Sjur's Testimony...

My name is Sjur Westgaard, I’m from Norway.  In 1993 I severely injured my back during a weight lifting exercise rupturing two discs in my lower back at levels L4 and L5. I managed to live with this pain until February 2000 when the doctors performed surgery.  

The surgery failed, and in June 2000 they had to perform surgery at L4 again because of reherniation in one of the disk. They did a procedure called microdiscetomy.  The pain was now far worse than before surgery (which I thought was impossible). I was left on heavy doses of morphine plus a lot of other medicine, trying to relieve the pain.

I was bedridden for several months in the hospital. In fact, I stayed more or less in the hospital from April 2000 to August 2000. The doctors tried everything they could to relieve my pain but with no result. I could not work anymore and had to watch my wife crying about the situation. All my social life was reduced to zero, and all I could think of was ending my life.

October 2000, I saw a testimony on the web from Steve Bramham. He claimed that the Lord had healed Him during a meeting with Evangelists Bill & Delores Winder. Delores had been healed for a severe condition years back during a Kathryn Kuhlman service. I thought this was nonsense, stories created to draw people to church. Still, being in my condition, I often return to his web page (www.abidinglight.org) to read this awesome testimony of healing from the same (and even worse) condition than I had.

When I was a youth, I used to go to Christian meetings, but during my life I went away from the Words of God. I had a house, good job and was married to a lovely wife (I still am). What more did I need? Then after the surgeries (which made me a cripple) my entire life changed. I began to search for God. I became a member of a church and tried to go as often as I was able. I found a tremendous peace in the Gospel, because of what Jesus did when He came to the world and died for us.

Steve's testimony made a great impression on me. I knew that Jesus healed people and that He had come to die on the cross for me. But I was skeptical to healing testimonies today, and did not know the power of the Holy Spirit working among us. As time went on, I started to believe that God still heals today. I ordered a lot of books on healing, besides my bible reading. I saw that Steve, who was supposed to sit in a wheelchair, was now doing ministry and traveling around the United States with his wife. There must be something in this, I thought.

In April 2001, while laying in bed with awful pain, I decided to go to the US and visit Steve. It was a crazy idea, but I just had to go for it. I also wanted to attend  meetings in Tuscaloosa and Selma Alabama, where Steve & Delores were speaking. The problem was my wife was pregnant and could not go with me. I had to have someone with me, as I had problems walking. My lovely mother said she would go with me and on May 2, 2001 we journeyed for 15 hours from Trondheim, Norway to Atlanta, Georgia. The trip went very well, and I guess the Lord started healing me on the trip. Keep in mind that a lot of people prayed for my healing as I went over the Atlantic. 

As we arrived Atlanta, Steve & Sharon picked us up and drove us to their house. When we got to the house my mom was very tired and went to straight to sleep. I stayed up and talked to Steve & Sharon. We were planning to go to meetings in Tuscaloosa and Selma the following two weeks and I thought I would be completely healed there. But the Lord told Steve to pray for my healing that night and not wait until we got to the meetings, and so he did. Then he told me to get up (I was sitting when he prayed for me). As I stood up the leg pain I had for years went away, and I felt very strange as the power of the Holy Spirit did His work. Please believe me when I say this. 

We had two lovely weeks in Alabama. After my mother saw my condition she accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior in Tuscaloosa. Between the meetings in Tuscaloosa and Selma, we rented a car and drove to Tulsa in Oklahoma to visit relatives. There was minimal pain. The only thing left was some stiffness in my back. There was also no problems quitting all the drugs I was taking except for some shaking the first night. My mother and I enjoyed the meetings and the company from Steve & Sharon and Delores & Bill. They showed us the love of Jesus Christ and took care of us during our stay in Alabama. 

This could be the happy ending of a long and sad story, but there were problems during the following months. A lot of strange thoughts came through my mind. Will the healing last? What about the minor stiffness still in my back? What shall I tell people? I can tell you that the enemy will attack you after a healing. The devil is here to destroy, steal and murder. At any given time I though I was crazy and that I had lost my mind. There was no way I could explain my healing by the laws of the world. Since I am a highly educated man, I tried to make up some natural reasons for why I was healed of my leg pain. Then again, I still had some stiffness in my back. I could not tell people I was healed when I was not 100% pain free, although I did not need morphine or any other drugs.   

God took away my stiffness 3 months after my healing in Atlanta. Today I am pain free, I work 100% and train in the gym. I lead a bible group for immigrants in my church. The study materials are handouts and tapes from Steve & Sharon and Bill & Delores.  In the near future I will invite them to Norway. I want to bring their teaching into Norway and believe I will work full time to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to other people in need. 

Your brother in Jesus, Sjur Westgaard