On November 27, 2012 Jan Vestergaard was unfortunate to hurt his back. This resulted in great pain, which put him on a sick leave from his job as a nature guide.
-For many years I had an old back injury. When I again strained my back I got a slipped disc. I was bedridden for a week before I went to the doctor, who took MRI of the spine. The images showed 1.8 centimeter space between two discs and a slipped disc of 3,5 centimeters, he says.
Jan was constantly going to the physiotherapist and chiropractor. It helped a little bit, but not enough. In the first few months he spent 15,000 kroners on treatments. After a while Jan began working again, but his back could not handle a full day. In one day he was at work a maximum of three hours.
-As the nature guide I was very active outdoors in nature, and I was therefore dependent on having a strong back. It was not much fun to be absent from a job that I enjoyed so much.
Got a text message
On the night of the 10th of February his friend, Poul Erik Gildhoff, lay awake in bed. He came to think of Jan and his back that was full of pain, and thought that he should send him a text message to invite him to the meeting in Billund. The day after Jan was driving a moving load for his son from Kolding to Herning.In the moving load his son had several large boxes, but Jan could not contribute much when it came to lifting, due to his back. On the way home he stopped by a gas station to wash his car. Suddenly he felt that God said: "Check your cell phone."
-I did not understand why I should check my cellular phone, since I had recently phoned my wife for no particular reason. I reached for the mobile phone, and then I saw an unread message. When I read the message from Poul Erik, I had no doubt that God who was calling me. The first time Svein-Magne was in Billund, I was prevented from coming, and this time I was too busy. I therefore stopped in Billund on the way back.
New back
Jan Vestergaard arrived at the meeting an hour late, and was therefore given a late queue number. It was a long wait, and he felt pain in his back the whole time. After eight hours, it was his turn.
-When Pedersen prayed for me, I felt a pleasant warmth in my neck, back and legs. In addition, it began to creak in my back, as if something was being put into place. After a while the pain disappeared. It was an amazingly powerful experience. Now I could bend down without feeling pain, he says happily. Now he works 25 hours a week, and the work day is constantly increasing. When we called him a few weeks after the visit to Denmark, he had just mowed the lawn and trimmed the shrubs. He has been standing with his back bent over without problems.
He has also been to the physiotherapist, who was very surprised by what he said. "There are a lot of things between heaven and earth one does not understand," he said. Jan has also testified of the healing to both family, friends, neighbours, his church, and everyone is surprised and happy.
-Jesus is awesome! In the Bible, he went around healing people. People came to him, and he asked if they wanted to get healed. They said yes and he healed them. When I got the text message, I knew it was an invitation from God asking me if I wanted to get healed.
Nature guide
Jan Vestergaard also wants to share what God has done for him in recent years. Today he lives in Kolding, but as an adolescent, he grew up in Billund. Here he had a classmate who was Christian, and Jan attended a number of meetings and conventions with him. After some time had gone by he drifted away from God and lived life in the world. It was a challenging time, and eventually life fell apart.Then he began to seek God again, and God began intervening in his life.
Jan also had a great love of nature, and his big dream was to become nature guides. The problem was that he did not have an education.
-Most nature guides are trained as a teacher or biologist, and have over ten years experience in nature school. I said to God, "If you give me a job as a nature guide, I will follow you for the rest of my life." I quickly realized that nothing is impossible with God. Shortly thereafter I got a job as a nature guide in 2006, and it was supposed to have been impossible. God has helped me so much in life, both with family, work and now health. It is amazing and I am so grateful, says Vestergaard.
