Healings and Hugs - Laura Klemm
I felt like God drop-kicked me into the last Elijah House® Training course 201. I was used to being the “stable one” (in retrospect, more like the repressed one), and I didn’t think I needed any help or healing. At least not until negative emotions started bubbling up at random times, and I couldn’t figure out why. Emotions? Tears? What do you even do with them? A man in my small group gave me a word that God wanted to heal my emotions, and I longed for that, but I didn’t know how.
That’s when I ran into a friend on the street who told me about Elijah House and suggested I talk to his wife for more details. A few weeks later, I found myself sitting in the first 201 session, excited but not sure what to expect. In the first lesson, we were supposed to ask God to reveal a memory of something that needed healing. I immediately got a memory of me as a little girl playing in a hospital waiting room.
I was confused. What did that have to do with anything? I was only five or six at the time, and nothing bad had happened to me. Why would I need healing because of that? During the group prayer session, God revealed why that memory was so important. When my little sister was so sick and my parents were preoccupied with taking care of her, I had decided that I couldn’t express my needs. All of their time and attention was needed elsewhere, so I felt like I couldn’t ask for anything.
Who knew that such a small decision would have such long-lasting effects? After praying through the memory, God showed me that my decision was the reason I was so uncomfortable with physical touch. I had vowed to not need hugs, and I unconsciously followed that vow for nearly thirty years! That explained why every time my sister wanted an extra long hug or my mom reached for my hand, I felt claustrophobic. The amazing thing was that after that one prayer session, my claustrophobic feeling was gone! The next day at work, I asked my huggiest coworkers for hugs, and I didn’t feel like pulling away! Hugs are…nice? Who knew?
That was just the start. When I was finally willing to slow down and let God in, he showed me other areas I had been ignoring. It’s not easy. Facing pain is not my idea of a good time, but the healing was worth it. Now after a few courses and many prayer sessions, I feel more relaxed, more whole, less anxious, and more myself than I ever have been. Yes, I did get a better handle on my emotions, but part of my healing was acknowledging that tears are not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe even a good thing.
My internal change has been significant, but a close second is what I learned in 201 about helping others in their struggles. The lessons were interesting, touching, and practical, and the practice sessions forced us to apply what we learned! Before 201, I had never even heard of prayer counselling, so it was pretty intimidating to lead someone in praying over their pain. But as a part of the course, everyone in the small group took turns leading the sessions. While it was scary and sometimes felt like we were just fumbling along, God showed up each and every time. If we got stuck or didn’t know what to do, we just asked for help from the group. Every week, we saw miracles happen.
I don’t know where you are now, if you are skeptical about this healing stuff or if you are desperate for help, but I do know that God will meet you when you call out to him. It is never a waste to ask God if there is something he wants to heal in you…or if he wants to use you to help someone else! So why don’t you ask him?
Elijah House® Prayer Ministry Schools: Training Course 201 will be running in July. Application process will take several weeks, so if you are interested please aim to submit your application as soon as possible.
Click here to sign up or find out more.
