The muscles in her feet were withdrawn. Only the toes on her left foot enabled her to push the walker on wheels. The contraption basically moved itself, allowing Patty to rest her right leg on the seat. Often, cramps would set in, rendering her feet totally useless.
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I was on my way out of the church when a teenage girl asked me to come down to the altar. “A lady needs prayer,” she said with concern. A small crowd had already gathered around the young woman seated in her wheelchair who seemed nervous and fidgety. It seemed, at least to me, that Patty Juarez was suffering from as much emotional pain as she was physical.
Without prompting, through tears, Patty told us that she had aborted a baby years before and wondered if God would ever forgive her. A rag of shame was choking any hopes Mrs. Juarez had of receiving God’s love. We were so glad she had come to church that morning. Despite any shortcomings the modern day church might have, it’s still the best place to be, especially in these difficult days in which we live. (Hebrews 10:25)
We assured Patty that God was more than willing to forgive her for any and every sin she had ever committed. No matter how great the sin and failure, God‘s love is greater still. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, just as the Bible says. Salvation and forgiveness are available to every person, no matter how sin stained our past. The requirement is that we come with repentant hearts, and Patty seemed genuinely sorry for the things she had done.When asked if she had ever accepted Jesus before, she told us there were times when she had wanted to give her life to the Lord but felt too unworthy. She had convinced herself that Jesus wanted nothing to do with her. Pitifully, she had attempted to bear her own burdens.
But on this brisk November morning, Patty prayed the sinners prayer and Jesus Christ took immediate residence. In the weeks that followed a beautiful young woman emerged with a contagious joy. God gave Patty beauty for her ashes.
Patty and her husband Albert soon joined our home church and a host of people began praying for them. Zella Warren continued to meet privately with Patty for prayer and deliverance. Week by week progress was made, but Patty still had serious physical problems. Her body would often shake uncontrollably. Her speech was difficult to understand because her mouth would often go numb. Her legs and feet were practically useless, little more than dead limbs attached to her body. Patty told us of the sharp, stabbing pain she often endured causing physicians to surgically place a morphine pack inside her lower abdomen. The pain was so intense that she was placed under psychiatric care for pain control. If that wasn’t, enough she was told there was no cure for her neurological disease, RSD. Patty was sentenced to a wheelchair, told that she would never be able to walk and would live off of prescription pain killers. No matter how great the pain, Patty was faithful to attend church.During praise and worship, I couldn’t help but notice that while we were standing on healthy feet, Patty was on her knees with her hands lifted up to heaven, singing songs of praise. During the altar service, Patty would crawl down to the front of the church. She was like a child with an unquenchable hunger for God, reminding me of the woman in the Bible with the issue of blood - determined to reach Jesus even if she had to humiliate herself before the crowds.
* * * * * * * * * *In the months that followed, the Lord laid it on my heart to have a ladies retreat in May of 2005. Patty wasted no time in signing up. We were praying for miracles, but not once did it enter my mind that Patty Juarez might be healed.
Every service during that May weekend seemed to be sealed with a kiss from God. Women were saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, delivered from demonic oppression, and some even experienced physical healing. Patty was noticeably touched but far from healed.
I’m now told that throughout Saturday night Patty could be heard down the halls of the inn praying in her room. In the early morning hours Patty said the Lord spoke to her, saying He was going to do something special for her that day.
After breakfast, I found Patty standing alone on the sidewalk without a walker or wheelchair. With concern I asked her what she was doing. “I’m walking, do you want to walk with me?” she asked softly. It seemed she was using every ounce of strength she could muster to make her trembling body take a step. It was all she could do to lift her foot off of the ground and I wondered why she even bothered.“I’m not shaking,” she said, trying to concentrate. “The Lord told me I wasn’t going to shake anymore. Praise you Jesus” she whispered repeatedly. Finally she lifted one foot off of the ground and clumsily put it down again. Ahead of us was the road that led to the conference room. It would have taken only 2 or 3 few minutes for the average person to walk the distance but for Patty it would take at least an hour, if she made it at all. It was amazing that the limbs she had not been able to use were offering at least some assistance, but I knew Patty didn’t want to go home with a partial healing. She was trusting God for a miracle. Patty asked me if I saw the three angels at the top of the hill. I looked where she was pointing but saw nothing more than a winding road. Minutes later several ladies relieved me so I could prepare for the morning service.
An hour later, Patty came through the doors of the conference room surrounded by those caring women who took the time to help her make it up the hill. We applauded as she walked through the door just in time for the morning service. Noticeably exhausted, Patty sat down beside me just as the Sunday morning session was about to begin. “If you guys were really my friends you would throw my wheel chair away,” Patty whispered to me. “The Lord told me I’m never going to use that wheelchair again” she continued. I smiled and nodded politely as if trying to console a child. “I know you ladies are just being nice,” she persisted, “but I’m serious. If you were really my friends, you would throw that chair away.” I’m seldom at a loss for words, but I honestly didn’t know what to say.
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The morning service -- the final service -- was coming to an end. After communion, Montry Thompson opened her Bible and read the story of how Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. There is no better way to heal a relationship, to ask for forgiveness, or to simply demonstrate God’s love than to wash a person‘s feet. Many tears were shed that morning as we ministered God’s love to each other.
Zella felt led to wash Patty’s feet. On bended knee, my 72 year old friend put Patty’s feet in the cool water. We were not totally surprised to hear Patty scream out in pain. We had all grown accustomed to hearing those outbursts from Patty as she often suffered intense pain.
It just happened that Manny Lopes, co-founder of the Potters House of Lake Placid, Florida was visiting with us in that morning service. When he heard Patty’s screams Manny went to see what was wrong. “Patty has been crippled for 11 years,” Zella told Mr. Lopes. Patty, trying to catch her breath, explained that her feet felt as if they were on fire.
There was absolutely no logic in what Manny did next. Pure faith went to work as he asked Patty to stand. Taking Patty by the hands he asked her to walk to him. Patty’s legs gave way and she fell back into her chair. Manny helped her a second time and then told Patty to walk to him again.
Mr. Lopes backed away slowly. We stood to our feet to see what was happening. Patty Juarez started walking and then trotting around the conference room. She grabbed my hand asking me to run with her. We were trying to grasp the reality of what had just happened. No one was holding Patty, and there was no walker or wheelchair. She wasn’t being helped as before. Patty Juarez was healed. Those crippled feet were not longer crippled. I turned just in time to see my husband fall to his knees, with tears running down his face praising God.I thought of the words Patty had whispered to me less than an hour before. “If you ladies were really my friends you would throw my wheel chair away, Jesus said I’m never going to need it again.” I remembered hearing of how Patty had not slept the night before but prayed out loud in her room all night long asking God to heal her. The angels she said she saw earlier that morning. Her faith, and her determination to pursue God above all else. Patty Juarez was an example to us all. She simply believed God.
After lunch we stood with tears running down our cheeks as Patty’s husband, Albert Juarez came to pick up his wife. “Where is Patty?” he asked. We were too speechless to tell him what had happened. Then Patty stepped out from behind the corner of the room and walked to meet her husband for the first time in many years. There are no words to describe the emotion, the joy, the power that we witnessed when Jesus met us and healed our dear friend Patty Juarez.
Patty has been walking every day since. The uncontrollable shaking has stopped. The swelling and discoloration in her feet dissipated and the numbness in her face, feet and legs have left. Albert says God has given him a brand new wife. Now even the doctors are confirming what we already know. This progress note was offered by Bay Pines Veterans Hospital in July 2005. “At her last visit in May 2005 [days after the retreat] however there had been significant change in Mrs. Juarez’s health. She was now walking by herself to her appointments; she had stopped using her pain medication. In addition, her mood has significantly improved, she was more talkative and physically active. In comparison to her initial visit, there was a dramatic improvement both in her health status and her well being.”These pictures tell the story. I wish you could have been there. To view the pictures, please click HERE.
Patty’s greatest hope is that through her testimony you will turn to the same God that healed her body. The same God who forgave her sins. Don’t let anyone deceive you. Jesus is still the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the father but by Him. Praise his name forever!
Please
write to
Patty and Albert Juarez
304 North Florida Ave.
Wauchula, Florida 33873
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Special
thanks to Jan Jackson's’ Photography
For capturing some of these touching moments on film.
863-773-6826
863-245-1828
