared his travels with me and his experience in Jacksonville at the Mayo and I began then to ask the question; "Do I let God wage my war for me or try to do His job for Him?" Rob shared how one of the doctors, who by nature was completely satisfied with science being every explanation for details of life looked at the x-rays and blood work and finally backed out of the room as if Rob may attack him as Rob put it, with an expression of confusion and yearning to go make sense of what he had just seen. Rob's doctor shook his hand and told him it was a pleasure meeting him and he was released with instructions for changes in lifestyle, diet, and recovery to completely heal his body. After the doctor told Rob how he did not have AS, and only an extreme case of Fibromyalgia, Rob stated for home and for 7 hours and a trip to the ER at Gwinnett he threw up and cried out to God to ease his pain, for Rob and Andrea especially said it was the worse night they had had since this began. They prayed all the way to the hospital in Gwinnett from Jacksonville. Rob shared his dream with me that when he finally he did fall asleep after over 18 hours he had a dream of a host of angels coming through the sky and covering him. He said his head was shaved and he said he remembers looking up on his hands and knees and seeing a clash like mighty arms or fists hitting together in the sky and he was helpless to do anything, even though he held a sword. He said he remembers a sound like a gavel dropping and a voice saying, "No more!" And Rob said he could do nothing but be still. Jesus was there on his behalf, but he was by his side, he just went to the Father on his behalf and stood as God waged the war and conquered in victory. Rob woke up with a new sense of God's loving him and a new sense of worth.
Rob says he feels stronger in his back than he ever has, I saw a clarity in his eyes, he wasn't distant like some of you saw when we went to pray for him. He was walking very slowly but without a cane and upright not bent over. I witnessed a miracle and believe I am going to stand witness to an incredible testimony for many. So that brings me back to my morning. "Am I worth His love, a good man, and deserved of being called a child of God?"
I believe it is good for us to sit and wait for Gods time to wage war on our difficulties. Most of us are doers and if being honest jump in to make our effort at fixing the problem. I know I do! I am facing Rachel's surgery, economic difficulties and the stewardship of many people family and employees depending upon me, all looking to me for assurance of direction ad guidance. It can be so exhausting to think , "Am I good enough or am I worth all this?" However I am in awe now I know God will wage war for me only if I wait and earnestly seek Him with every essence of my existence. I can still do wrong but with a greater sense of God loving me. And I wanted to implore you to sit and just soak in the fact that God's fight is for you this morning.
I thank you for all the prayers for the upcoming surgery with Rachel, for my family especially Tena, and for me. When Rachel was a little girl she used to say, "I love you this much and all around the world." and would have her little arms outstretched as wide as she could stretch them. It always brought a tears to my eyes hanging over a smile, and I think it is so amazing that people love me this much and all around the world. And as I sit here stretching my arms out as wide as they will go, I want to say, "I love you this much and all around the world."
In His Grip,
Jackie
“
I said all this to say this. For God to give Julia and I the chance to pray for Rob, he had to work a complex plan in our life to get us to this point.
1. Julia’s parents moved up to Marietta from Orlando. (without this, I would have never met her)
2. I first saw Julia at a Christian concert of Allies at Mount Paran Church of God. I saw her because she stood out among all the rest and still does. At this point I did not meet her, but I definitely noticed her.
3. I decided to go to Southern Poly which my parents also moved to Marietta so that I could live at home while I went to school.
4. We started attending a church in Roswell that strangely enough, that unusually noticeable girl was attending as well. We knew each other but did not date. We both had some maturing to do.
5. We began dating about 4 years later, engaged and then married
6. Moved to Powder Springs.
7. Both Sam and Makala were born in Power Springs.
8. Moved to Cumming
9. Moved to Lawrenceville where we met Michael and Lisa Brown. They later introduced us to The Bridge Church. This is where Julia introduced me to the Acai juice.
10. Moved to present house in Commerce. Sam’s school was not adequate in Commerce, so we were able to put him in a private school “The Branch” which he has excelled more than he could have ever done in public school. If we had not moved to Commerce, we would probably have never place him in the private School. Consequently, this is the link to Jackie Yates, his children go to this school as well.
Many times we ask ourselves, why are we where we are at. Sometimes it is due to our own stupid mistakes. Sometimes it is due to God directing us to a place that we need to be so that He can work out His ultimate plan. Sometimes we make stupid mistakes and He is able to work through it anyway. Either way, there is a complex set of events that had to take place to move both Julia and I to the place that we could be used by God to pray and minister to Rob.
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