This disease is known in Australia as Motor Neurone Disease. I remember when I first joined the staff of St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, there used to be an annual service for those with Motor Neurone disease and their carers. I got the impression that those afflicted with the disease had only months or a couple of years to live. It seemed to be incurable. The Dean of the Cathedral Lance Shilton would give a message about the Christian hope. Otherwise it was a sad service. 

A few years later we had the joy of having some American folk from Florida and Alabama coming to learn more about the healing ministry at our Healing Ministry Centre in Sydney. They were a lovely group and very open to learn. My wife Carole and a Florida lady Sarah Jaeger formed a deep friendship and perhaps as a result in 1999 we were invited to do a short time of teaching in Wisconsin, Birmingham [Alabama] and Winter Park in Florida. Sarah’s husband Don had been miraculously healed of Lou Gehrig’s disease [A.L.S.] after a healing service at the Cathedral in Orlando led by my predecessor Canon Jim Glennon, and was keen to begin a healing ministry in All Saints Episcopal Parish in Winter Park in Florida. 

Carole and I were invited back every year for a month to minister in Winter Park from 2001 to 2008 and again in 2012. It was a wonderful parish where the Rector was a decorated war hero and his wife was from a leading family in Latvia from where she had escaped during World War 2, David and Katrina Wilson. They led a wonderful parish where Christ was central and the Bible was taken as the basis of faith. The Healing Ministry grew under Don’s enthusiastic leadership and soon ministry was being offered every day for those who needed help. Carole and I would return to Sydney quite refreshed after a busy time of ministry because of the love and support shown to us by parishioners. 

But today is one of those Sad/Happy days as I heard that Don Jaeger had just passed away into the presence of the Lord. So sad for his family and friends, but so happy for Don as He is now in bliss with Jesus. His testimony of his healing has touched the lives of thousands of people around the world and especially those facing seemingly impossible situations in their lives. To be told in 1992 that you will soon die, for your medical diagnosis confirms you have Lou Gehrig’s Disease, but to be able to live praising the Lord to 2024 is a wonderful story of God’s love and power touching human lives. 

Those facing seemingly impossible situations in their lives today would be greatly helped by reading more of Don’s story and especially hearing Don’s testimony of his healing. I will put links to those sources below but before that, I will share one of his sayings that will be forever in my memory. When he was told that no medical help could cure him and that imminent death awaited him, he resolved “to delegate my healing to Jesus.” As a businessman he was used to delegating responsibilities to those he knew could be trusted, and when he was told that his medical condition was beyond human help of any kind, he simply delegated his healing to Jesus and served Him as the Lord and Master of his life. Jesus was, is and always will be worthy of our trust!

I wrote about Don and his healing in one of my early blog articles which is No.041 on this link www.jimholbeck.blog or on https://jimholbeck.blog/2011/09/18/041-healing-of-lou-gehrig’s-disease-als-see-note1-motor-neuron-disease/

You can see and hear his humble testimony on You Tube on this link

Praising the Lord for His faithfulness and thanking Him for what He has done in the lives of those who, like Don, delegate their healing to Him.

Blog No.524 posted on Sunday 04 February 2024.