His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." - John 2:5

In September of 2021, my friend Tony, whose ministry involves singing, contracted Covid, severely damaging his lungs. It was so bad that he was in the ER five times and was bedridden for eight weeks. His cough felt so deep and painful that he couldn't speak more than two sentences at a time. During his last appointment (December 2021), the doctors told him that his lungs were not improving and that they'd have to do heart tests in the new year.

One day, on one of my prayer walks, I strongly felt the desire to pray for Tony. I sensed that I needed to put my hands on his lungs. So I reached out to him and asked if I could visit him on December 22 to pray for healing. That morning I woke up early to go into the forest to press in/meet with Jesus. While on the mountain in the pouring rain, I said to the Lord, "Father, I am going to go pray for Tony for healing today, and I want to ask you, will you heal him?" What I heard next, I did not expect.

I heard so faintly in the corner of my mind a tender voice, calm and matter-of-fact, "Yes, I will." I stopped moving and, with some doubt, said, "God, I think I heard you say, 'Yes, you will.' Forgive me for any doubt, but I will ask you again: Will you heal Tony today?" He said, "I will." I smiled and said to Him, "Um… Father, these are lungs. Lungs don't heal; they are a big deal,” as if He needed a reminder. So then I asked, "God will you heal him in front of me?" He replied, "Yes." 

I thought there was no way! So I paused with excitement and uncertainty and said, "Okay, Father, if this is you, how are you going to heal him?" Then I heard "from head to toe," and I could see in my mind's eye oil on the top of His head and at the end of his toe, and I sensed the Holy Spirit was saying, "put your hands on his chest and have him take 12 deep breaths." When I got that specific direction, I was filled with faith. I knew He would do it, so I asked, "If you heal Tony’s unrepairable lungs, can he share his testimony on Christmas Eve?" I sensed the Lord's smile.

Around 2 pm on December 22, 2021, I showed up at Tony's. He opens the door with a big smile and a severe painful cough. His whole family greeted me, and we began to talk about God and what Tony had been learning. He said the Lord told him that around the 3-month mark, He would do something significant. While we talked, we both realized it was three months to the day that Tony got the positive Covid test.

At that point, I knew God was doing this, so I told Tony what I heard in my walk with God and told him, "Tony, God is going to heal you today." After sharing what I was learning about healing, I said, "Let me go to the bathroom, and when I come back, we'll anoint your head and toe and take 12 deep breaths and then God will heal you." In my mind, I was thinking, "James, what are you saying?" I was pleading with God, "You have to show up. This is so RISKY!”

Then, while on my way to wash my hands, I hear in my head the children's song, 'Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes,’ and see Tony doing the actions to the song. I thought, "Oh no. God, do you want me to tell Tony to sing this song?" I sensed Him smile. I told him, "God, this is already so risky, and you want to add a kid's song?!" 

But here's what I cared more about at that moment: God knew He had my "yes," no matter how foolish it sounded. Like the servants in John 2, I need to do whatever Jesus tells me. So I came out of the bathroom and told Tony what I'd heard, and he agreed to sing it. In fact, the whole family came out to sing. 

I then asked Tony to get on the floor and had his oldest daughter hold onto his foot (I had previously had a picture of her doing so). I put oil on his head and toe and put my hand on his chest while he was lying flat on the floor in the living room and said, "Okay, Tony. Take 12 deep breaths." While he was breathing, I got as quiet with Jesus as I could and kept saying, 'my trust is in You coming now and doing what You said.' I lost count of his breaths, and when I sensed Tony was done, I looked at him and said, "You did 12?" He affirmed he had, and I replied, "Okay, now stand up and sing the song." He rose and sang, "head and shoulders, knees and toes." What I saw next was unlike anything I had ever seen in ministry. I could imagine what the man Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda would have looked like. Tony's amazement, mixed with shock, was awe-inspiring!

With this look in his eyes, he paused and said to his wife, "There's no burning!” In astonishment, he slowly moved to the couch, without blinking once and started doing things he couldn't do before: He held his breath, and looked at me and said, "I haven't been able to do that." He did it repeatedly and, looking at me, said, "James, did He do it?!" I replied, smiling and screaming with glorious worship on the inside, "Yes! He said He would!"

Tony said, "I need to go and get an X-ray today." When I left the house, I called my fantastic wife, Nikki and said, "I think Jesus just healed Tony! I saw it! I saw Him do it in front of me.” I couldn't talk; I was so in awe. And then these texts started rolling in.