Swelling and Pain Vanishes With a Prayer
At 72 years old, Julia Bratcher is still going strong. She works in a hospital cafeteria and loves to cook. She says, “I make all the salads, parfait cups, fruit cups. I do baking, I do muffins, I do Danishes. So, I have to go in the freezer and get all those products out. I'm on my feet from the time I go to work in the morning until I walk out. And I like interacting with the people that come in the cafeteria. It's just a fun place to be. We all work together as a family.”
But in early April of 2019 her left knee started bothering her. Julia recalls, “I had to go buy one knee brace and I put that on and it still got worse, so I went and bought another knee brace and put it on. And for over a month I had to wear both knee braces in order to do anything, I could only do my job, come home, take a shower, lay down, and recoup to go back to work for the next day. That's all I could do.” Julia’s new insurance didn’t start for three more months, so she wanted to wait until then to see a doctor. But there was another reason she put it off – a few years back Julia had fluid drawn from her other knee, and she wanted to avoid repeating that painful experience. She says, “I knew how long the needle was. It's pretty long. And when I had it done that one time I said, ‘Jesus, I don't never want to have this done again’." Julia used over-the-counter remedies to deal with the swelling and pain. She remembers, “I won't say I was getting depressed, but I was really getting frustrated. I talked to a girl at work, Lisa. I would say, ‘Lisa, I'm going to just trust God on this because I really don’t want to go and have this fluid drawn off. I'm going to trust God.’"
On Memorial Day that year, Julia worked a full shift that left her knee exceptionally painful and swollen. As always, when she got home, she turned on The 700 Club, to lift her spirits. She recalls, “I was just watching it like I always do and Gordon said:”
“Someone else with problems with your left knee, and just incredible fluid buildup. The knee just literally doubles in size. You’ve got to get it drained. God is healing you. He’s just making restoration of that entire joint. In Jesus’ name, receive it now.”
Julia recalls, “And I said, "that's for me!" And I laid my hands on my left knee and I said, "Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, thank you, thank you." The pain left and soon the swelling was gone as well. Julia says she hasn’t needed pain meds or a knee brace ever since. She says, “This has been a good opportunity to let people know that Jesus is alive and real today. After this healing of my left knee, all I know to say to anybody, ‘Go to the Father and ask him for what you want. Believe it and just trust and it will come to pass’.”
