About a month ago I experienced something that hasn't happened in a few years.  I woke up one Sunday morning with a weird sensation above my eye indicating that at some point during the day I would probably experience a migraine.  Being the stubborn person that I am I ignored the sensation because I didn't feel that I was in enough pain to warrant taking an Imitrex.  I went to church and tried drinking some coffee.  By the end of the service I was in pain, but the nausea wasn't kicking in just yet.  At this point I was contemplating taking some Imitrex, however I knew that if I could hold out just a little longer I may be able to go to one of the members of the prayer team after the service and have them pray for healing.

 I've never gone up after the service to be prayed over before even though there have been services I've sat through where I can tell I'm getting a migraine but the pain hasn't really hit yet so I was a little nervous.  I mean, what if nothing happens?  The only time I've experienced a dramatic healing of my migraines was when I was on a retreat and experienced such a bad migraine that I was bed-ridden.  At the time the doctors were concerned that the Imitrex was causing too many side effects so they told me to stop taking it.  My pastor and his wife were with me and got some people who had the gift of healing to pray over me.  I'm not sure how long it took, but I do know that at some point the migraine completely went away and I was up and acting like myself before I knew it - the change was remarkable!   Since then I've been waiting for a similar experience, or even better yet, to stop having migraines altogether and be completely healed.

I had gotten hopeful that that was what happened back in May/June when I went 31 days without a migraine.  That was the longest streak I'd been migraine free in almost ten years. Then I started going back to my "new" pattern of having @5 a month.  On the plus side it's a lot better than the 8-10 migraines a month that I used to experience.  Anyway, back to last month.  I wasn't sure what was going to happen when I waited in the sanctuary after the service.  Usually there are so many people waiting for prayer that it probably takes at least a half hour to be seen.  On this particular Sunday however attendance was on the low end (it was July 4th weekend) and it didn't take me long at all to find a woman I knew to pray for me.  As she was praying I could feel the pain leaving my head.  There was still that weird feeling over my eyes, but for the most part the migraine was gone.  I was able to eat lunch with friends and run errands after church.

Unfortunately by 8 or 9pm later that night the migraine came back full force.  By this time I was home and decided that before going to bed I should take some Imitrex.  However, when I went into my purse to get it the Imitrex was gone!  I had left it in my backpack when I had gone hiking a couple days before.  I never had any medicine with me at church or while I was out.

I'm not really sure why God heals my migraines in a more dramatic fashion at times than others.  Usually even if I'm praying for relief the pain gets so intense that I need some Imitrex sooner rather than later.  However, I do know for certain that whether it is with or without medicine, God is still my healer.  I don't know why He allows me to endure so many migraines, but I also know that through each one He is right beside me.

"Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us.  None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare."

Psalm 40:5