THE BACKGROUND
Insomnia plagued me from the age of (approximately) 14 years old until the age of 50 years old.
The main problem was that my brain simply would not switch off, and often when I did sleep, the slightest sound would wake me up and that was it, I would be awake until then next time I could manage to fall asleep.
By the age of 29, I was sleeping two nights out of seven on bad weeks, and would fall asleep around 6am on good days. When I was awake, I often had achy limbs, erratic heart beats, lack of enthusiasm for anything and usually was in a grumpy, sarcastic mood. On some days I had flue like symptoms but I did not have flue. And more often then not, my body was so sore I did not want to go anywhere or see anyone.
I hid all this from everyone except my beloved husband, who stood by me through everything, and became my rock.
After a series of tests, a Doctor finally diagnosed me with Chronic Insomnia and Chronic Fatique Syndrome (CFS); he said there was no known cure for either. He prescribed sleeping tablets for the Insomnia and a six week holiday for the CFS.
These two conditions affected my life in many ways; Nobody could visit without making an appointment. I would not make any appointments before 3pm. I refused to go out since I never knew when I would sleep if I got even more hyped up. I began to shun people. I found the light hurt my eyes and loud noises made my heart jump. My eyes lost focus, my memory was affected. My personality was affected. My beloved husband often did not see me except to say good morning, good night.
I lived in a few different cities during that time, and I remember often sticking my head out of the window and yelling and screaming at people outside to be quiet. Well, that just sparked off a reaction of them yelling and screaming back at me and making even MORE noise to prove a point.
I'm sure if you have suffered from Insomnia you know exactly what I mean.
I eventually gave up on the sleeping tablets as I hate the way they affected my memory.
I tried many different things to try and fix these health problems. I tried extreme excercise, natural herbs, natural supplements, pressure points, massage, meditation, chages of diet, cutting out sugar, cutting out caffiene - and so on ad infinitum.
I did notice a strong reduction of my CFS symptoms, but it was never really eradicated.
However, the Insomnia never reduced, it remained just as prominent as ever.
Eventually, I gave up on trying to find any help for Insomnia, and settled on it being a way of life, and I have to just accept this and live around this. (Later on I realised this is a lie from the enemy - that's a topic for another teaching session.)
During this time I was dormant in my Christian life: during those years I had put the Holy Spirit in suspension due to my inactive spiritual life.
He was unable to work in my life since I never invited Him during those years - I tried to do everyting in my own strength.
God never forces Himself upon anyone. We have free will and it's up to us to ask Him to get involved; He only moves in if we invite Him into our lives, and even then He can only work in our lives if we continually excercise our faith. (Again, a topic for another teaching.)
HOW THE MIRACLE HAPPENED
Eventually, when I was around the age of 46 years old, my husband and I moved away to another town and joined a church, and my spiritual walk with God began once again, deeply, quietly and gently.
During one of our church events, I asked for prayer for healing from Insomnia, and I was prayed for; I did not feel anything special, no warm feeling or tingling etc. I just thanked God and went on with the service.
And from that day forth, Insomnia never darkened my days again!
In most cases I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow. In other cases I lie in bed starting to pray, and literally am "conked out" and wake up the next morning realising I fell asleep after saying "Dear Father....".
The most precious thing is that now I can enjoy a full day with my family. I am able to wake up and view the sunrise, instead of viewing it just before I fall asleep!
I praise and thank God every day for healing me from this dreadful disease.
WHY THE MIRACLE HAPPENED
It's very simple to me; God gave me this Miraculous healing simply because I showed my faith.
What do I mean, you ask, how did I show my faith?
Literally, this is what I did.
- When the Pastor asked the church members who needs prayer, I put my hand up.
- When he said all those who need prayer step to the front, I stood up and went to the front of the church.
- And when the Pastor asked what do I need prayer for, I said for healing from Insomnia.
- And after the Pastor prayed for me, I thanked Jesus for healing me.
That's what activating your faith is about. It's taking action and confessing aloud, in words, speaking aloud.
And even though, at the time of the prayer, it did not feel like anything happened, its by thanking God - which is confessing my belief that it is done - that I received my healing anyway.
I realised that God can only bestow his Blessings on us when we show our faith by taking action. It's Faith that activates the Blessing from God.
How do I know this, you ask? How did I know that the above actions would show my faith?
Look at the following scriptures - I have made the FAITH action words bold.
Mark 10:53 (KJV)
46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.
47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.
51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
Now, if you study the bold sections of those words, you will see several things:
- The blind man asked for help.
- He did not take no for an answer.
- When he was called forward, he went.
- When he was asked what he wanted, he said it plainly.
- And the result? his actions were an outward sign of his faith. His faith activated the Blessing from God, and he was healed.
There are many scriptures in the Bible documenting that action was required to show faith, and only then could a person receive the Blessing of healing.
I will list a few here, but you need to look up the chapter and start reading from the previous versions to determine what action was taken.
Psalms 30:3 (KJV)
O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
Mark 5:34 (KJV)
And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
I hope you enjoyed this blog and found it useful.
