Healed while studying healing lesson
September 12, 2007
By Mary Boyd and AG News
Miracles don’t just happen to “somebody else.” In February 2006 this truth became a reality to 16-year-old Brent Gwin when he was miraculously healed while studying a Boys & Girls Missionary Crusade lesson about healing.
A knee injury two years prior had left Gwin with reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), also known as complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). The condition causes sympathetic nerves to “misfire” pain signals to the brain, causing chronic pain characterized by various degrees of burning pain, excessive sweating, swelling and sensitivity to touch.
There is no cure for RSD/CRPS. Treatments involve relieving the painful symptoms, which Gwin tried through pain management. He also implemented cautious behavior, avoiding even the slightest trauma that could trigger the flare-up of the RSD.
At the onset of a particularly painful RSD occurrence in his foot, Gwin visited his doctor who did an MRI to reveal a very deep bone bruise in the foot and inflamed ligaments. But nothing was showing that should have been causing the intense pain Gwin felt. There was nothing else the doctor could do.
“We would just have to ‘ride this out’ — not what we, or Brent, wanted to hear,” says Gwin’s mother, Paula. “At that point, we had no idea how long Brent would be out of school because he couldn’t walk or sit up without excruciating pain.”
Gwin, who serves as the children’s church teacher at Sunny Side Assembly of God in Van Buren, Ark., where his parents pastor, began to prepare his lesson for the upcoming BGMC Sunday once home from the doctor. The country being highlighted was Iceland. The missions story was about healing.
“When I got home from work, I noticed that Brent seemed to be feeling better,” Paula says. “The longer he studied that BGMC lesson on healing, the better his foot got. By the time we went to bed Friday night, he was able to put his foot under the cover — a major accomplishment because even the soft sheets felt like knives going through his foot.”
That Sunday, Gwin went to church without the aid of crutches or his foot brace. He was able to provide the children with a real example of healing, as he testified that the longer he studied the BGMC lesson on healing, the better his foot felt.
Since February 2006, Gwin has been pain free and has had no problem with the RSD, even after several accidents that would have ignited the RSD in the past.
Mary Boyd is national BGMC coordinator for the Assemblies of God in Springfield, Mo.
“The Gospels tell us that God has provided not only for the lilies of the field, but for people as well (Luke 12:27-31; Matthew 6:28-33) We are the special objects of His attention, and in His great design we find provision for many of our physical needs.”
“Sowing Seeds of Faith,” Tara Sirvent as told to Christina Quick
Today’s Pentecostal Evangel, September 9, 2007
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