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This is the Work of God

One evening when Kristen, our oldest, was only a couple of years old, she crawled out of her bed and came to me crying her ear was hurting. I knew the problem, she had this problem before, it was an ear infection. I knew the drill; we would make an appointment at the doctor's, he would tell me it was an ear infection, he would prescribe antibiotics, and in a couple of days the infection would clear. But it was already after 11:00, Jack was working late at the restaurant, and I knew I would not be able to get an appointment for her until morning. I made her as comfortable as possible and told her I was going into the kitchen to pray.

Our kitchen is in the shape of a rectangle. I walked up and back praying everything I had been taught to pray. I thanked God Jesus died, he was buried and rose again, I thanked him by his stripes Kristen was healed, I broke the power of the devil over her. Nothing worked and I could hear Kristen crying in the background. Mother's don't like to hear their children cry.

The more I prayed the more irritated and disturbed I got. Finally, frustrated, in front of my stove I looked up and said to God, "What do I have to do to get you to come down here and heal her?!" I certainly wasn't expecting an answer, but I got one. Using my mouth, a voice replied to me and said, "Kathie, the sacrifice has already been made."

I stood there in shock. First, I realized it wasn't me talking, it was the Father. (And he knew my name!) But really stabbed at my heart was what he said, "The sacrifice has already been made." All those years attending church and reading my Bible and I never understood. For the first time in my life I saw that Jesus paid for our sins on the cross, he took our pains and sicknesses, he paid the price for prosperity, and I don't have to do anything to receive it, except believe that he did it. I came from churches that believe you have to have good works for God to help you. You had to be upright, say the right things and act the right way for God to hear your prayers, but they could never tell me what the right things were.

I must have stood there quite a while considering what God had spoken to me. He had changed a lifetime of thinking in just a few moments of time. When I finally "came back to reality" I noticed that Kristen was no longer crying, she was asleep. She slept the whole night, and when morning came the ear infection was gone. In fact, she never had another ear infection and our three children born after her never had an ear infection. God had removed that curse from our home.

It was not long after that night I was reading in John and God showed me this verse:

6 This is the work of God, that you believe on whom he hath sent. (John 6:6).

That is what God had accomplished in me that night. He took me from looking to what works I could do, to believing what he did. I went from works to faith.

You may email Kathie Small at Kathie3@jacksmall.com

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