My Story: Healing
Written by a member of king's community church
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good
to accomplish what is now being done…”
Genesis 50:20
This summer (July 2025), I experienced physical healing that has brought a 15-year journey to an end. This is my testimony; not just of an amazing physical healing but of the goodness of God throughout it all.
For a bit of background/context, I was always an active child. I grew up playing sports and mainly football. My childhood years were spent playing football competitively which continued into my teenage years. Being sporty was a huge part of my identity and where I felt at home. In 2010, when I was 15, I sustained an injury which brought my football and playing of all other sport to an abrupt holt. I dislocated my right knee and needed reconstructive surgery. I spent a number of months on crutches with a full leg brace before having the surgery. A further year was spent recovering so I could eventually return to the sport I loved. Sadly, this was short lived, as shortly after returning to playing, I dislocated my left knee during trials for college and a scholarship programme. I was 16 years old and facing more surgery. I continued to play for my local team and became used to regular knee dislocations as part of daily life.
The next 10 years would see me undergo numerous surgeries on my left knee. I had reconstructions, artificial ligaments, screw tightening, and keyhole surgeries only to experience less than 12 months post-surgery more pain, more discomfort, failed procedures and being back on a hospital waitlist to try again. This was a pattern that continued until I decided following surgery in 2020 that I could not do it again. I made the decision to live with daily aches and pains. I was just happy that I would still walk and grateful for what God had done in my life.
The reason I share this background is that I always felt that God had healed me – not physically but mentally and emotionally. My testimony was one of how God worked for good and I would go through it all again to know Him and have the relationship with Christ I have now.
My injuries at 15 saw my world change overnight. Age 16, I was no longer going to college to study PE, or get a scholarship to an American university. Age 18, I wasn’t going to university to become a physio or play sport competitively. Instead, God took me on a path that led me into youth work which I have done for the last 10 years and thoroughly enjoy.
Throughout my 20s, I really struggled with my mental health, my worth and my identity. Every time I picked myself up, I had another blow as more surgery was needed. However, in all of this, God remained faithful and steadfast. I still had periods of struggle yet my identity became Him and, looking back, I can see how He carried me through.
This made all the prayers not yet answered bearable. I didn’t mind not being physically healed because God was still working. I would tell myself, ‘I’m ok,’ every time my youth group prayed for physical healing in my knee and it didn’t happen. I would disengage when we had “healing services” at Newday or church. I told myself that it’s not that God can’t do it or won’t do it but it’s not for me.
All this changed at Newday this year. One evening, there was a call to pray for healing. I stood among our youth group and partly disengaged. I went into observer mode and quietly prayed for those who were being prayed for. I was looking around the room when I felt a warm sensation in my left knee. I had woken that morning to discomfort and a very swollen left knee which wasn’t unusual for me at Newday. It was part of daily life for me so I just carried on. I was stood completely alone, no one was praying for me, and I wasn’t even praying for myself. I became aware that I couldn’t actually feel my left leg; a feeling I could only describe as though a rusty, squeaky hinge had been oiled. I left the tent to “use the restroom” – reality: to check the swelling as something had changed. For another reason, I ended up running there. The swelling had gone!!!! It was only on my return to the main tent that I realised I had run and not felt any pain or discomfort!!! This had not been the case for as long as I could remember.
Since this day, I have been overjoyed in living in the freedom of a healed and fully functioning knee. I have been able to jump and kneel in worship. I have run a few 5ks and been able to rejoin the gym. I have driven long distances and sat in stop/start heavy traffic with no issues. This may seem small but, prior to healing, I would be holding back tears of pain doing long periods of using clutch control. I simply couldn’t do things like kneeling or running more than 100 yards.
Turns out, I was right when I told myself that it wasn’t that God couldn’t physically heal me or that He wouldn’t. But, I was wrong with my thought that physical healing wasn’t for me. After 15 years, it turns out that God was saying to me….‘now, this is the time!!’
What an amazing God we serve! I look back over the journey with my knees and I’m so thankful to God for what He has done in my life! He took what the enemy meant for evil and he turned it to good. Praise be to Him!!!
to accomplish what is now being done…”
Genesis 50:20
This summer (July 2025), I experienced physical healing that has brought a 15-year journey to an end. This is my testimony; not just of an amazing physical healing but of the goodness of God throughout it all.
For a bit of background/context, I was always an active child. I grew up playing sports and mainly football. My childhood years were spent playing football competitively which continued into my teenage years. Being sporty was a huge part of my identity and where I felt at home. In 2010, when I was 15, I sustained an injury which brought my football and playing of all other sport to an abrupt holt. I dislocated my right knee and needed reconstructive surgery. I spent a number of months on crutches with a full leg brace before having the surgery. A further year was spent recovering so I could eventually return to the sport I loved. Sadly, this was short lived, as shortly after returning to playing, I dislocated my left knee during trials for college and a scholarship programme. I was 16 years old and facing more surgery. I continued to play for my local team and became used to regular knee dislocations as part of daily life.
The next 10 years would see me undergo numerous surgeries on my left knee. I had reconstructions, artificial ligaments, screw tightening, and keyhole surgeries only to experience less than 12 months post-surgery more pain, more discomfort, failed procedures and being back on a hospital waitlist to try again. This was a pattern that continued until I decided following surgery in 2020 that I could not do it again. I made the decision to live with daily aches and pains. I was just happy that I would still walk and grateful for what God had done in my life.
The reason I share this background is that I always felt that God had healed me – not physically but mentally and emotionally. My testimony was one of how God worked for good and I would go through it all again to know Him and have the relationship with Christ I have now.
My injuries at 15 saw my world change overnight. Age 16, I was no longer going to college to study PE, or get a scholarship to an American university. Age 18, I wasn’t going to university to become a physio or play sport competitively. Instead, God took me on a path that led me into youth work which I have done for the last 10 years and thoroughly enjoy.
Throughout my 20s, I really struggled with my mental health, my worth and my identity. Every time I picked myself up, I had another blow as more surgery was needed. However, in all of this, God remained faithful and steadfast. I still had periods of struggle yet my identity became Him and, looking back, I can see how He carried me through.
This made all the prayers not yet answered bearable. I didn’t mind not being physically healed because God was still working. I would tell myself, ‘I’m ok,’ every time my youth group prayed for physical healing in my knee and it didn’t happen. I would disengage when we had “healing services” at Newday or church. I told myself that it’s not that God can’t do it or won’t do it but it’s not for me.
All this changed at Newday this year. One evening, there was a call to pray for healing. I stood among our youth group and partly disengaged. I went into observer mode and quietly prayed for those who were being prayed for. I was looking around the room when I felt a warm sensation in my left knee. I had woken that morning to discomfort and a very swollen left knee which wasn’t unusual for me at Newday. It was part of daily life for me so I just carried on. I was stood completely alone, no one was praying for me, and I wasn’t even praying for myself. I became aware that I couldn’t actually feel my left leg; a feeling I could only describe as though a rusty, squeaky hinge had been oiled. I left the tent to “use the restroom” – reality: to check the swelling as something had changed. For another reason, I ended up running there. The swelling had gone!!!! It was only on my return to the main tent that I realised I had run and not felt any pain or discomfort!!! This had not been the case for as long as I could remember.
Since this day, I have been overjoyed in living in the freedom of a healed and fully functioning knee. I have been able to jump and kneel in worship. I have run a few 5ks and been able to rejoin the gym. I have driven long distances and sat in stop/start heavy traffic with no issues. This may seem small but, prior to healing, I would be holding back tears of pain doing long periods of using clutch control. I simply couldn’t do things like kneeling or running more than 100 yards.
Turns out, I was right when I told myself that it wasn’t that God couldn’t physically heal me or that He wouldn’t. But, I was wrong with my thought that physical healing wasn’t for me. After 15 years, it turns out that God was saying to me….‘now, this is the time!!’
What an amazing God we serve! I look back over the journey with my knees and I’m so thankful to God for what He has done in my life! He took what the enemy meant for evil and he turned it to good. Praise be to Him!!!