“It felt like somebody stabbing needles into the muscles, almost being hit constantly with a baseball bat. It was just pure torture,” Paul York explained. Paul was used to dealing with pain. It started in 2017 with bursitis in his right hip and arthritis in both knees.
“The pain in the knees was excruciating,” Paul said. “The stiffness, soreness, the popping and having trouble walking. Sitting for long periods of time. It just was horrible. The pain in my right hip was the worst pain sensation that I’ve had in my lifetime.”
Paul says his doctor told him he didn’t need a hip or knee replacement and all he could do was manage the pain with medication, cortisone shots, and physical therapy. “If I got any relief at all, it was temporary. The pain would come back shortly…nothing worked,” Paul revealed. “I would wake up two or three times a night and have to just get up and go walk around.”
He also worried that the pain would keep him from doing volunteer work. “I help out at several food pantries…pick up donations from major retailers,” he said. “And it was hard to get that stuff together for the churches that I service. It was a hopeless feeling thinking that I might not be able to ever get back into the food distribution that I truly love.”
Paul continued, “It saddened me to know that I’ve got all these wonderful people out there that need food assistance and I would not be able to keep up my part. But I continued to pray to the Lord and ask Him, ‘Lord, please take this pain away from me.’ I was desperate.”
In 2023, Paul made plans to drive from Virginia to Georgia to visit family at the end of March. Having dealt with the pain for six years, he dreaded the nine-hour drive.
“The week before my trip to Atlanta, I was nervous and anxious. I probably would be stopping at every place I could just to get out and exercise my leg,” Paul explained. “My hip hurt so bad; it was almost bringing tears to my eyes. I just didn’t know what to do.”
Two days before the trip, Paul couldn’t sleep, so early in the morning, he started flipping through the channels. He stopped when he got to The 700 Club. Gordon was praying for viewers.
Gordon prayed, “Jesus, say His name, say it out loud, Jesus, I know that you are my healer. I lay a hand right now on that area of the body that needs healing. I say out loud over myself, over the loved one I’m praying for, I say out loud, be healed and be made whole by the power of the stripes of Jesus Christ, I am healed now and I receive it in His name.”
Paul exclaimed, “So I grabbed my right hip and I claimed that healing in the name of our Lord,” Paul shared. “Just like you turn a light switch on and off, I felt the pain just leave and go. I could turn on my right side and not feel a bit of pain in the hip whatsoever. And I knew then that the Lord had healed me.”
Paul says he made the trip to Georgia and back with no pain! “I felt so happy that if I could do cartwheels for my age, I would have done them to glorify the Lord and thank Him,” he said.
And Paul hasn’t had any issues with his hip or knees since. Now, he’s able to enjoy the activities he loves as he continues to serve his community.
“I’ve been able to work harder in supplying the churches. I’m getting more done now around the house. I’m not tied to the bed or my favorite recliner,” Paul noted. “The Lord has opened up my life graciously. On numerous occasions, I would just stop and tell the Lord, ‘Thank you, thank you Father for my healing.’”