Told to Live with Acute Pain

Seal Beach, CA 

Carolyn Van Aalst has suffered from hip and knee pain for almost 30 years. She says, “As the years went on and my body got older, it was more difficult for me and I had tremendous pain in the past few years and that's when I was referred to a surgeon. And I went through five surgeries to have five joints replaced.” Unfortunately, the surgeries weren’t entirely successful, but because of her age, doctors told Carolyn there was nothing more that they could do for her.

“The pain remained in my left knee after the surgery.” Carolyn recalls, “The doctor said I was just going to have to live with it and take over-the-counter meds.” Carolyn used a walker to get around but her mobility slowly worsened. She had trouble standing and getting enough sleep at night. She says, “I would awaken at night if I moved my leg. And the pain would wake me up. And it was sharp and very painful, very uncomfortable. I pretty much gave up a social life. I stayed involved with my church, but it was so bad I couldn't move around easily.”

Over-the-counter medicine only helped a little so Carolyn prayed daily for her healing. “And I said, ‘Lord, I hope that you will heal me, and I don't know how it's going to come about or when, but thank you that I can get up today and I can go through my routine and I can be prepared for the day for whatever's coming my way.'" As a long-time viewer of The 700 Club, Carolyn tries to watch the show every day, and especially enjoys the prayer time. She says, “It encourages me to pray more for my family and friends.”

On February 20, 2020 Carolyn was faithfully watching The 700 Club when Pat started to pray, “Right now, a knee that has been twisted, I believe it is your left knee and it has been twisted. And right now, the Lord is bringing that knee into alignment and any damage that has been done to the tendons and ligaments is being healed dramatically in Jesus name.” Carolyn was surprised, “I thought ‘That's me!’ And I sat up and I said, ‘Is it really me?’ So, I stood up, I walked around, and I thought, ‘Ooh, this is wonderful.’ The pain was gone.” Carolyn immediately called her daughter to share the good news but waited a few days before calling The 700 Club. She says, “I don't want to be telling everybody if this is not real. I want to make sure it really happened. And it did really happen.”

Today Carolyn is active again and eager to spread her good news. She knows the power of God is greater than anything her doctors can tell her. She believes, “God can do anything and everything and His word says that He wants to heal me. The healing power of God is for anyone. I don't have to be an important person in government or well known in ministry or the perfect anything in my neighborhood or to my family. I know that when I pray God hears my prayers, I sit here and smile by myself and get excited and sometimes cry. I think ‘God, you're so good to me.'"