Last year, two miracles happened to me from one anointing (see James 5:14-15 and Mark 6:13 for more on anointing in the Bible). Before the anointing, I wrestled about doing it. I rationalized that since I wasn’t dying from an incurable sickness, should I really ask my pastor about getting anointed? For years, I had wrestled with this question. I desired to be healed permanently from type 1 diabetes, but I hadn’t been willing to go beyond just praying to God about this. I hesitated to ask my pastor about being anointed even after hearing an excellent sermon about how “It’s always okay to do an anointing and ask God to heal you.” Finally, I surrendered my pride and asked my pastor if he would do an anointing for me. As I began preparing for this special occasion, my heart was heavy with the weight from the past two years.
Two years before the anointing, my life as a type 1 diabetic catapulted out of control. I had been a diabetic for more than 25 years and had always kept very tight control of my blood sugar levels. The doses I gave were very calculated and had proven trustworthy for my body for many years. The following two events were very uncharacteristic of everything I had experienced in my diabetic journey.
It was the spring of 2020, and I was prayerfully following God’s lead to start Time to Get Ready Ministries when the following events took place. The first event was the amount of insulin I needed to take before I went to bed had amazingly decreased in the winter of 2020 from 18 units daily to 14 units daily (due to two extended water fasts I had done), and then all of a sudden, I started to need 18 units again. Secondly, at the same time when my nighttime units of insulin went back to 18 units, my blood sugar readings started spiking out of control for no reason. For example, my blood sugar would increase from 100 to 250, even though I had just exercised and given myself the same amount of insulin (10 units, always less because of exercise) as I had previously done when I exercised and my blood sugar levels would stay around 100. These abnormal blood sugar spikes would continue for three to five days and then disappear. However, these anomalous sugar readings would occur repeatedly, with no rhyme or reason. They would happen while I was relaxing on vacation or in the middle of the work week—it didn’t matter what I was doing, they kept reappearing, again and again. Sometimes, there were two or three weeks between abnormal sugar spikes, and other times, one or two months. I got very discouraged as I could no longer rely on my past years of experience in dosage amounts. It was as though I was calculating blindly as there was no pattern or explanation for the huge blood sugar swings.
After the first episode of abnormal blood sugar spikes, I went to my wife and she said, “You should go see a doctor.” (This was sound advice.)
Why Is This Happening to Me?
I responded, “I believe I am going through a Job experience (see Job 1-2). There is no other explanation for these wildly high blood sugar readings when everything else is constant with what I’ve done in the past and not had abnormal sugar spikes like this.”
After the second episode of abnormal blood sugar spikes, I got upset, went for a walk to talk with God, and cried out, “Why is this happening to me? You asked me to start an online magazine, and now this. Why? Please take this away from me. Please!” I kept talking and talking, and finally, I stopped and listened. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, “Let go and let God lead you. Let Him have full control of everything in your life. Yes, even your diabetes.” I felt some peace but still struggled because I had “lost control” of my diabetes with these unexplainable blood sugar spikes.
I resisted for a while, but after 18 months of experiencing these abnormal blood sugar spikes, I finally talked to a Christian doctor. After sharing my experiences from the last year and a half, the physician provided a few medical possibilities but explained that it was hard to know what was causing my abnormal blood sugar spikes. Then, at the end of our conversation, the medical doctor said, “Tony, I can relate to your experience because I’ve gone through my own Job experience as well.”
After two years of experiencing abnormal blood sugar readings, I was ready to be anointed and ask God for permanent healing from type 1 diabetes. My wife and I went to our church and met with our pastor and elders. Before the anointing, the pastor prayed, and I prayed. The pastor asked me, “Is there anything you need to make right between you and God or between you and others before we proceed?”
The Holy Spirit convicted me of something I needed to make right with my wife, and I took a moment to privately confide to her about a prior wrong that I wanted to make right. I sincerely asked for her forgiveness. We reconciled, and God continued to work.
Two Miracles
We reunited with the elders and pastor—he prayed and anointed my head with oil and asked God to heal me from my type 1 diabetic incurable (in man’s eyes) sickness. I moved forward in faith and ate lunch with no insulin.
Three hours later, after the anointing, and believing with all my heart that healing from diabetes would take place, my blood sugar readings went high, and I cried out to God, “Why didn’t you heal me? Why?”
To my surprise, instead of being healed, this time, from type 1 diabetes, God performed two miracles instead of one. The first miracle happened within one week. I sensed God had removed the “Job Experience” from me, and I cried with joy! It’s been one and a half years since getting anointed, and I have not had one abnormal blood sugar episode. Praise the Lord! The second miracle happened three months after the anointing. My blood sugar readings started getting low throughout the day, with no other changes to my diet or exercise routine. I lowered my bedtime insulin from 18 units to 17 units, to 16 units, to 15 units, and finally to 14 units. God “gave me back” (just like what He did with Job) what I had prior to the Job experience—I was once again taking 14 units of bedtime insulin. Praise the Lord!
Call to Action
Miracles still happen today, but I don’t think they happen as often as possible because we don’t take the time to ask God for help. He wants to heal us, first and foremost spiritually, but also physically as well. Jesus has a lot of compassion for those who are sick. During certain times, when the sick came to Jesus, he healed every single person from their disease (Luke 6:19).
Do you want to be spiritually well and be free from the sicknesses of sin: pride, selfishness, anger, lust, or other idols in your life?
Ask God to free you from every chain of sin—and He will make you free (John 8:36).
Do you suffer from any incurable physical ailments? It’s always okay to ask God to free you from these too. I would encourage you to ask God and see what He does for you. You never know; He might also have a “two miracles in one” surprise for you.
“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you”
Jeremiah 32:17 (ESV)
