What is faith?
Faith: Complete trust or confidence in someone or something
Biblical Faith: Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." –Hebrews 11:11
Last semester I was struggling with what true faith was. Is faith the same thing as belief? Is faith something you can produce on your own, or is faith something the Lord plants in you. If faith is something the Lord fills you with, did he give me a lot of faith? I struggled with this. This fundamental principle in believing God, trusting him and relying on him, and honestly, I was frustrated that I didn’t already have this “figured out”, but I had really never thought about it or dissected it. I’ve been on a journey of living a life of faith. Faith is thankfulness before you have even received. Faith is trust in the Lord and reliance on His word. Faith comes through hearing. Faith is a declaration a proclamation of what the Lord has already done even though you haven’t physically seen it. It is by faith that I am saved. It is by faith that I have been healed, and experienced my God as my healer and redeemer. May he be glorified through the story of my healing and may you chase after the one who makes us whole.
About 5 years ago I had my two front teeth knocked out during softball practice. I had just gotten my braces off and in an instant all of that hard work was gone. The teeth were saved, immediately put back in, and braces were put back on. I was so embarrassed by the way I looked. I had a huge busted lip, detached teeth, and I was a freshman in High School. It was one of your worst nightmares; however, it was a miracle that I was able to keep my teeth and they didn’t die. Needless to say, the doctors were impressed. Good one Jesus. :)
Over the years I’ve had two root canals and constant issues with my teeth getting really loose, and my mouth getting infected because my body decided it didn’t like my root canals. Over time, my body ate away all of the bone in the front of my two teeth and a cist formed at the top of my right front tooth. The cist was large and disgusting. The infection I had in my mouth was present and fighting my body for at least two years. The time came where I was told I would need dental implants. Oh, how I fought with vanity. Thoughts like: “I want to my natural teeth when I get married” & “I don’t want to go with out teeth, I’ll look like a hillbilly”, “My smile is my best accessory (at least that’s what dove chocolate tells me)” etc, etc flooded my mind. I was going to wait a couple of years to have it done and then something compelled me to go ahead and do it (Jesus) and thank the Lord He did.
Before really knowing how serious my infection was, I prayed for the Lord to heal my mouth. All throughout last semester I prayed for faith and for the Lord to heal me. I began to study how and why Christ healed people in scripture. In Mark 5:34 Jesus says, “And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” It’s as simple as that. Faith is declaring and praising God while trusting him without any doubts that his word is true and is for you. Christ says in Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” I prayed in faith for the Lord to heal me, and that he did!!
I scheduled surgery for August 16th and a few nights before that Tuesday that I was supposed to have surgery, my boyfriend Dusty and I were watching a movie. After the movie the 700 club came on. I started listening and got hooked so I made Dusty watch it with me. When I was done I gave him the channel changer and preceded to fall asleep (I’m slightly narcoleptic). Dusty said that during this time he began thinking to himself, “Why am I even watching this, she’s just falling asleep anyways.” And then, the healing movement came on. Dusty thought to himself, “Well, this is interesting. Jesus, it’d be really cool if you healed Alexandra through this.” He thought about putting his hand on my mouth and decided Jesus didn’t need him to do that to heal me, “Okay Lord, bring it on. Let’s see what you’ve got” He thought to himself… right after his thought completed the man on the 700 club says this.
Click on the video or copy and paste to watch:
God is soooo stinkin’ cool!
Dusty and I were going crazy! Scripture says: “If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven.”- Matthew 18:19. We both declared and received the healing the Lord was giving me. We praised him for hearing our prayers and pouring himself out to us. Jesus filled me with faith and I received his healing touch without doubt.
That night I read through scriptures and passages about healing. The first verse I read was Psalm 66:16-20:
“Come and hear, all of you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly he has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!”
The next verse I read was 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. It talks about the thorn in Paul’s side and how Christ is made strong in his weakness. I felt like the Lord was telling me that there would be no difference in the appearance of my X-ray’s. That there would be no visible healing and that peoples doubt would be the obstacle. People’s doubt would be my thorn. That night I had a terrible dream that Dusty told me I looked pregnant (ridiculous) and as soon as I woke up I had a flood of doubt. I began to doubt that I doubted and wouldn’t receive his healing. I didn’t speak anything, it was all just a mind game. That’s when the Lord gently said to me, don’t let Satan win by grabbing ahold of your mind. The thing is, Satan cannot defeat you unless he first deceives you and the only way he can do that is through your mind. Your mind is soo incredibly powerful and if we don’t protect that and allow Satan to control it we will have a lot of defeats in life.
Instead of letting him win by messing with my mind, I got in my car cranked up the worship (which instantly crushed all my doubts and fears) and drove myself to Dr. Hills office where I would be having surgery in a couple of days. I told the nurses that I was supposed to have surgery, but that wouldn’t be necessary because Jesus healed me. We took x-rays and they had me back that afternoon. I was prepared for them to say there was no difference in my x-rays but it wasn’t because I doubted. I knew the Lord had healed me I just didn’t know what form it would take, what it would look like. We sat down and the Dr. told us he didn’t see anything different. He looked at my mouth and there was a sign that there was still an infection going on. He told me he wasn’t trying to talk me into the surgery but from what it looked like I still needed it. We looked at more x-rays and I saw the cist as well as the missing bone. Then Dr. Hill said…
The thing is, with your infection we’ve been seeing through multiple patients that it is getting into peoples bloodstreams and causing heart attacks and other health issues. That was it!! I had had this infection for well over a year if not two. There was no telling what it was doing to my body, or where it was in my body. The inner healing, the healing that I wasn’t going to physically see was healing from the infection traveling within my body. The spirit never said I wouldn’t need dental implants he just said I was worrying about them. He didn’t say I didn’t need surgery he just said the infection was healed, and it was. I proceeded with the surgery and had my two front teeth removed Tuesday morning. I ate breakfast so they weren’t able to put me under. I did the surgery awake and was able to pray all throughout the process which actually turned out to be really neat.
I haven’t had any pain, the Lord has brought healing to my mouth incredibly fast and everything that the doctors were worried about and difficulties they were facing with the condition of my mouth worked out beautifully. The Lord has given me a godly confidence and actually a pretty good sense of humor (if I do say so myself) about not having two front teeth. I realized, if I want other women to be secure and confident in who they are in the Lord, it starts with me. It starts with me being confident to smile with a huge gap in my smile. If beauty is just vanity then why do I focus so much on my apperance. Scriptures says "beauty is vanity, but a women who fears the Lord is worthy of praise." If I believe that then I should want to focus on the heart of Christ and that my heart is in line with His, not my physical apperance and social acceptance. It starts with me being confident and using my missing teeth to make people smile and hopefully laugh. It starts with me finding joy in Christ not fulfillment in praises about outer apperance. I don't want people to see or focus on my outward apperance anyways. I want people to focus on and see Christ in me, not the outer being of me. He is what is beautiful in me. He is whats good in me. Apart from Him I am nothing.
So here it goes. This isn't necessary, but I feel compelled to do it, so I will.
And a normal picture so you can picture me with teeth again :)
God is so good. I am so so thankful for all he has done for me. I am so undeserving yet he continues to pour himself out on me. He continues to bless my heart every day. As I draw near to him, he doesn’t hold back. He is always there with open arms. He makes me laugh and He makes me cry. He overwhelms me with his power, his mercy and forgiveness and even more so for his grace and unfailing love. It is because of Christ I am healed. It is because he constantly proves himself faithful that I can trust and rely on him and what his word says and believe and declare that his promises are for me. He desires to heal his children. He wants to show himself to you not only as your father, friend, and love, but your healer. Just as a father would do anything in his power to bring his son or daughter to good health, our heavenly father wants to do for you. Sometimes he permits things to happen and our healing is not physically seen until we stand before him in heaven, but regardless he is our healer and through faith our healing comes. Through faith the miracle was produced.
Praise Jesus for what he has done for you and I!! Praise him for healing us from our sicknesses. Praise him for freeing us from sin and washing us white as snow. As a believer, all the proof we need is to let God prove himself. It starts with you trusting him and not only believing IN him, but BELIEVING HIM.
Press in, and allow the Lord to rock your face off! :) If you need healing, the Lord wants to heal you too. As his child he wants to see you whole. His purposes were always for you to be made whole. Sickness, disease, deformities, etc. are not from God, they are from Sin. They are from the devil. However, God works in mysterious ways and whatever he allows to happen to His children, will be used to bring him glory. It's not about us, it's all about him. Who is God to you? Who is Christ to you? Who is the Holy Spirit to you? Press into him. Dive in and discover all that he has for you, and all that he wants to be for you. He loves you more than any love you will ever experience. His love is never ending. Pursue him not for his blessings and healing, but for who he is. Pursue him to love him. Pursue him to find out his character. Leave the assumptions behind you. Discover the mysteries of the one who made you and grow to know him in power, spirit, and truth!
Instead of reaching for his hand, reach for his face.
-Alexandra
