Sid Roth welcomes Jan Aldridge

SID: Hello, Sid Roth right here. What would you do? I mean, if you’ve had a little bit of time to think about it. You have a daughter that could be beautiful except for the fact her tongue was twice the size of normal. It affected everything about her. People made fun of her; it affected her self-image. It was a horror and then she finds out that she can have surgery and she will look beautiful; she will look like everyone else, but she’ll never talk again. What was your decision?

JAN: Well of course I was not thinking down the road, I was thinking I didn’t want to be taunted anymore. I didn’t want to be made fun of. I wanted to be normal. I was in my High School years when my appearance was, at that time my self-esteem. And so I had never spoken normally in my life so, what was the loss in my opinion. But when my Father heard I would never speak again, from my father’s heart he said “That price is too much.” And what I didn’t anticipate is that God already had already formed me. Before I was formed in my Mother’s womb; the Scripture says he knew me. And if he knew me, he called me and I was called into a destiny in the ministry before I was born. And I did not realize at the time, that the very part of my body that the enemy had inflicted with – call it a birth defect – was the part of my body that God was going to use to give him glory. And so when you’re going through that battle, you’re not thinking of your destiny down the road; you’re thinking how it affects me right now.

SID: But you got short circuited. You know what happened? She went to a church, someone prayed for her, and she heard to her knowledge, the first time the voice of God. Explain.

JAN: I was recently saved; went to a little Assembly of God church youth service, not anticipating anything, just to go to get blessed. And that night, a minister by the name of Paul Wetzel at the Assembly of God; the Lord used him to say that he wanted to do a mighty work in someone in the audience. And had everyone in the congregation go into a mode of prayer; and while everyone was praying; I have to be completely honest I was not praying I just had my eyes closed, had the tongue in my mouth so nobody could see it. Brother Wetzel made his way down and tapped me on the shoulder, and instead of taking me to the altar he took me out to the foyer and I was thinking, what did I do wrong that this preacher’s taking me out?

SID: Now how old were you at the time?

JAN: 17 and it was July the 3^rd, the summer before my senior year; and he took me out there weeping; I’d never met this man before he didn’t know anything about my background, but he began to tell me that, “The Lord has spoken to me” to tell me two things. And the first was that he loved me. And you have to remember, as a child in the ignorance of the word, I thought the Lord had done this to me as a quote: punishment. And so I had a distance of a trust for the Lord even though I was raised in church.

SID: So you’re saying to me that, your thought was that “God was punishing you.” When you heard God loved you, what did it do to that thought?

JAN: Well the Scripture says “Perfect love casts out fear.” And so my fear of God, that I was going to make him so angry, just immediately left; which made me ready for the next part of the word; and that was that I was facing something too great in my own strength to handle, but that if Jesus could carry a cross to Calvary, he could carry this burden for me. And I began to weep and when I began to weep the tongue came out; and this pastor was not intimidated by my circumstances. He quickly took me to the Scriptures and began to show me that God is a healer; that Jesus took the stripes. And as he began to share the Scriptures, my faith began to rise, even though it was new territory. And then he invited me to come back into the sanctuary where he anointed me with oil. And that was where the Lord spoke to me in a way, that I don’t know whether to call audible or not. But as he took the oil, according to the Scripture in James, where “If there be any sick among you, let them call for the elders of the church to anoint with oil and pray the prayer of faith.” And he said “Do you believe that Jesus can heal you?” and I nodded “Yes.” And he said “Do you believe he will heal you?” And at that moment I said “Yes.” And it was like a voice said, “I was not the author of this, but I shall be the finisher.”

SID: I really like that. A voice, who was God, spoke to her for the first time, to her knowledge in her life; and said I’m not the author of this evil. What evil is going on in your life? What sickness, what poverty, what addiction? God says he is not the author, but he is the finisher? What did that mean to you?

JAN: Well what I believe is that he did not instigate this. But as Joseph put, what the enemy meant for harm, God was going to turn around for good.

SID: So what about the surgery? Did you have it?

JAN: No, when the Lord spoke to me, I always heard about the gift of faith, but I know at that moment it was dropped into me; and I was so ecstatic even though there was not one physical manifestation to go with what I heard, I knew that I knew that I knew that I was healed. I was healed 2000 years ago on the cross before I even was, he paid for my healing.

SID: So…

JAN: So I went home, told my parents; they knew that it had to be Lord, because I was so adamant about the surgery; then I come home from one church service…

SID: But wait a second – you would never speak again – how could you be so adamant about the surgery your whole life is ahead of you?

JAN: But I would be normal. My greatest desire Sid was to come into a room and nobody notice me. To me I thought that would be awesome – nobody would point the finger; and so when I came home that night and told my parents that I knew I was healed, and that Lord promised me that he was not the author but that he would be the finisher; that I was going with the Lord. And my father said that they would stand with me, that my integrity: I needed to go back to the surgeon and tell him what happened and I did. And when I went back to tell him; he was a good man a good man but speaking the knowledge he had medically; it was impossibility. And he tried to tell me that he hoped I was not at some fanatical church service on an emotional high and that to him, it was impossible.

SID: Okay, but you weren’t healed right away.

JAN: No, no.

SID: So did you doubt that you really had heard God?

JAN: I did later. I was so caught up in this new knowledge and like I said, it was a gift of faith. I would go everywhere and even with my speech impediment drooling you know, and I had this testimony service. And with this speech impediment, I would say I thank God, Jesus healed my tongue 2000 years ago and you know I am going to be healed. And I was met with all kinds of skepticism and unfortunately it was in the four walls of some churches…

SID: Take me to the moment the healing occurred.

JAN: December 4^th.

SID: How many months later?

JAN: From July the 3rd to December 4^th, and it was a Tuesday night. I went to a charismatic Bible study and I’d never been before. The only reason I went was to play the piano for a lady to sing and was not even in a spiritual mode if you want to call it. And I went to this little service that night and heard the word of God on angels. There was nothing even ministered on healing. And at the end of the service there was this new way for people being prayed for that I was not accustomed to; and I was called out by a lady by the name of Diane Ard and she was the conductor of the Bible study. And she just took my hands just like you and I are holding hands and explained to me the Scripture said we need to join hands agreeing; and she began to pray and she began to pray, she was not loud, obnoxious; she was just talking to the Lord just as you and I are talking. My tongue, I had it doubled in my mouth, and it started getting so hot.

SID: Hold that thought – we’ll be right back.