Ian Ball – From Army Boots to Answered Prayers
Ian Ball's Journey of Faith and Healing
Based in West Yorkshire.
Ian’s life has been anything but quiet. From the parade grounds of Buckingham Palace to the training fields of Kenya. His path has been marked by close calls and a long difficult battle with chronic pain. But through it all, Ian discovered that even when he wasn’t looking for God, God was looking out for him.
Ian didn’t grow up in a religious household. “The only time you went to church was for weddings and funerals,” he recalls. When he joined the Army, church was more about avoiding chores than finding faith. If you didn’t attend the service, you were stuck sweeping the grass or picking up leaves.
“It was easier to go to church!” Ian laughs.
Despite his scepticism, seeds were planted. He remembers a Padre who once kept two young “absconders” in check by jokingly telling them they were in God’s house. If they moved a foot, “God would strike them dead!.” While Ian and the Padre enjoyed tea and chocolate digestives, those boys stayed rooted to the spot.
Near Misses and Miracles
Looking back, Ian sees God’s hand on his life long before he called himself a Christian. During training in Kenya, a grenade he threw bounced off a cave wall and landed just two feet from his head. “I didn’t even have time to run,” he says. The explosion went off, leaving him deaf for an hour, but surprisingly alive.
Later, in Cyprus, a section member accidentally fired live rounds past Ian’s head for five minutes. Ian walked away unharmed. Another time, the same soldier accidentally triggered a 66mm rocket launcher, nearly scorching everyone behind him. Ian survived it all! Including a hilariously embarrassing moment guarding Buckingham Palace. Where his trousers split during a royal salute, revealing sausage-dog print boxer shorts to the Queen herself.
“She just looked at me and laughed,” Ian remembers.
The Dark Years: Pain and Depression
In October 2000, Ian’s life took a drastic turn. A simple slip on a wet floor and cut his shin whilst unloading his wagon at work caused severe nerve damage in his leg. What seemed like a minor injury turned into eleven and a half years of agony.
The accident forced Ian was into redundancy.
The pain was so intense he couldn’t go for a walk and hold his young daughter’s hand. He couldn’t push her on the swings or join in with her games. Depression set in. “It grinds you down,” he says.
“There was nothing left of Ian; there was just pain.”
He found himself dependent on crutches and a mobility scooter. As well as a cocktail of heavy painkillers, including Oxycontin, morphine based painkillers. Ian also had a spinal implant.
Finding Hope on the "Alpha" Path
In 2004, a friend invited Ian to an Alpha course. At first, he resisted.
“I thought Christians didn’t have fun,” he admits.
Ian couldn’t escape the invitation, there was even a sign for the course visible right from his hallway window. Then half an hour after my friend asking me to go on the Alpha course, the local vicar came to see me about the Alpha course.
During the course, Ian decided to stop being “clinical” about the books and simply talk to God. He made a connection and committed his life to Christ. Something inside Ian changed, although the pain didn’t vanish. He was on his way back to finding Ian.
“I knew I had hope,” he says. “The more I read the Word, the more hope it gives you.”
The Saturday Morning Miracle
Ian’s journey reached a climax during a week of step-by-step faith. First came a meaningful baptism (where he was so enthusiastic the pastor almost struggled to get him out of the water!). Then, a few days later, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit at a friend’s house.
The following Saturday morning, while away on a trip, Ian went to let the dog out. He hadn’t brought his mobility scooter, only his crutches. In the stillness of the morning, he heard a clear command from God:
“Put down your crutches and walk.”
In that moment, Ian had a choice. He chose to listen. He put the crutches down and walked. The pain that had defined his life for over a decade was gone.
He went back inside and told Wendy his wife. They went for a walk together, something that had been impossible for eleven years!
Ian was finding his way back to being a new man not the man he once was. A happier man, husband and father.
After the Lord healed Ian, he phoned the DHSS and told them Jesus had healed him completely.
Ian did not need benefits anymore.
The phone went quiet, then a voice said we’ll send you a form. They sent Ian for a medical and the doctor was amazed when I told him that Jesus had healed me.
Today, Ian is a walking testament to the power of prayer and the reality of a God who hears us. As Ian says