Osteochondroma What?

It was bedtime and I was sitting on my bed, it was just like every night. My mom had just finished praying with me and was giving me a hug goodnight and then she noticed something out of the ordinary. I remember it like it was just yesterday, she began feeling my right arm and I could sense the feeling of worry. I was just a little girl around five and I began to worry too. There was a lump on my arm.

We went to the doctor and we were told I had a benign tumor, Osteochondroma. It was bone growing off the side of my humerus....it looked like a piece of cauliflower growing off of my arm. I was told not to worry and that when I was older they would take a look at it again.

I remember my parents having the elders praying for me back then. It was all a little hard to understand when I was little. To be honest, I didn't think much of it at all; I just knew I had a lump on my arm.

It was just around Junior High that they wanted to take some more X-rays. We went in and got the first set done and the tumor had grown; which I knew because if you touched it...it hurt. I remember when a boy at school was playfully teasing me and punched me in the arm....Ouch. I kind of talked firmly at him and told him about my tumor. I think I made him feel sad...sorry Rodney, you didn't know.

The next step was surgery; now that is when I got scared. I in no certain terms wanted to have surgery. They wanted to wait one more year before they made that finale decision. Whew...I had one more year to talk this over with Jesus! My parents had the people at church pray for me again. But I remember having a heart to heart with Jesus. I told Him how I felt about the whole thing and I remember telling Him I was scared. I then asked Him to heal my arm. I was in the car traveling down Telegraph road in the backseat of our car; listening to WMUZ....I knew He was listening to my prayer.

When we went to the doctor the following year, I remember the room and the feel of everything around me. My mom was with me and the doctor came whipping in and threw up the X-rays on the lighted board. He had last years and that day's....and then he began to say some things about how he didn't understand. He pointed to the X-rays and said here is last year's with the very large tumor on my upper arm and here is today's with the tumor completely 100% gone. He said he didn't understand how it could be...bone does not disappear! He turned to me and jokingly asked me if I had been eating my Wheaties. I replied very quickly, without hesitation, that Jesus healed me...I asked Him to and He did.

The most amazing thing about that day was yes God had healed me....but more importantly I knew that God heard me. He knew me. He cared about me. He loved me!

Ooooo, this story helps me remember God's goodness and helps me....