Stanley's Testimony - including story of his child raised from the dead, his healing and more

A testimony of God’s Faithfulness
and the Truthfulness of His Word

My life is a testimony of God’s faithfulness and the integrity of His word. I live with my wife Judy and two children Caroline (13) and Dennis (3 ½) in Bangalore, India. To make a living, I work for as an HR Manager for a Government owned Power Company. I consider my secular job as a part-time assignment, because I believe that my full time assignment is to proclaim the goodness of God, His faithfulness and His love & compassion..

I have come to know this great God more intimately through various struggles and trials that I have gone through in my life. In 1995, I developed a serious knee problem after being hit with a cricket ball. Though doctors did their best to treat me, my condition only became worse by the day. In 2003, one of the eminent orthopedic doctors of Bangalore suggested that I undergo an arthroscopy to diagnose the exact cause of the excruciating pain I was having. After the procedure, the doctor did not find anything unusual with my knee and declared me normal. But not only did the pain become unbearable, but my knee joint started to become stiff and bent which in medical parlance is called flexion deformity. Since this doctor appeared to be clueless, I went to another reputed doctor in Bangalore. He for some strange reasons referred me to a pain and palliative doctor who diagnosed my case as a case of “Sympathetic Nerve Syndrome”, which required me to undergo a nerve block. But as a part of the process, when he administered a spinal anesthetic to me, I developed a severe headache due to leak of the spinal fluid. My condition became so miserable that for a week I was forced to lie flat on the bed because the moment I attempted to get up, shooting pain in my head would force me down to the bed. Now, not only did I have to contend with severe knee pain, but also with this shooting pain in the head. In God’s utmost mercy, we were forced to abort the plan for nerve block, courtesy complications. We were only to realize later as to how much disastrous it would have been had we gone ahead with this procedure. Pain is an outward symptom of an inner problem and if it were to be taken out of the way, my case would have been that of a latent volcano with its magma eating into the inner most parts of the earth and suddenly bursting forth from a weak spot in the surface causing untold misery to the unsuspecting. I do believe that as God’s children, He is in control of all situations in our life and beyond a point He wouldn’t allow certain things to happen in our life.

During the course of hospitalization for this purpose, I was seen by a Rheumatologist who suggested the possibility of arthritis. This prompted me to consult a Rheumatologist after my discharge. He opined that my case appears to be that of arthritis and immediately put me on immunosuppressant drugs which are normally dispensed for such cases. Thus, began a 7 month-period of mindless experiments at the hands of various rheumatologists. My condition improved in the beginning only to become worse as the treatment progressed. I was also given steroid injections on the knees which virtually made me into a cripple.

Having exhausted all the medical options available, I was left with no hope and I had more or less resigned to a life of pain and disability. During that period of 6 months I forgot what it meant to sleep and rest. My condition became so miserable that I could not walk or do any work both in the house and at work. My future and especially that of my family started to look very dark and bleak to me. My mind was overwhelmed by all kinds of negative and depressing thoughts. Though I knew Jesus Christ personally from my teens, I did not understand the real meaning of His being my redeemer and healer, and my ever present help in trouble.

But when I slowly began to lean on God and His Word, I began to experience an inner comfort and assurance which the world had hitherto failed to give me. In the midst of hopelessness, God’s word began to stir in me a new level of faith and confidence. Though the doctors and all the technology available to them failed to diagnose my case, I knew that the Word of God would bring to light what is hidden for it says in Hebrew 4:12-“…the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates into the dividing of the soul and spirit, the joints and the marrows….”. I realized that I can depend on Lord Jesus Christ to not only pull me out of this situation but he would carry me along because He sustains all things through His Word.(Hebrew 1:3) I also understood the irrefutability and certainty of God’s Word and His promises. Bible says that “Heaven and earth will pass away but my Word will never pass away.”(Mathew 24:35). God watches over His Word to see that it is fulfilled (Jeremiah 1:12). His Word is eternal and settled in the Heavens (Psalms 119:89). All this and many more scriptures convinced me that I can trust in His Word to deliver me from this crisis for all His promises are ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ in Christ. (2 Cor 1:20).

Though I continued to face severe pain and an uncertain future, things started to happen in the spiritual realm which was yet to manifest in physical realm. God’s Word and His promises began to instill in me a new hope, confidence and strength. I could confess that in quietness and confidence is my strength, (Isaiah 30:15). I began to boldly declare Psalm 16: 8-11 –

“..I have set the Lord always before me,
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
My body also will rest secure,
Because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your holy one see decay.
You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

By August 2005 doctors began to suspect either malignancy or another dangerous condition called “villondular synovitis” for which there was actually no treatment except repeated knee surgeries. As a last ditch effort, the doctor wanted to perform an arthroscopy once again to do a biopsy of the bone and tissues surrounding my knees. I knew that the doctors wanted to do this to only confirm their suspicion. The severity and the intensity of pain only seemed to confirm their fears. Even the MRI scan leading to this procedure was done with great difficulty because the involuntary spasms of the muscles would shake the pictures. Since I could not keep my leg still for more than a minute they tried to take the MRI by giving me a local anesthesia. When that failed to calm me down, they even administered general anesthesia. Though I slept through the whole period, my knee kept on shivering, triggered by the spasms of the muscles in distress. When the doctors told me that there was no way that they could move ahead without doing this MRI, I cried out to the Lord to give me strength. I mustered courage once again and went to the MRI room committing myself into God’s hands and confessing that “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength”. (Philippians 4:13). God gave me supernatural strength to somehow sit through the procedure which lasted for about 30 minutes (without the aid of any calming drugs). After the MRI results came out, the doctor confirmed the need to do an arthroscopy to investigate further.

So here I was admitted to the hospital once again. All along I was a bit unsure as to whether I should really be undergoing all this medical treatment, when God had already promised to deliver and heal me. Shouldn’t I be trusting in Him and wait upon Him to do this miracle in His time instead of rushing and taking things in my own hands? More so when His word was confirmed to me that- “…. those who wait on the Lord, will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31). All kinds of doubts started to run through my mind because one thing I was sure of- that my God is going to heal me and I didn’t want any man to take credit of what God has done in His mercy. That was the time when this word came to me as a cloak of assurance-

“…See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed?
I will not yield my glory to another.” Isaiah 48:10-11

Having been assured that no man would take the glory for my impending healing and deliverance, I prepared myself for another round of arthroscopy. Just before I was to be taken to the operation theatre, one local pastor and a friend came to pray for me. While we were praying, the Holy Spirit came powerfully in the room and I could sense the healing hand of God descending on me. God showed this pastor a vision wherein I was standing in the starting block of a racing track about to take-off. The moment the whistle blew and I took off, something white and fluffy resembling snow flakes came out of my knees and I started to run with total freedom. It was as if something that had bound me in chains had broken off and I was now released to run in full steam. I knew that very moment that God had healed me. The moment pastor finished describing the vision to me; the stretcher came to take me to the operation theatre. In the normal circumstances, this procedure was to take 45 minutes to 1 hour. But by the time I was brought back to the room 6 hours had passed and when I came back to my senses, I asked those around me including the doctor who had operated upon me how the operation went and why it had taken so long. Then the doctor explained that as they cut open my knees, they were startled to see a thick layer of tissues, white in color, covering my entire knee joint. It was so thick and constricting that my knee structures like bones and ligaments were not visible. The doctors immediately decided to administer general anesthesia to me and for the next

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