God Cares about Stinky Feet

Hi everyone! I Just wanted to share this awesome testimony of Gods healing at Calvary Temple. This is a healing testimony from Sarah Kain.

Foot pain has been a way of life for me since I was 14 years old. Bunions run in my genetics, my mom had them and passed on the unfortunate genetic trait to me. Some of you may be asking, “What in the world is a bunion??” – basically it’s when the joint of the big toe is enlarged and swollen and the big toe leans in toward the second toe. Bunions are progressive and continue to worsen the longer they are left untreated. Some bunions don’t cause discomfort until later in life, but mine have always caused me some degree of pain since I was a young teenager.

My parents offered to give me bunion corrective surgery when I was in high school. The surgery is done on one foot at a time and requires a recovery period of 6 months! Like most teenagers, I was shortsighted and turned down surgery because running and playing sports was more important to me at the moment than living pain-free and avoiding foot surgery in the future. I learned to deal with the pain and swelling of the big toe joints by limiting the amount of time I spent walking or running, learning to walk on the outside of my foot as to alleviate the movement of the big toe joint, going barefoot, or wearing flip flops as often as possible.

Once I reached my 20’s, the bunion pain seemed to get exacerbated more easily. I often thought about bunion surgery, but there always seemed to be too much going on for me to be “laid up” for a year. In the year following the delivery of my first child in April 2012, my bunions got worse than they had ever been before. The slightest amount of pressure on my bunions caused severe throbbing, and aching. Wearing socks, let alone shoes, was so painful that I opted for flip-flips as often as possible. Walking or jogging for more than one or two miles caused excruciating throbbing in my feet for hours and sometimes days following. Lying down to sleep at night was often when I noticed the pain and throbbing the most because there was nothing to take my mind off it. Even the touch of a bed sheet lying across my bunions felt like someone was Hulk-smashing them with Thor’s hammer. Many nights, I had to take anti-inflammatory medications just so I could sleep.

Searching for relief, I purchased foot splints and toe spacers that were designed to alleviate pressure and pain from the big toe joint. The splints and spacers helped to a small degree, but I knew that if God didn’t heal my bunions soon, bunion surgery would be inevitable. Every activity I involved myself in was now based on how long I would have to be on my feet, how much walking was involved, what kind of shoes I had to wear for it and taking into consideration the increased pain I would be in for days following the activity. I now had a home and young family to care for and a year recovery from surgery seemed more impossible now than ever.

After months of dealing with the ever-increasing pain, my husband decided it would be best for me to schedule a consultation with a podiatrist and have the surgery now rather than put it off any longer. At the surgical consultation, Dr. Popal informed me that there are 3 degrees of bunions: mild, moderate and severe – and the prospective degree determine the type of surgery needed. Upon examination of my bunions and feet x-rays, Dr. Popal told me I had severe bunions; which is rare for someone only 25 years old. The surgery to fix my bunions would involve removing the enlarged portion of the bone, cutting and realigning the bone with screws, and cutting and correcting the position of the tendons and ligaments. It would undoubtedly be at least a six-month recovery for each foot, but I planned on calling back to schedule the surgery within the next month.

As I drove home from the consultation, I was deeply convicted in my spirit that I should believe God to heal my bunions. Sure, we had prayed for them before, but the Lord truly convicted me to solely put my faith and trust in Him rather than leaning on modern medicine for answers. So without hesitation, I called Taylor and told him about what the doctor had said and also told him I was not going to do the surgery. I explained to Taylor how the Lord spoke to me and told me to trust Him for the healing of my bunions. A few weeks later while we were at church on a Sunday night, God’s presence was in the sanctuary in a very tangible way. Pastor Scott announced that the altar was available for anyone who was seeking God for healing in their body. Excited to see what God was going to do, I stepped forward in faith and began praying for the healing in my feet. Pastor Scott then came over and laid hands me, asking God for healing in my body.
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I don’t remember the exact day, but it was sometime in the weeks following that Sunday night, that I realized I hadn’t even thought about my feet in a while, because they weren’t in any pain. I remember being so excited, that I immediately laced up my sneakers and went for a jog. I was in utter disbelief that I had no pain! For the next few months, I jogged 3-6 miles multiple times a week and did things that would’ve exacerbated my bunions in the past to see if the pain would return. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe God couldn’t heal my bunions, but after living with daily foot pain for 11 years – it was a miracle to be pain free and I wanted to be sure it wasn’t coming back! It has now been two years since God healed my bunions and I am still in awe of the miracle He has done!

Gratitude and unworthiness swells in my heart when I recollect how many times God has brought physical, mental, and spiritual healing into my life. There was certainly nothing I did to deserve the healing of my bunions. “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion” (Psalms 103:2-4). He healed me because of His great love and compassion. He healed me because that’s who He is and what He has promised us. God has made healing available for our bodies, soul and mind through Jesus’ death on the cross. I love how Isaiah 53:4-5 explains what Jesus’ death on the cross means for us,

“Surely He has born our sicknesses, weaknesses and distresses, and carried our sorrows and pains; yet, we considered Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted by God. But he was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities…and with the stripes that wounded Him we are healed and made whole.”

Calvary Temple Church. Pastor Star R. Scott