Contractor Set Free from Panic

Although I’ve always had mild hemorrhoids, during the Christmas they flared up to a point where the pain was indescribable. Time to see a doctor and find out what’s going on. It was decided that I needed to talk to a surgeon right after the holidays and so I did with the verdict being surgery for me in the near future.Now I needed to tell you all this because although I’m a painting contractor and consider myself a pretty tough guy, the thought of surgery scared me to death. And the closer I got to that time, the worse my anxiety and fear level got.

The morning of the surgery was so bad for me that I had to have my oldest sister, an R.N., accompany me and my wife to the hospital as the surgeon wasn’t sure exactly what she’d find once she got to where she was going. I was so freaked out by the time they walked me down to the OR it took 2 attendants, one on each elbow, to escort me into the OR as I was crying uncontrollably and could barely stand up and walk, with me sobbing and pleading, “Please don’t make me do this” like a little child in the throws of terror.

Well, the good news was the surgery was a success, but not to my liking, as it turned out to be something quite different than what I had expected, and the recovery was extremely painful and took several months for my body to return to a semi-normal state. All the while every doctor I had contact with strongly urged me to “talk to somebody about my fear problem.” Even my sister, who is a psychiatric nurse told me point blank, “You need help.”

So this brings me to my testimony of a glorious deliverance I have received through Freedom Encounters. I have to admit even though I’ve known Carol for many years and have been a born again Christian for decades, I was more than a little skeptical as to whether or not “this would really work,” as I had already been through a deliverance ministry a year prior with mixed results at best. I had also been to the Healing Rooms at our church multiple times for healing/fear and had gone to receive prayer after church services on numerous occasions, particularly when they offered prayer for healing.

Words cannot begin to describe the miraculous change that took place immediately after just one, 2-3 hour session with Carol. By the time I did a follow-up session a week later, I was feeling like a new man in Christ. Many old thought patterns and fears had seemingly melted away.

Of course, the real test came a week later as I had a routine colonoscopy scheduled which had been delayed for several months. Gone were the old mindsets and fears that had so powerfully gripped my mind and emotions in the past. The day of the colonoscopy, when it was time to insert the IV, old thought patterns immediately began to manifest and fear began to grip me again, but I refused to let the devil have his way, and when the nurse was about to give up the idea of starting the IV line, I firmly said “No,” cast down vain imaginations, and told her to go ahead.

A few moments after the IV was all set, my surgeon came in to speak with me for a few moments and had an absolute look of surprise on her face and said to me, “They started the IV line?” I said “Yes” with a smile. After a few moments of discussion, she excused herself and said they would bring me down in a few minutes for the procedure, and motioned the IV nurse to come out into the hallway. With the door partially open, I could hear my surgeon’s low voice ask the IV nurse, “I can’t believe he let you do that. Was he much trouble?” to which she replied, “No, not really.” I then heard my surgeon reply, “I’m really surprised he let you do that.”

When they walked me down to the procedure room a few minutes later, I walked in head held high with a smile on my face and said a great big hi to my surgeon who looked utterly surprised to see the miraculous change that had taken place. She motioned for me to come over and sit on the procedure table to which I replied, “No problem,” still smiling, and as they laid me down she asked again, “Are you sure you’re okay?” and with a smile on my face, I replied “I’m doing fine.” Within minutes I was comfortably asleep and woke up in recovery with the good news that all had gone well.

Since then, I have had to have a couple of blood draws to check some levels in my blood and am happy to report that unlike previous experiences, there was no crying, hyperventilating, and hysteria that used to be part of my past.

In closing, I thank God for all the hard work and training that Carol has received through the ministry of the Thornbergs and Freedom Encounters that has launched her ministry in a new direction and am living proof that this new direction really does work. Praise God!!

In Christ,
M. C., Connecticut