The gospels are full of stories of the healing power of Jesus: the Leper whom Jesus healed by His touch, the Blind Man whose sight Jesus restored, the healing of the lame, the crippled, and the woman with the hemorrhage. The list goes on and on. How come, you might ask, does Jesus not work His miracles of healing today like He did when He walked this earth? Well, He does. If you cannot see them it is, perhaps, because you are looking for them in all the wrong places. A young man contacted me some years ago, and told me this extraordinary story of his healing. I am glad to be able to share it with you:

“My name is Alex and I am thirty five years old. Until I was eleven, I was brought up in Russia where I had no knowledge of God or the Bible. I used to laugh, at that advanced age, whenever I was told that some people still believed in the bible. For me, it was just another fairy tale like ‘Alice in wonderland’ to be read by little children or by people who were unable to think for themselves. Going to church for me and my family was just a waste of time. It was for week-minded people who needed a crutch to hang on to. Religion was like a bad drug.

“It was, as Karl Marx said, the opium of the people and I wanted nothing to do with it.

“In 1998, when I turned eleven, my family moved to Kassel in Germany. My Mother bought a used table for our house and in a drawer, I found a bible. How strange! I wondered how people could still value, in this modern age of science and technology, a book like this? I felt confident I did not need it to inspire me but, for some strange reason, I could not throw it away either. My idols were more down to earth, like rap artists whom I listened to all the time. I also followed their downward example. I fell into drugs, becoming more and more self-centered, and hurting others, including my family, but especially myself.

“In 2003, when I was only seventeen, I had an emotional meltdown and was admitted to a clinic for rehabilitation. I wanted, desperately, to be healed. I tried to turn my life around, but when I was released from the clinic, I turned again to my old ways. I had no will power or motivation to be healed. Healed of what? I thought to myself.

“Well, back to the clinic I went again. I felt like a lost cause, like a boat without a rudder, buffeted and tossed by every passing wind. Then, one day as I was lying in bed feeling hopeless, I thought of the bible in the old table which my mother bought for our house. Could this be the answer to my problems? Was God, whom I refused to believe in, reaching out to heal me?

“I asked my mother, when she next visited me at the clinic, if the old bible was still there in the table drawer where I found it six years ago? She said she didn’t know but that she’d look to see if it was still there. My mother returned to my bedside the following day carrying, to my surprise, the old bible. I was speechless, and was moved to tears by this unexpected miracle: the bible was still there waiting to be discovered after all those years.

“I began to read from this bible, beginning with the gospels. A powerful feeling came over me that is indescribable to this day. I was buoyed by a new sense of hope as I read the account of Jesus’s life. His words spoke to me directly, and brought me, tranquility and healing. I could hardly take it in: Jesus died on the cross that I could be healed of my sins. He rose from the dead so I could rise to a new life with Him. He showed me how to let go of hate so I could love my enemies.

“Wow! I could love even my enemies!

“One evening as I was reading the gospels, my whole life of sin flashed before me, but I was not afraid of them any more for I was healed. I was not even ashamed. when I realized that Jesus, in his mercy, had washed my sins away like dirty water being flushed from a washing machine. I experienced the gentle feeling of healing for the first time, and I felt as free as a bird for I was no longer chained to a life of sin.

“I became a new person, a child of God. My family could not believe my transformation, but they were overjoyed. I was baptized a Christian, and my mother soon followed my example. If Jesus could heal me, He surely could heal anybody who turned to Him.

“My healing experience rid me of my addictions. It achieved what the clinic, the police, the judges, the doctors, my relatives and my friends could never do.

“Ever since my healing, I have been reading up on Christian literature. It was on Facebook that I became a friend and soul- mate of Fr. Hugh Duffy who introduced me to his website. I began reading his blogs which became a great source of inspiration and comfort for me. We kept in touch, he with me and I with him. One day, he asked me to write this story of my healing for his website. This was a great honor.

“I am truly grateful to share this testimony of mine on the healing power of Jesus for like the wayward son in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), I ‘was lost,’ and was ‘found.’ I ‘was dead,’ but now I am ‘live,’ thank God.

“The good news is that God’s beloved Son healed me, and turned my life around. If Jesus could do that for me, He can do it for anyone.”

—Alexej Diel

Alex is married and living in Germany. He is now an active Christian in his Church, and community. He is privileged to offer this testimony of God’s wonderful healing when he was a wandering and lost soul.