Lakeland, FL

I honestly don't have many pictures that don't have someone's face in them. And since I wouldn't want somebody else to put MY face on the net... They're available on our Flickr if you want to.

The sign picture was taken at the Healing Outpouring Saturday night. The tree one is a random out-the-car-window picture.
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The Reason We Went

Saturday night was awesome fun! The meeting (D said about 3,000 people) started with 2 1/2 hours of worship. Atleast 20 minutes of it was singing "holy." Not bad at all!

And then my memory skips to Hans. There was a man sitting in front of us with a neckbrace. Didn't think much of it - there were people everywhere. But Todd (ie Main Dude) "called out a word of knowledge." (That's what they call it - "word of knowledge" means "somethin' God told ya.") He said that there was a person sitting to his left (our side) who had the bones in his neck broken in a car accident 16 years ago.

It took Hans a while to get up there, presumably because he only spoke German. But when he did, his translating friend said that the neckbrace was from a car accident 16 years ago. So Todd prayed for him, and Hans landed on the floor (while I cringed about the neck). Todd went on to pray for other people. Then all eyes turned to Hans as he got off the floor with a clown-size smile and his eyes bugging. As soon as Todd turned and saw him, Hans starting shaking his head around! Atleast half of us jumped to our feet screaming. The picture of that look on his face is burned in my memory now. That 5 seconds alone was worth the trip! (Really.)

I chased Hans down afterward. I now have a picture of him and his young son. His son is beaming, but due to the fact that I can't count to 3 in German, Hans just looks amused. Like I said though, I'll never forget that smile. Totally worth the trip.

Also very noteworthy were 2 men in wheelchairs that went on stage. The first had MS and came unable to move his arms. He was there to show us that he could now swing them around. The other man was elderly and not able to speak. The woman who pushed his chair up there said that he hadn't been able to move his legs when they came, but now could. Todd leaned over and asked him about it. His reply was to lift each leg a couple times.

And gettin' more personal:

I hadn't been able to curl my toes since December. Neither foot, and not even by using my hands. The muscles on the bottom couldn't contract, and the muscles on top were so tight they couldn't stretch enough anyway. D and I had discussed that they'd be the clearest "test" as to whether I'd been healed at all on the trip.

At one point, everyone who needed some kind of physical healing was asked to stand, and everyone as a group was prayed for. Immediately afterward, I tried to curl my toes. My left ones easily curled half-way, and my right ones can now curl just a bit.

Eight months, one prayer, and BAM - they're starting to move again!

(Sidenote: I have no clue why I and the 2 men in wheelchairs weren't completely healed. None. I also don't understand why God doesn't always answer my prayers with "Sure thing, Kiddo!" But I don't think I'll get in his face about it either. I'm grateful for what I have been given.)
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The Trip Itself

The plane trips were interesting.

(I have to avoid tap water. The Lyme toxins make things like chlorine much more dangerous to me. While we think I'm over active Lyme, I'll still have the effects a while. So, we pack water bottles everywhere we go. )

On the way to FL, I put 3 large bottles in a checked suitcase. One of the 3 burst. We had to put our sopping clothes in a hotel dryer. Far worse, my medical notebook was in there - all my blood tests, symptom lists, medical history, the 2 pages of my current meds, etc. Nice. Real nice. At 1 AM Friday night, we were spreading paper all over the floor of the hotel room.

Flying from Tampa to Atlanta, I saw a ROUND rainbow. Sweeeet! I was looking down at the clouds when my jaw dropped and I reached behind me slapping D's leg. He wasn't able to see it. I could see atleast 4 of the colors, in stripes, in a wheel. In the middle were atleast 2 of the colors in a ball. I didn't even know that could happen! Oh, for a picture!

From Atlanta to Chicago, we sat with a boy who'd just graduated 8th grade and was coming home from his graduation present - an all-by-himself trip to his Grandma's. He was such a cutey! I was slightly disturbed though to see how much more child than adult is in an 8th grader. Reason being, I remember my 8th grade year with a good deal of pride, and truly thought I was more adultish than kiddish. Ahem, maybe no. Atleast I have evidence I musta been cute.

And last, our entertaining cab drivers. From our apartment to the airport: driving down the wrong side of the street, running red lights, and causing a lot of honking. From the airport to our apartment, a Baptist man who was excited to hear all about our trip. Ya just never know with a cab.