One Man's Parkinson's Journey - Day 2...

Trinity Baptist Church, Kerrville, TX

Yesterday's post concluded with a report that there would be a special time of "prayers for healing" for my husband during the usual Wednesday Bible Study/Prayer time at our church last evening.  


Here is a report about that service.  

Pastor Wheat led the group in sharing the needs of a number of people in our congregation or connected to our congregation.  Folks in attendance were gathered around tables.  After those needs were made known, the Pastor invited folks to share in silent prayers for the needs we felt led to take to the Lord in petition.


Following that period of prayer, Pastor Wheat began to share the specific need of my husband and John's request that there be an opportunity for the church elders to pray for him per the teaching of James 5:13 - 16.

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 James 5: 13 - 16

  ¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

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The Pastor had John come forward and sit on a chair he had beside himself.  He gave some information about John's diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease, but asked John to give more of the details about his condition, status of his progress and plans for the future.

John was able to share clearly and succinctly.  For many of the folks in attendance, this was all new information.  John's tremor symptoms have not been too noticeable to the general public.

Since the verses in James call for -

"...the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord..."

Pastor Wheat invited all who considered themselves to be  "elders of the church" to come forward if they wished and gather around John with outstretched hands and arms to touch and pray for him.  

Pastor Wheat defined "church elders" as anyone in a leadership position in the church.  He did not mention age, gender nor position but welcomed anyone who had an elected or service place of leadership to come forward as one of the people to offer "prayer in faith for the sick person".

Quite a large number of people responded to this invitation.

Pastor Wheat anointed John's forehead with oil and then invited folks to pray out loud as they petitioned God for John's healing.  The Pastor's request asked people to pray all at the same time knowing that God hears the prayers of individuals even when many individuals pray at the same time.  

When those prayer voices faded, Pastor Wheat continued a solo concluding prayer.

As people's hands touched John's right arm and leg, his tremors could surely be felt and continued throughout the prayers.  They continue as they have - intermittently throughout the day.

As you can imagine, this time of personal, fervent prayer for healing was an emotional and very meaningful experience for John.  We were both touched and very grateful for our faith family who surrounded us with prayer last evening and who promised to continue prayerfully on our behalf as this Parkinson's journey unfolds in the future.  

We hope to always be found faithful as followers of our Lord.