The Power of Prayer

Our world today is incredibly different from the world of the early United States, there’s no denying that.

We’ve made tremendous advancements in medicine, transportation, technology, and myriad other fields. We can get on an airplane and travel from Pennsylvania to California in about six hours when only a few centuries ago that would have taken several weeks or months depending on the conditions.

Our country was built on the idea that any person could accomplish any task if they set their mind to it. Paupers became millionaires, activists became world icons of change, and dreams became realities.

We glorify the individual as if he or she alone gained everything through his or her own work ethic and nothing more. What we don’t realize is how detrimental this mindset can be to furthering our own success.

I fight in an MMA club at Penn State on Wednesday nights. We focus on Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which is a form of grappling. I tend to fight in a defensive rope-a-dope style, so I was allowing my opponent to try different things to tire himself out.

Usually, once my opponent gets tired enough I can slip him into a guillotine choke and tap him out. Some people have more endurance than others, and my opponent that night had plenty of energy.

He was attempting to put me into an arm bar, which is a very nasty joint-breaking attack focused on the elbow. The goal is to pull your opponent’s forearm down while lifting their elbow up with your crotch, causing intense pain if enough pressure is applied.

I was able to guard against it by using my free arm to grab the arm he was trying to bar, which was buying me time and tiring him out. Unfortunately, one of our instructors wandered over and reminded my opponent that he could kick my guarding arm off so he could bar the other one.

Most of us know that if you put someone into an arm bar, you apply very little pressure to avoid injury.

Unfortunately, my opponent did not know that. He kicked my arm off and put as much pressure as he could on my elbow.

I tapped as quickly as I could, but it was too late. I was in tremendous pain and couldn’t move my arm. The other instructor, Dave, grabbed a bag of ice and drove me to the ER as soon as practice was over.

At the hospital they decided to poke and prod it to see how much damage was done. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst it was easily an 8.

I was yelling and squirming so much from the pain of them trying to move it that several nurses came to my aid with ibuprofen and more ice. Once it was all over I was out with a hyper-extended elbow and thankfully no breaks or fractures. My arm was stuck in a sling indefinitely.

I’m right handed and, unfortunately, my right arm was the one to get injured. I couldn’t write or type with it. I couldn’t open doors and just dressing myself was a painful experience.

I had to get creative while showering because I couldn’t lift my right arm past the middle of my left forearm. I constantly woke up from sleep simply by moving my arm and trying to get out of my lofted bed was a real challenge.

About a pound of pressure pushing straight onto my right hand would cause such immense pain I would crumple from it.

Word had spread to a few of my friends that I had gotten injured because several of them participate in the same club. They’re also a part of my Christian fellowship group VCF (Victory Christian Fellowship).

We have dinner at our church every Friday, so my friend Devin texted me and said we should pray over it and see what happens. We had prayed for healing on people before during our mission trip to Georgia over spring break, but unfortunately we didn’t see any big healings.

I walked in to our church and Devin called me over. He helped me get my jacket off and set it aside on a couch while a few others came over for encouragement.

He laid his hand on my elbow and prayed for about 15 seconds, with the gist of it being “In Jesus’s name I ask that you heal Dan’s arm.”

I felt a warmth tingle through my elbow during the prayer and once he finished praying I slowly started to test it. I lightly pushed on my right hand…and didn’t feel any pain. I pushed harder, still no pain. I got on the ground and started doing push ups, and to my amazement I felt no pain!

I had been wearing that sling for less than 48 hours and through the grace of God I was healed! 

The doctor tested my arm the following week and told me that I don’t need to do physical therapy anymore. The injury easily had a four to six week recovery time and it got cut down to less than two days!

If I were to only trust myself I would have been in a sling for several weeks in horrible pain. Instead I looked on to a power much greater than my own through Jesus and asked that he come in and take care of it.

God loves to help those who love him. The best part is that everyone has access to God, all you have to do is pray. Don’t get me wrong though; definitely go to a doctor if you have an injury or illness. It may not be an instantaneous healing like my arm, but God will help you in the healing process.

I know that everything that I have done and will do with my life is not through my hard work alone. 

God has and will help me every step of the way.