God has a way to deal with our problems

Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet

John 5:1-9    After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 

And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked:

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This man wanted to be whole  but he chose an impossible way and failed over and over in his way.

God had another way to make him whole.

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God has a way to deal with our problems.

I prayed many times for God to help me with vision problems.  I am almost 80 years old and have two eye diseases.  I could tell the treatment was not keeping the disease back and my vision was growing worse.  I asked God for HIS wisdom.  (I did not ask God to heal me but rather asked God to help me.)

I had tried new prescription for eye glasses but this didn't work, in fact my vision with new prescription was worse and I had to return to previous lenses.

I wanted to find another doctor to give me a second opinion.  I began praying about this. 

On internet, I located an eye surgeon in the city where I live.  I liked his resume.  So I made an appointment with this doctor.  (I prayed over this.)

At the appointment this doctor didn't ask anything concerning previous eye testing.  He did his own tests.

He told  me a new prescription would not help me.  He said I needed eye surgery.  I felt this was correct.  The surgery was scheduled for the left eye, the worst eye.  I prayed many times concerning this surgery.  "Should I have the surgery?" 

I asked God to confirm my direction.

In the weeks prior to surgery, many confirmations came to me in form of thoughts, concepts.

I had the surgery and it was very successful.

One of my fears had been that I would not be able to pass the Texas test for driver's license.  After the surgery, my vision in the left eye was 20/25 and doctor said vision in that eye would continue to improve.

Now I had no fear over taking the approaching Texas drivers license test.

(They are operating on the right eye today.)

In this situation, I believe God's way for me was the surgery.

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Here is another example of God's help, but not the way the person planned.

Comments by Pam Padgett:

My older sister had been at college two years when I started attending the same school.  She dated a man who was a member of a fraternity, and she had become a member of the fraternity's "women's auxiliary", assisting with fraternity social functions.  She was very excited for me to join the social circles she was in, and especially wanted me to meet members of the fraternity.

The first week of school my sister invited me to go to a student bar where many of the fraternity guys gathered on Thursday nights.  I went, but found what was going on there to be so bad (lewdness, drunkenness ) that I was unable to stay and I walked back to the dormitory.

A week or so later my sister asked if I'd go to an outdoor luau with one of the freshmen "pledges" at the fraternity.  The luau site was about 20 miles away near a river, and there would be a campfire.  The setting was very appealing to me, plus I was excited about having a date, and I agreed to go.

Then, a few days before the luau, my sister told me that arrangements had been made for one of the other fraternity guys to take me to the luau because my date would be spending the day at the luau site building a hut for us ... a young man I had never even met was building a hut "for us"!

Suddenly the reality of this luau became very clear to me.  This was not going to be people sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows.  The lewdness and drunkenness I had seen at the student bar was probably mild compared to what would be going on at this luau ... and I wouldn't be able to walk home.

I told my sister that I couldn't go along with this and did not want to go, but she kept insisting that it was too late for me to back out, that it was too late for this guy to find another date.

I turned very strongly to God, asking Him to somehow get me out of this situation.  There seemed no way out.  At one point I asked God to let me have appendicitis, preferring to be in a hospital having surgery than to go to this luau.

The morning of the luau I woke up and checked to see if I might have any pain that would indicate appendicitis, and was disappointed that I felt fine.  I kept praying for God to somehow work this out.  Time was really running out!  When I looked outside, it was raining a little, but not much. However, the rain became heavier and heavier as the day went on.

Around 2 pm I received a call from the fraternity guy who planned to take me to the luau site.  He told me how sorry he was to have to tell me this, but the luau had to be cancelled. 

The luau site had been totally flooded, washing away all the huts that had been built, which would include the hut my date had built for us.    He told me how long the luau had been held at this same site (many years) and, although there had been rain at times in the past, nothing like this had ever happened before, flooding and causing the luau to be cancelled.

I rejoiced, knowing that God had delivered me.

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