Since 8th grade I have struggled with anxiety and OCD. I go through phases of what I obsess about, and one that has stuck around since last year is germ phobia. I was scared to touch certain things and obsessively washed my hands. It has been almost heightened on this trip since I can’t wash my hands and am rewearing dirty clothes.
The other night during worship, Alex said to lift up anything you’ve been holding onto. I started just begging the Lord to take away my fear. “This fear is not You and if it’s not You I don’t want it” Just repeatedly asking the Lord to take away my fear. I was crying and just asking the Lord to take it away.
Then I started praying “please send someone over to tell me something specific to let me know You will heal me, maybe not now or tomorrow but eventually” no one came over.
So, I prayed “give me a verse to let me know You will heal me”. I started listening and heard “Colossians 4:14” which reads “Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, ‘See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.’ I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.”
I was fairly absent about my faith until about 2 summers ago, so I still don’t know much about the bible. I don’t know what Colossians is about, but those verses told me that I would be healed. I took it as Luke the physician greets me, and they want me to fulfill the ministry that I have come here to do. The Lord hadn’t sent someone in the room to come tell me that I was going to be healed, He sent Paul. With Paul came grace. I looked it up at the time. A weight was brought off my chest. I was crying and just thanking God over and over again because I had been told that I would be healed. I shared this testimony with the team almost right after and they prayed over me. It was freeing. Since then, I still do some of my tendencies but I feel like they’remore out of habit than fear. I am healing, and it is all because of the Lord.
Love,
Reese Pittard
