Little nine-year-old Jaedyn, the granddaughter of Baptist Pastor Rickie Bradshaw in Houston, heard these words spoken audibly to her by the Lord Jesus at a November 2012 service in her grandfather’s church. She had been born with an incurable heart disease in which her heart did not contract or beat normally. When listened to through a stethoscope, it would sound like the galloping of a horse and raise her blood pressure abnormally high. She had little energy at school, and often her grandparents would have pick her up and drive her home from school because she was too tired to walk.
The first portion of the promise fulfilled
On Sunday afternoon, December 2, 2012 Pastor Rickie hosted a Tent Meeting in Houston’s Fifth Ward. He brought Jaedyn to receive her healing from the Lord. Because of her heart condition, her doctor had forbidden her from activities like running which would tax her weak heart and even cause her to faint or worse. We asked her if she believed that Jesus would heal her. She nodded in agreement. Then we led the disciples in laying hands on her heart, commanding it to be healed in the name of Jesus. Then we told her to run to a fence which was forty or fifty yards in the distance behind us.
At first Jaedyn hesitated, remembering what her doctor had told her. But a brother took her by the hand and encouraged her to start running. The two of them took off at a quick jog, reaching the fence in several seconds. They turned around and ran all the way back to us. We could see that Jaedyn was not out of breath, exhausted, or in any distress. In front of the people we asked her how she felt, and she said she felt fine. Jaedyn spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the event, feeling absolutely fine.
Subsequently…
Pastor Rickie wrote us on the following day, “Jaedyn is feeling real good. She did not get tired at school and she can’t wait to see the [transplant] doctors this Thursday.”
On the Saturday following Jaedyn’s appointment with her doctors, he wrote us again:
“I have great news. Jaedyn went to visit the transplant team of physicians at Texas Children’s Hospital on Thursday. They checked her heart for any sign of health problems. After two physicians looked for what they called the galloping sound of her heartbeat, which is common with this disease, they checked multiple times and they could not find the galloping sound. They were amazed and very surprised. The galloping sound in her heart is always supposed to be present until she has a new heart. Her blood pleasure was a surprise as well. They were expecting a three-digit read up and down but her pressure was normal. They are going to do an ultra sound to see what may be going on before we can declare a miracle. Of course we have no doubts that [she is healed].
…Since that day she has been as healthy as she has ever been. Prior to this, Jaedyn would become very tired after walking to class at school. Many times we would have to pick her up from school because she would be too exhausted. She went to school this week with no problems. This is amazing.
Two Wednesdays ago [before her miraculous healing], Jaedyn had an encounter with the Lord during Bible Study. He called her name audibly three times. She asked Him who was speaking to her. He told her that He was Jesus. He told her that He was going to heal her heart and He wanted to use her to speak on His behalf.
She preached to the church for 90 minutes nonstop. Her message was about His Church having a sick heart. She said that the Church has fake worship. The Lord told her to tell us that His Church worshipped Him to get a blessing from Him instead of worshipping Him because He is the blessing. He even told her to worship Him not because she needs a new heart but because He is her heart and when He heals her heart He will heal His Church’s heart. She shared with us at the Bible Study that her heart was a symbol of the condition of His Church’s heart. She spoke to us as He had spoken to her.
It was truly an amazing experience.”
A few days later on December 20, Pastor Rickie wrote us again about Jaedyn: “Today was a great day for her at school. One of the administrators at school commented that it’s becoming difficult to keep up with Jaedyn. She is so energetic.”
At her monthly appointment the following month in January 2013, Jaedyn underwent an ultrasound at Texas Children’s Hospital. Doctors found nothing wrong with her heart.
Will the Lord now keep His word to heal the heart of His Church in Houston?
The Lord is certainly faithful to perform what He has promised. Pastor Rickie is now organizing the Loving Houston Campaign for June 2013. At the direction of the mayor of Houston Anise Parker, the Campaign will reach out to four of the city’s neediest communities: Fifth Ward, Acres Homes, Sunnyside, and Independence Heights. The Campaign will bring trained disciples into these four very spiritually dark communities for prayer walks, to meet the felt physical needs of the local people with good works, and also to heal the sick there, to cast out demons, and to proclaim the kingdom of God.
As part of training and equipping the disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons for Loving Houston, The Elijah Challenge has been asked to conduct its Training in those four communities for participating disciples. First, however, there will be an meeting at Houston’s Second Baptist on February 25, 2013 where The Elijah Challenge and two other “power streams” will each give a one-hour introduction to their ministries for the disciples who will be ministering in Loving Houston.
Please pray for us.