In December 2017, I caught the flu and during that time I hurt my back. I couldn’t even lift the coffeepot. I was bedridden for about a month and a half. After that time, was fed up with having my daughter help me put my socks on, having my wife nurse me all day long… I was also fed up with God.

At our church, all we heard about was sin, damnation and what wretches we are. This did not bring me much, although I was seeking. I filled my time in bed by watching Netflix, not knowing it was eating away at my soul. The ‘Opwekking’* conference was taking place, and we watched it on TV for the first time when their Sunday evening service started. We were taught not to watch TV on Sundays and we usually never did, but this night we thought we’d listen to the sermon and then go to bed.

We knew nothing about supernatural healings or the ministry of Martin Koornstra. We were not used to seeing a preacher so excited and “hyped up”, yet his sermon touched us. That man spoke as if he actually knew what he was talking about. At the end of the service he prayed for people with physical and psychological ailments. As they started the healing ministry, it was said that there would be prayer for people with hernias. Martin encouraged the people watching from home to also put their hand on the place where it hurt. Jen said: “You should do that Gid, why not give it a try?” Though it was strange and new to us, we decided to pray with the people on TV. We both laid our hands on my sore back. But then, as the prayer was about to begin, we lost the live connection to the service. We looked at each other disappointed, thinking: ‘what if this could have actually worked??’ We tried everything to get the streaming back up again, and after ten minutes we managed to tune back in via the radio. However, the service had moved on, and so I went to the bathroom. As I got up from the couch, I noticed something was happening in my back. When I returned from using the bathroom, I told Jen I had a funny feeling in my lower back. All of the sudden, we heard Martin say: ‘God is telling me there is still someone out there with lower back pain or a hernia.’ He prayed: “Pain, leave, and back, be healed in Jesus’ name!” Right at that moment my entire body felt warm, I felt pins and needles all over my back and I a sweat on my brow. At the same time, I felt the pain and stiffness leave my body. Later that evening I could bend over and touch my toes, after 17 years of not being able to do so!!

We thanked God for this great miracle. The next morning He gave us a very special confirmation when our 2,5 year old son Jason climbed into bed with us and said: “Daddy’s back not ouwie.” I took these words to heart when at times the pain seemed to be coming back.

*Opwekking is a large annual festival in the Netherlands. The word ‘Opwekking’ means ‘Revival’ in Dutch.