A Touch from The Master’s Hand

And we know that in all things God works for the good of  those who love Him. (Romans 8 v 28 NIV)

A short story of how God interceded in the illness of Sam Armstrong.

My story begins on Wednesday 14^th January 2004. After a bad night’s sleep I woke with a thumping headache. After breakfast I headed off to work thinking it would soon clear up. By dinner time it became obvious that it was not going to clear up. I’m only working at half speed and I can’t think straight, so it’s time to go home. I get home at 1.30pm and climb straight into bed, where I fall into a deep sleep until 5.00pm. I get up and take a shower, get dressed and head downstairs still fighting the headache. Tonight is a big night, the Alpha course is starting in our church and I don’t want to miss it. I force myself to eat two poached eggs and two slices of toast. But by 6.00pm I have to admit defeat and say that there is no way I could go out tonight. I make my way up to bed again and become violently sick.

 The next few hours see me sleeping on and off and the headache getting more and more intense. By 11.00pm the pain is unbearable, my wife Christine (a nurse) rings Moylin House and contacts the doctor on call. He arrives in approximately twenty minutes and after a quick check he calls for an ambulance. He starts to talk about suspected meningitis and it is at this stage that I feel God intervening in the situation, a great calm comes over me and an assurance that I am not alone, all fear is gone. I try to tell my wife not to worry but I sense she is afraid. The doctor takes some blood samples (to help speed up the procedures), before giving me  a morphine injection to kill the pain. At this time my dear friend and brother in Christ , James Truesdale arrives at the house and also my sister Jeanette. Christine wants to come to the hospital with me but needs someone to stay with our son , David (age 14) and daughter Rebecca (age 7) and as usual James is at hand to help out.

The ambulance arrives and they start to move me onto a chair and take me downstairs. I have never known pain like this. Every movement makes me squeal out in agony. Once loaded into the ambulance we head off. With roadworks we have to make a diversion and go the long way to the hospital. I squeal with pain as we go round every corner and as we hit every bump. A journey of 13 miles takes approximately 10 minutes and the total time from Christine phoned the doctor until I arrive in hospital is 45 minutes. When I arrive at the hospital my temperature is 39.5 centigrade. The next few hours is a mixture of tests, morphine injections and some sleep. Christine leaves the hospital at 6.00am (Thursday 15^th) and as day begins to dawn the light becomes so unbearable that I have a towel doubled over my eyes to keep the light out. By this time the routine was one and a half hours deep sleep followed by one and a half hours begging for more morphine.

My first visitor was David Holland, an ambulance driver and brother in Christ. He made a prayer over me and assured me that things were moving at home. Prayer cells had been notified, Mother’s Union prayer cells were informed and Bill Holloway, the Grow in Grace  leader had been told. Prayer was surrounding me from every part of the country. The young girls in the Praise Band were busy on the phones letting each other know, and one of them , Jill Gardner who works in the hospital was soon round to visit me and let the others know of my progress. I stand amazed at how good Christian people come together in times of trouble.

My next visitor was the Rev. Tommy Allen on his way to a course he called in to offer prayer and support. I knew he had the gift of healing but I missed the opportunity to ask him. Other visitors came and went, some I never seen because between injections and deep sleep I didn’t know what was going on. One of those people was Elizabeth Cairns, our Church Army Officer who stayed for an hour and left a note.

At 2.00pm I went for a brain scan still with my towel over my eyes to stop the light. My friend, Jill Gardner brought me back to the ward at 3.00pm and she left as I was going to get my next injection. As usual the next two hours were a blur, but Tommy Allen and his wife, Ina arrived in just as I was waking up. They stayed for some time and I could feel my head getting more intense. As they were leaving Tommy said he would pray with me . I asked him if he would lay hands on me, which he did. This was the second time God revealed himself to me, as Tommy laid hands on me a heat went through my head and immediately the pain dulled down. That experience happened on Thursday at 6.00pm, it is now Saturday morning (4.00am), as I write this and from Thursday at 6.oopm until now I have not had one pain killer or injection. I have not been able to sleep for two nights, as I have felt a voice telling me to write down this story, I am not sure for what purpose. On Friday morning the Sister in charge could not believe the change in my condition and I have spent Friday witnessing to anyone who will listen about what God has done. I don’t want my story to end here. There is a possibility that I may be getting home today and I can not wait to tell people about the great God we have.

Through this experience I can now relate to the story of Lazarus in John chapter 11:

A man named Lazarus was sick.

The sisters went to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

( John 11, v1 and v3-6)

And so it is with my story.  I know that the healing process began when I had the faith to believe and want to give God all the glory for what He has done in my life. By taking this step of faith God worked a miracle in my life, and to me this shows His power and love for me. I have a very simple faith so it has nothing to do with me as a person, but that God showed his greatness through what happened so that I may share it with others and always give Him the Glory for it.