Two days after I was discharged from unexpected spine surgery, we captured this moment.
A significant moment.
Just a year ago, I’d attended the same conference, with a prayer hidden in my heart. I hadn’t told anyone, not even Cliff, about how it broke me to see my then 3-year old mimic me preaching with a slouched posture, reminding me of the moment I felt overwhelmed by shame as a child for circumstances beyond my control.
Since then, I stood hunched over, trying to make myself smaller, even on stage. In the privacy of my heart, I’d cried out, “God, heal me of my shame. Straighten my posture.”
That same week, at the conference, @drheidibaker’s assistant, who didn’t know a thing about my heart’s cry, prayed over me, sharing a vision she had, “I see you crouched over like a ball, then standing tall with a sword in your hand.”
Who would have expected that a year later, I’d find myself in the Intensive Care Unit, reeling with pain I’d suffered for months, finding relief only when I stood ramrod straight.
As God revealed to me my idols of work, exercise and other strongholds in my life, highlighted by my inability to type, exercise or cook, I found myself like Abraham, scaling the mountain with sword in hand to kill what would otherwise have consumed me.
As He dealt with the crookedness of my heart, my posture straightened out. I healed.
A year after I’d received the vision at the conference, I found myself at the same event, this time with a bandage over my neck, my back fully straightened. It struck me at that moment— that God is faithful. In His own way, He answered my prayer and brought that vision to fruition.
As Heidi came to pray for me, she let me know that she, too, had recently recovered from spine surgery- she’d endorsed my then-soon-to-be-book, Dream Brave, during her rehabilitation.
“You’ll be a voice to the nations,” she said.
As I stood next to her, blinking back tears at the journey God had led me on, an undeniable truth overwhelmed me — He is faithful.
And He will be for you too.