The laying on of hands

 

 

 The laying on of hands was a subject I knew very little about.  I talked with Nancy; she told me about a time she saw healing personally when her son touched a hot oven.  She prayed the burns would happen to her and not her son.  She took his hand and grabbed it as she prayed.  An outline of his hand burned onto hers.  His hand was completely healed.  She had also shared a story about her laying hands on one of her children.  As she prayed over them and laid hands on them, she felt a warmth go through her hands, and then they were healed.  I shared with her what had been happening lately with Mom.  She wrote me a note and told me that the Lord’s way to heal her may be to take her to Heaven to be with Him.  This was not the first time I had heard this.

Aunt Julie sent me the water from France, she also wrote a note stating Mom may not be healed physically.  She stated the water was no, “magic potion.” 

The same week at work, a teacher asked for our prayers during our prayer meeting because she was struggling with depression.  Our administrator felt we should gather around her and lay hands on her.  We laid hands on her, and in the four years I have been at the school, I do not recall us doing that before.

I went to Mom’s house Valentine’s weekend, the same week I received the water from Aunt Julie.  The trip down to her house was very peaceful.  While I was driving, something in my hand felt as though it popped.  I felt a tingling and warmth in my hand.  I continued to drive and prayed He was healing her.  It was weird.

A few other strange instances have happened, and I wondered if He was healing her at that time.  Once I was driving in my car, and my head started tingling all over for no reason.  Another time I was in my bed, I had my eyes closed and saw a bright flash of light.

I had been thinking a lot about not wanting anything to do with Mom being healed because I did not want to take any of the credit.  I continually prayed He would touch her and heal her or just speak and she would be healed.  I had not told Mom up until this point about anything I was going through.  I did not know how to even bring up the conversation.  I also did not want to get her hopes up high if God decided not to heal her.  This is where I doubted again.

Mom and I were sitting at the kitchen table, and I started to speak then paused.  She asked me what I was going to say.  I sat there trying not to cry because I did not want her to get upset.  I told her I needed a minute.  My eyes were beginning to fill with tears.  We both looked away to help me pull myself together.  Lauren and Ashton were playing in the adjacent room, and I did not want to have the conversation in front of them.  I asked her if we could go into her bedroom.  I walked her into her room and helped her sit on her bed.  I had the box that had the water in it.

I proceeded to tell her everything.  She said it would be okay to pray over her.  She said she believed in miracles.  I told her I felt inadequate about what to do or say concerning the laying on of hands.  I opened the bottle, poured some water into my hand, laid my hand on her, and said a prayer.  I did not feel any warmth go through my hands and as I opened my eyes, I looked up and she had not been healed.  What a blow!!  I had felt like a failure in many ways.  I had probably gotten Mom’s hopes up high and that hurt a lot.  I told her I had to do what I thought I was supposed to do.  I helped her back up and took her back into the den.  To end the conversation, she told me she would call me when it happened.  Holding back the tears I said, “I better be the first one that you call.”