Arise and Walk

Do you think someone could be blind from a car accident and regain their sight?

Could a person’s legs be paralyzed due to a pinched nerve and a doctor relieve them?

John 5:2–14 NLT

2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. 3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. 5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” 7 “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” 8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” 9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, 10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” 11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” 12 “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded. 13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”

Do you believe God acts in this world Supernaturally?

Life difficulties and disappointments can distract you from looking to the Lord for the answer.

Rich Mullins hold me Jesus.

Do you struggle with shifting hope to angels or others? (v. 7)

God most wants you to grow in spiritual endurance.

You must center yourself specifically on Jesus.

3. Jesus’ Miracles in this world were a sign of God’s presence and power in Him.

a. Miracles go beyond a medical mystery to an eternal truth.

b. Miracles from God always bring glory to Jesus.

To guide us from sin, to greater trust.

To give reason for others to believe.

To grow in our awareness that Christ’s victory will bring final healing and restoration.

Barbara had a very severe case of multiple sclerosis. It was predicted that she would die soon. She was blind, bedridden with severely impaired breathing due to a paralyzed diaphragm and a collapsed lung. Bladder and stomach control were lost. Below is an account of her healing after prayer as written by her doctor which you can lookup online and in a book sharing testimonies from doctors.. (Book: Physician’s Untold Stories Chapter 22)

Thomas Marshall, MD:

Thomas Marshall, MD, Physician’s Untold Stories, Chapter 22As Barb became progressively more disabled by her multiple sclerosis, she elected to enroll in hospice. To qualify for this compassionate home nursing program, her life expectancy needed to be less than six months. I don’t think this was an exaggeration, since Barb was confined to bed, her body contracted in a permanent fetal position, with a tracheostomy tube in her neck to provide oxygen to her compromised lungs, and a feeding tube in her stomach, since she could no longer swallow. Her hands were so permanently flexed that her fingers nearly touched her wrists. I had known Barb for over ten years, but just recently assumed her care from a colleague who was moving out of the area. It was hard for me to see her so debilitated. She couldn’t leave her room, so I made periodic house calls, but there was really nothing I could do at this point. Her parents were incredibly supportive, as were the members of her church. Pastor Bailie, her minister, agreed with my dismal prognosis and, when he saw her the week before, told me that he thought it would be the last time he would see her alive. Barbara’s illness started when she was in high school, at age fifteen. At the time, she was a gymnast, played the flute in the orchestra, and was active in a church youth group. She remembers not being able to grasp the rings in gym, and then slipping and falling down. At first her family thought she was clumsy. She occasionally tripped or bumped into a wall while walking, and her classmates, thinking that she had been drinking, whispered about her behind her back, and sadly, even began to shun her. When Barbara first consulted her doctor, she was referred to a local neurologist. He ordered multiple tests and scans, but no cause could be found. This was in the late 1960s when we did not have CT scanners, MRIs, and all the sophisticated imaging and diagnostics we have today. She was sent to medical centers with the same baffling conclusions. Multiple sclerosis was considered, but she seemed too young for that. All the while she continued to deteriorate. Her handwriting was the next function she lost. She became embarrassed to write in front of others because of her trembling hands, and her writing looked like it came from the hand of a ninety-year-old. She went through a period of questioning her worth and feeling helpless. With supreme effort, Barbara graduated from high school. However, when she enrolled in college, she developed double vision and had to drop out because she could not physically keep up. She was devastated. Before her illness, she was involved with multiple school activities, and now she could not even keep up with her basic courses. It was 1970, and, by this time, her symptoms and her diagnostic tests, including spinal taps, confirmed the diagnosis of progressive multiple sclerosis. The prognosis was not good, but she was determined to do the best she could in everything she did. At times, the disease seemed to become inactive, a common occurrence in multiple sclerosis, with relapses and remissions, but she never improved. She would get through a crisis, and then stabilize on a plateau that was lower than her last remission. In the early 1970s, she had two respiratory arrests because the muscles of breathing were affected, requiring emergency hospitalization. During her remissions, she was able to return to college as a handicapped student and work as a secretary. But her efforts to be “normal” were always interrupted by the progression of her disease. She could not clear her secretions, and, with a paralyzed diaphragm, was recurrently hospitalized for pneumonias and asthma. Then came one of the most humiliating problems for a young woman: losing the ability to control urination and bowels. She had to have a catheter permanently placed into her bladder and an ileostomy created in her abdomen, with a bag attached for her bowels. Her breathing became progressively more difficult, and she was referred to the Mayo Clinic in 1978 for a second opinion. She now needed continuous oxygen, and her muscles and joints were becoming contracted and deformed because she could not move or exercise them. Mayo was her last hope, but they had no recommendations to help stop this progressive wasting disease except to pray for a miracle. When her MS was first diagnosed, Barbara admitted to losing faith in a supreme being. Why would God allow such a devastating disease to ravish an innocent young girl? But as she matured, and with the love and counseling of her minister, Pastor Bailie, she grew stronger in her belief that a loving God participates in our lives. Everyone in her church and community was praying for her. Despite all the efforts, her condition continued to deteriorate, and she began to lose her vision and soon could not read anymore. She became legally blind and could hardly move out of her bed. A lung collapsed and required a large tube to be placed in her chest to expand the lung. Then in 1980, to add to her humiliation, she required the creation of a tracheostomy, a hole in her neck for a breathing tube connected to oxygen to keep her from being chronically short of breath. At this point, I sat down with Barb and her family and explained that it was just a matter of time before she would die, since the next major infection would likely take her. We all agreed not to do any heroics, including no CPR and no further hospitalization. This would only prolong the inevitable. Our meeting ended in a tearful prayer. June 7, 1981, a Sunday, was her sister Jan’s birthday. Barb was looking forward to the celebration at their home. She tried to help with the birthday preparations but being out of bed was too exhausting for her, even with her power wheelchair equipped with oxygen to her tracheostomy tube. Her first visitor was her Aunt Ruthie, who read cards and letters written to Barb after her tragic story aired on a local radio station, WMBI. Their program asked for prayers and letters for people who were terminally ill. There were so many letters that Aunt Ruthie had trouble carrying the large mail bag. Almost every letter included a prayer for Barb to be healed. The response was overwhelming. In the early afternoon, two girlfriends came to visit after church. Barb became weary with all the attention and was quiet while the girls made small talk. When there was a lull in the conversation, a man’s voice spoke from behind Barb—but there was no man in the room! The words were clear and articulate and spoken with great authority, but also with great compassion. The voice said, “My child, get up and walk!” Barb turned around. No one was standing there, but she knew immediately who was speaking. “I don’t know what you are going to think about this,” she announced, “but God just told me to get up and walk.” Her friends suddenly became very quiet. “I know he really did,” Barb insisted. “Run and get my family. I want them here with us!” Her friends, recognizing the urgency in Barb’s voice, bounded to the doorway to yell for her family, “Come quick; come quick!” Barb felt compelled to do immediately what she was divinely instructed, so she literally jumped out of bed and removed her oxygen. She was standing on legs that had not supported her for years. Her vision was back, and she was no longer short of breath, even without her oxygen. Her contractions were gone, and she could move her feet and hands freely. As she walked out of the room, she was first met by her mother who immediately dropped to her knees and felt Barb’s calves. “You have muscles again!” she yelled. Her father came running in next, hugged Barb, and whisked her off for a waltz around the family room. A distressed occupational therapist tried to restart her oxygen, but after she realized what was happening, she simply said, “This contradicts everything I ever learned in school.” At the request of Barb’s mother, everyone moved into the living room to offer a prayer. Barb sat down on the couch but was so excited that she could sit and get up that she went up and down at least ten times before she could sit still for the tearful prayer of thanksgiving offered by her mother. That evening, Pastor Bailie was leading the worship service at Wheaton Wesleyan Church. Barb was anxious to reveal the miracle to all of her church friends, but she was late. She had no clothes to wear. All of her regular dresses had been given away years ago when she became contracted and essentially bedridden. Finally a neighbor was able to bring over a dress and some shoes, and they headed off to church. As they arrived at the building, Barb bounded up the front stairs ahead of her parents. She waited in the back of the church until Pastor Bailie asked if there were any announcements from the congregation. Barbara then stepped into the center aisle, and, as she casually strolled toward the front, she could feel her heart pounding. Pastor Bailie, the first to see her, fell against the pulpit and began to murmur over and over, “This is nice, this is very nice, this is nice…” When members of the congregation looked back a sudden cacophony of whispers came from all parts of the church. “Who is that?” came from the front. “That’s Barb!” came from the back. “There’s Barb!” “Look, there’s Barb Cummiskey!” “I thought she was sick!” “Look at Barb Cummiskey walking down the aisle! She’s walking !” “ That’s Barb Cummiskey !” Everyone started clapping, and then, as if led by a divine conductor, the entire congregation began to sing. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I’m found Was blind but now I see… Tears of joy ran down every face. Pastor Bailie eventually regained his composure and invited Barb to come to the front to tell her amazing story. There was no sermon, but that was a service no one will ever forget. The next day was a Monday, and Barb called our office for an appointment. My nurse didn’t know what to say when she called. But the greatest surprise was when I saw her in the hallway of our office, walking toward me. I thought I was seeing an apparition! Here was my patient, who was not expected to live another week, totally cured. I stopped all of her medication and took out her bladder catheter, but she wasn’t quite ready to have the tracheostomy tube removed until another visit. No one had ever seen anything like this before. That afternoon, we sent Barb for a chest X-ray. Her lungs were now perfectly normal, with the collapsed lung totally expanded with no infiltrate or other abnormality that had existed before. I have never witnessed anything like this before or since and considered it a rare privilege to observe the Hand of God performing a true miracle. Barb has gone on to live a normal life in every way. She subsequently married a minister and feels her calling in life is to serve others, which is what she did after her life was miraculously preserved by her Creator.