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Thumb's Up to Answered Prayer

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“He's the best dog you could ever, ever want to have. Charlie's the best.” Loni says with a loving tone. 

Loni has always loved watching over her son's family dog, Charlie. But there was a time when he was a handful. Like that day nine years ago, when Loni took Charlie for a walk. 

“I took him out on his leash and he saw a rabbit and he just darted like a shot out of a shotgun and when he did that, I flew right off my feet and I hit the ground with my left knee that was somewhat injured already and my left thumb,” recalls Loni. “And my left thumb hurt worse than anything. It swelled real tight, real fast. It all happened real fast.” 

Loni Thought her thumb would eventually heal, but the pain persisted. 

She cringes slightly as she remembers the pain, “When I had my next doctor appointment, I asked him if he would look at it and he said, ‘Yes, you’re knuckle bends, so I don’t think it’s broken, but you’ve very badly injured your thumb and it’s jammed real bad. And it’s going to be painful for quite a while,’ he said, ‘the way it looks.’” 

Not just for a while, but for nine years Loni dealt with the pain. And she took over the counter meds to cope. 

As many tasks became and ordeal, Loni relied on her husband as well as family and friends. 

“It was bad all those years,” she says, “Strength was gone from my thumb completely. I could use my hand to help hold something and do the work with this hand,” she holds up her right hand continues, “undo jars or putting hose on…” she pauses, “I thought, ‘Well, I don’t guess there’s anything I can do. I thank you, Lord, that it’s not broken.’ And I just went on with life.” 

Loni believed God could heal her, but in His time and will. 

“I know God is God and I can’t figure Him out, so I thought, ‘Well, maybe I’ll get healed someday, maybe not, you know?’” Loni pauses thoughtfully, “But you do need to have faith and belief.” 

On July 20th 2018, she was just flipping through the channels and landed on The 700 Club. Hosting that day were Gordon and Wendy. 

“I thought, ‘Well, let’s see what’s on CBN,’” says Loni, “I started watching and almost right away, Wendy said, ‘Someone has a left thumb that’s been injured badly and a lot of arthritis and pain…’” 

Wendy says, “There’s someone…you’re dealing with arthritis, especially in your left thumb. It’s been very painful and debilitating and God is healing you today, just start praising the Lord.” 

Loni says emphatically, “I just said out loud, ‘That’s my thumb!’” She starts demonstrating the release of pain she experienced, “And as she was speaking that, I felt all this tight, swelled, glossy thumb just relieving and soothing. Real soothing,” she gestures, “coming up like that, and it was gone, that fast.” Loni raises her hands up in praise, “I said, ‘Thank You Jesus!’” She laughs joyful, recalling the moment. “Anything I needed or wanted to try, I could do it. I was just free, free of the pain.” 

Pain that has never returned. 

Loni’s husband has since passed, but she still lives every day with joy, reminding others of the power of God’s healing. 

“Never lose hope or faith that He can’t or won’t do it,” Loni encourages, “And we will have problems in life. And as we have our problems, He is our problem-solver; He walks through the problems with us.” Loni smiles a loving, gentle smile.

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