God Saves, Promotes and Heals by Martha Crosswell, Watauga County
In my life, three of the greatest lessons I’ve learned about God are that He saves, He promotes, and He heals. He Desires a Relationship with Us My nursing career started in 1975 after I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing. I started my career at Watauga Medical Center (known then as Watauga County Hospital) in 1975 and, except for brief stint when we moved away from Boone, I have worked there ever since. I grew up going to church, but, after I was married, my husband and I drifted from it. My sister, Sarah, urged us to attend her small church. My life changed when I started attending this church, with its altar calls and salvation message. It was then that I realized I had just been going through the motions. I had been in church all my life and thought I was going to heaven. As I listened to the gospel for what seemed like the first time, I came under conviction that I had never been born again. So at almost 30 years old, I was saved. How grateful I am to God for saving me and to my sister for her prayers and influence on my life. I believe God wants me to let people know that there are a lot of people in church today who are just like I was: a faithful church attendee but not born again. I sat there lost as I could be, thinking I was okay because I was going to church. God wants a true relationship with His children. He came into the world not to condemn us, but to save us. He wants to love, nurture and cherish us, and this is often seen in the way that he promotes us. He Lifts Us Up God is also a God who promotes. After being saved, I noticed an immediate change in my performance at work. My organizational and management skills increased alongside my clinical skills. My supervisor and other administrators noticed, and I was promoted to director of the Birthing Center at the young age of 29. I held that position for several years and experienced a wonderful time of God’s grace in my life. He Heals Our Wounds I have seen God heal not only from a medical and physical
28 Winter 2011
standpoint but from a supernatural one as well. About six years ago, I began having pain in my back that became severe. An MRI determined that I had a protruding disc at L4. I prayed about the pain, and the Lord instructed that He did not want me to have surgery. My question to Him was, “How am I going to do this?” I couldn’t understand how I was to care for patients while struggling with constant pain and difficulty walking. Jesus impressed upon me that I was going to “walk it out by faith.” So, my faith walk began with a limp. Although it was tough emotionally, everyone was wonderful in helping me. Some of the doctors assisted me too with lifting or transferring patients. I “walked out” my faith for about a year, and gradually my back was completely healed without medical intervention. My final story of healing is the healing of my precious husband, Joe. A little over three years ago, Joe was bush
