Jesus loves to heal from a place of compassion and interaction with the Father. In the book of Matthew, we read, "When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick." When Jesus heals the man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5, he explains to the disciples that He only does what He see's the Father doing. When these two relational realities with Him become active and alive in us, where it becomes a lifestyle of thought, we begin to be sensitive to when He's doing it again. 

Let me explain. 

In March of 2022, I was leaving a lunch meeting with a friend, and I called my wife to celebrate some more ways God's provision was coming through for us. It was then that I saw a woman walking on crutches with a boot on her right leg. I remember staring at her for a while and then thinking, "why am I staring at her?” It hit me that I was feeling this warm love for her, and I knew it was God. So I immediately prayed with a surprised-taken-back-ask… "God, do you want me to pray for healing for her?" I seriously thought, “Jesus, she's not in a church.” So I waited… I waited while she kept limping and just kept thinking, "what am I doing?" Then I heard "yes.” I was like, “Okay, God, here we go!” So I start to run down this sidewalk with a hesitant linger in my step—not wanting to scare her. And when I was about 12 feet away, I said, "excuse me, ma’am, I'm so sorry if this is weird, but I want you to know I am a Christian, and when I saw you walk by me, I felt God's compassion for you. Can I pray for healing for your foot?” I said all that in one breath so she could reject the whole thing since I was a complete stranger.

To my surprise, she said, “yes, I would love that. I'm in so much pain. My heel was completely shattered on a hidden rock.” She said, “this is the first day the doctors are allowing me to come outside.” I told her how sorry I was and asked her her name. "Sally,” she said. "I love that name." I went on to explain to her that I've seen a lot of healing in the last few weeks, and then said this one sentence I learned from one, "I can't promise Jesus will heal you, but I feel like He had me stop you because He wants you to know how valuable you are to Him and that He sees you." I could see He touched her heart at that very moment, and I knew He was doing this (do you mean, heal her?). Those assurances are essential as you walk with Jesus and learn when He's moving. Then I told her, "I'm going to close my eyes, and I'm going to ask Jesus how He wants me to pray, so if you see me not saying anything, I am just praying, and then I'll pray He heals you, is that okay?" She said, "go for it," with a smirk that read ‘this is the weirdest thing, but I hope something happens.’ 

I closed my eyes and saw so faintly two children, and then when I asked Jesus if he was going to heal her, I saw His hand on her heel and immediately saw multiple little bones coming back together. So out loud, I prayed, "Holy Spirit, will you now come and release your healing presence over Sally and would you now put your hand over her heel." I then commanded out loud what I had just seen. "I command all the little shattered bones to form as one. I command muscles to be healed.” At that point, I saw in my mind her foot going into a pink slipper, so I just went for it and said, "your foot is now going into a pink slipper" then I said, “be healed in Jesus' name, amen." I looked up, and she said, “amen." 

After praying for her, I asked her, "do you have children?" She said yes, "two daughters." I said, “I think I'm supposed to pray for your oldest daughter.” While I said that, I faintly heard "strength." So I said, "for strength for her.” Tears began to well up in her eyes, and she said that's exactly what she needs in her life right now." Then, while she was talking, I heard so faintly, "have her take a few steps." So I said, "before I pray for your daughter, can you take a few steps?" She hesitantly said, “…okay,” and as soon as she took two steps, her face leaped with a bewildering smile and with a shocked tone of voice, she said, "it feels way better! Like a lot better!” I said, "no way! Are you telling me this because I'm a stranger who just prayed for healing so that you can get me out of here?" She laughed and said, "no." I said, "come on, that's amazing! Thank you, Jesus. Let's pray for your daughter!” 

As soon as I began to pray, I saw this faint image of her daughter flashing in my mind at a park bench, and the impression was that her dad was supposed to be there, but he wasn't. Before praying and sharing what I saw, I tested this impression by saying, “can I ask you, how's her relationship with her dad?" She said, “not great at all,” and then I shared what I saw, which brought more tears to her eyes. After we prayed for her daughter to be filled with strength and for her dad to be filled with kindness and new ways to see himself and who he wants to be (who God created him to be), she said "thank you” and then asked with excitement, “what do I do as I walk home?” She was so touched and wanted to respond like in Acts, just like Peter does when he encounters Jesus' love. I said, “just keep thanking Jesus. He loves you so much.”

As I walked back to my van, I thought I had no idea that Jesus was this expressive in real-time, almost like He has an agenda each day that he wants us to navigate within His lead. Wow. Then I said to Him, "she's going to walk later without that boot, isn't she?" And I heard with such gentleness and joyful confidence, “oh ya!”