MARIE Kann was on painkillers for 21 years to quell a whiplash injury, but claims her time at a Charismatic conference two weeks ago has left her pain-free.
Ms Kann, 71, suffered a whiplash injury in 1995 and had been taking daily medication to ease the pain.
Six months ago the Brisbane Catholic from St Mary Magdalene Church, Bardon, also tore a muscle in her hip resulting in severe pain.
An X-ray showed a torn muscle and a trochanteric bursitis on Ms Kann’s hip.
The tear developed into tendonitis with degenerative change five months later.
“At night, I could not lie on either side, the pain was so bad and I had pillows under my knees to help the discomfort,” Ms Kann said.
Her GP advised against a hip replacement and referred Ms Kann to physiotherapy with a warning that the pain would remain.
“Straight away I thought, ‘God wouldn’t say that’,” Ms Kann said.
A member of the St Stephen’s Cathedral Charismatic Renewal prayer group and a similar group in Bardon, Ms Kann’s faith in God’s healing power proved itself at the recent National Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference at St Leo’s College recently.
She said conference speaker Katherine Ruonala, a Protestant pastor with a healing ministry at Glory City Church in Brisbane, singled her out as a woman in need of prayer to heal a bad hip.
“I stood up then and she asked everyone to stretch out their hands to pray in the Spirit for me and straight away the heat of the healing power of the Holy Spirit came in through the top of my head and went right through my body,” Ms Kann said.
“That night, when I got to my room, I lay on the bed to test if there was any pain, and no, no pain.
“I went to sleep praising and thanking God and when I got up next morning I had no pain,” she said.
Ms Kann said when she returned home she realised her neck pain subsided.
She said she had not taken her daily medication for the whiplash injury for more than two weeks.
“I am free of pain in my hip and neck,” she said.
“How great is our God. I give Him all the praise and the glory.”
CCR Brisbane president Len Airey said there were healings at the conference, from physical to emotional conditions.
“We witnessed the mercy of the Jesus of the Gospels, we witnessed His miracle-working power, we witnessed people being touched and their lives enriched through the power of His Holy Spirit, and we witnessed ordinary people manifesting the spiritual gifts of God,” Mr Airey said.
“It was a privilege for those in attendance to be part of such an event where the presence of God was palpable and moving powerfully in His people.”
More than 300 people attended the conference including Catholics from Singapore and New Zealand.
The conference was organised as a response to the Year of Mercy and it took the theme “Signs and Wonders”.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge celebrated the opening Mass on July 1.
CCR Brisbane runs a free healing ministry at two Brisbane prayer centres in Northgate and Jindalee.
By Emilie Ng
