August 18, 2026

Introduction

Our friend, Gina Gholston, sent this wonderful testimony to encourage us as we believe God for miracles in our lives. It’s a great follow-up to this past Friday night. The title of her post is:

PawPaw’s Miracle

Recently, the Oasis Church in Middletown, Ohio, hosted the Ekklesia Prayer Coalition and Healing Summit. Powerful prayers and declarations were made as intercessors joined in faith and agreement for God to move powerfully in our world and in the lives of people who need His intervention. Multitudes of people were no doubt touched, healed, delivered, and helped as Holy Spirit worked through our collective prayers, leaving a trail of undeniable testimonies. It is so important that those testimonies do not fade away. We must share them with others so they can know the reality of Jesus and His willingness and ability to work supernaturally on our behalf. The Lord kept pressing this on my heart, so I thought I would share a testimony with you today to help build your faith in our incomparable and almighty Father, God!

When I was around age seven, my cousins and I were riding our bicycles down our grandparents’ driveway. At the end of the drive was a slight curve that led to the main road where we would turn around and make our way back up the hill to the shade tree where we would stop and rest as though we had been on a long journey.

We had made this trip many times, but for some reason, I didn’t want to go around the curve that day, so I stopped and waited while my cousins went ahead. It was only a matter of maybe a minute that they came running back up the driveway without their bicycles, crying and screaming, “PAWPAW IS ON FIRE!”

Grandpa had been working on a car that had stalled at the end of the driveway. To get the car to start, he primed the carburetor by pouring gasoline into it, and during this process, the engine backfired. The gasoline ignited, leaving my grandpa with severe burns on his face and body.

As my cousins ran to the house, I arrived in time to see Grandpa removing his shirt to snuff out the flames. His hair was singed, and portions of his hands, arms, and face were severely burned.

I ran to his side, crying. He calmly said, “Let’s go to the house.” And that’s what we did. We entered the house to find Grandma crying. Fear had already made its entrance into her heart just from hearing what had happened. Seeing Grandpa in this horrible condition exacerbated the intensity of it.

“What are we going to do?” she frantically cried.

Grandpa’s words to her were more of a statement of faith than a response. He said, “We can pray!” And pray they did! The peace of God filled the room as Grandpa’s faith gave Yahweh access to enter and intervene.

Some family members took Grandpa to the emergency room at a local hospital. Doctors debrided all of the many severe burns. They gave him a prescription for pain medications and told him to get it filled. His response to that was, “I won’t need it.” They replied, “Oh, you will definitely need it.”

But he didn’t.

Grandpa was a simple man with a strong faith in God. He didn’t just believe God exists; he believed God was, is, and always will be Almighty, and that He would always be faithful to keep His Word. Past experience had taught him that. Born in 1906, he had witnessed his share of hard times. His father had died from an influenza outbreak when Grandpa was a teenager, so he had to grow up very quickly. He began working as a coal miner and eventually became a farmer. Grandpa didn’t have an education. He couldn’t read and could barely write enough to sign his own name. However, he asked God to help him learn to read the Bible, and the Lord answered. He loved the Word of God, and He loved the God of the Word. He modeled a life that exemplified his trust in the Lord. Everyone who knew Grandpa knew about Jesus—he made sure of it!

So, in the face of this horrific incident, when given the choice to be afraid or to trust God, He chose to trust God. And why would he not? Yahweh’s track record had proven Him to be faithful time and time again!

To everyone’s amazement, those burns completely healed. Miraculously, he never even had a scar. If he had pain, we never knew about it. God supernaturally kept him and healed him. What was a horrible accident that could have led to debilitation or even death was turned into a testimony of the power of faith in God. Everyone knew it had to be God. There was no other explanation.

That miracle profoundly impacted my life. I had witnessed God’s power at work in and through my grandpa. I saw faith in action, and that moment is forever embedded in my memory and has served as a constant reminder that God was real and a Healer. He was faithful and trustworthy!

We may not always understand what happens in our lives, but through it all, we can trust God to lead us. He is a faithful Father, and our decision to trust and follow Him gives Him access into our lives to work according to His will for His glory and for our good.

I am not saying everyone’s experience will be exactly the same as my grandpa’s. God leads people in various ways to bring healing and help. In some situations, God may use a doctor’s hands to bring healing. Sometimes healing is instant, and other times it is a process. God works in different ways. But what I am saying is that when we follow Him, however He leads, He will work in and through our lives, giving evidence of His love and power. In turn, our experiences with the Lord create testimonies, stories that can be told to impact others on their journey. Just as my grandpa’s decision to trust God opened the way for him to encounter the Lord in a very powerful way, the testimony born from that experience touched many other lives, including mine... and now, even yours.

The greatest gift we can give those influenced by our lives is to let Jesus be seen in us as He works for us and through us. As we experience His fullness, we become a light that illuminates a path that will lead others to Him.

Pray with me:

Father, thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the price that He paid for our healing. The brokenness of His body brought healing to ours; by His stripes we are healed. Thank You for Your willingness to step into our situations as a very present help in our times of need. You are mighty to save, deliver, provide, protect, and heal. Your power has not changed. We may not always understand Your ways, but we trust You. You are always right, just, faithful, and sovereign. We believe the love You have for us, and by faith, we receive the fullness of all that You desire to impart. As we receive from You, give us wisdom and courage to then share our testimonies with others. May our testimonies bear witness to the reality of Jesus, allowing His light to shine into their lives.

And Father, thank You again for allowing us to partner with You on Friday night [August 14, 2026]. People came from all over the country and watched in many parts of the world. It was truly an international prayer meeting - to You be all the glory. We fan the flames of our intercession today by declaring that not one word fell to the ground (1 Samuel 3:19), and You are working mightily to bring Your power to bear in the Middle East. Transform, move mightily, and save millions. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

Our decree:

The light of Christ is shining through our lives, and as we release our testimonies, that light is illuminating a path that leads others to Him.

Portions of today’s post were taken from Gina Gholston’s book, Along the Journey. You can find out more about her at GinaGholston.com.

Click on the link below to watch the full video.

https://youtu.be/3WpzAhLj_i4