My Testimony

Nellie’s Story

Nellie Koleva is an anointed speaker, an evangelist, and a mother of two. Currently, she lives in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria and has traveled all over the world telling her testimony of the healing power of God. Nellie has ministered in Bulgaria, England, Portugal, Macedonia,and in several places across America. As a young mother she was diagnosed with a disease, multiple sclerosis, MS, a terminal disease that attacks your body and slowly shuts is down. After 17 years of battling for her life she was miraculously healed. Since her healing, she dedicated her life to the ministry of the Gospel. Nellie shares her passion for the Lord, bringing hope through her message to those who have lost all hope for healing and restoration.

Read carefully of a testimony of God’s faithfulness and His healing power in a part of the world where God and His words were not welcome but cast out by the Communist Government.

This says the Lord, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom let not the mighty man glory in his strength, or let the rich man glory in his riches,
But let him who glories glory in this: That he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth,
For in these I delight.”(Jeremiah 9:23 -24), (Spirit Filled Life Bible Edition of the Revised King James Version.)

Can your wisdom help you in the time of need trouble and sickness?
Can knowledge and skills change the bad situation?
Can your strength help you if you just heard a diagnosis of having an "incurable disease"?

What are we to say about riches? Can we buy health with money? There was a lady in the Bible, a lady with the issue of blood. She spent all her riches. She had suffered with no resolution from many physicians. She gave all that she had trying to get well, but the Bible said she was getting worse (Mark 5:25). One day she heard that Jesus from Nazareth was passing by. She said to herself, "He is the only One who can help me. He is the answer. He is the Help." She heard, understood, and said to herself, "He is. I won't let Him go. If I only go closer, if I only touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Surely she had heard about the miracles Jesus was doing and she understood that He might give her what she was seeking for, so she did not let Him go. She made a great effort to reach Jesus but she did not give up and received her healing. She was freed from her suffering and was completely healed. She received her healing.

The Scripture says: "…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). The truth that you are going to accomplish and understand will make you free.
I needed the truth. I had to go closer to Him - the Only One, who could heal me! I had a family a husband and a child. We were Christians. I had experienced God’s miraculous power earlier in my life.
He helped my family through the most difficult time and I could say that we saw His great miracles. We were grateful that we were attending a church and with that our lives would end as Christians.

There were difficult times, persecutions for the faith. The hypocrisy and religion that we had seen everywhere and the tough times that we had endured, all had made us tired. Before we knew we felt ourselves away from Jesus away from the life in Him! Everything suddenly changed. I felt a strange weakness in my body; my feet and hands were getting unusually cold and I started experiencing double vision. One day I lost consciousness in the street and was driven to the hospital that was when the nightmare started. It was a life of hospitals, medical checks, tests, and more tests. At the end of them came the diagnosis: I had MS, multiple sclerosis. This meant that I would become severely crippled and would endure a slow death. I spent a lot of time at the hospitals in Sofia instead of being home 120 miles away. All the medicines that I used to take and my illness eventually made my immune system weaker. I eventually ended up with a blood infection, fever and a high temperature. The first thing I did was open my Bible, the Book of Life! I was so weak that I barely managed to read just a single verse. Reading it was great but I had no strength to meditate on it. Exhausted, because of the high temperature, I did not even possess the slightest strength to move my Bible. They called for an ambulance and I was sent to another hospital. I was not helped there. My body had been poisoned by the medicines, mainly due to the corticoid steroids that I used to take. There was nothing that they could do for me so I was sent back home. Unfortunately, the doctors said there wasn’t any other medicine that could treat me. All I could do was lay in my bed, day after day. I did not know whether it was day or night. I was lying there, exhausted and everyone around me was expecting the end of my wretched existence to come soon. A doctor sometimes came just to examine me and to check if I was still alive. One day I opened my eyes and asked, “Lord, I am dying. Is this the end? Is that the way my life is going to end? Do something for me, Lord!"

Then I remembered, before going to the hospital, I had read a verse in which there seemed to be some hope but where was that verse? I could not remember it; then I started praying: "Show it again to me, Lord! Give me a new hope!" I thanked God for His mercy and His answered prayers. I then opened my Bible at that very place as before, Isaiah 41:13, "For I, the Lord your God will hold your right hand, saying to you: Fear not, I will help you."

I realized that He had been stretching His hand out to me. He had been waiting for me, willing to help me all of the time that I had this wretched disease! I realized that I had been seeking a miracle at the wrong place, a hospital with doctors equipped with medicines. They were incapable of healing me! I am not suggesting that it is wrong to seek medical help; I am talking about a situation where they are not able to cure a patient. In a situation like mine, He is the only person who can heal us and He is waiting for us to call on Him! Only He, Jehovah-Raffah, the Healer, the One who created our spirits, souls and bodies can heal us! He is our Creator, the Designer of our bodies; He knows so much better than the best doctors on earth do; He knows us the best!
I was not able to trust in Him because I didn't know Him well enough. I did not know how mighty and strong God is! His hand was always willing to help me, but I had to ask Him first! One day I read in Isaiah 40:12, "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand...." It is easy to trust God's mighty hand if you know that your name is engraved in the palms of His hands. "Behold I have graven you upon the palms of my hands" (Isaiah 49: 16). The name of everyone who is or has been or will be born is etched in the palms of His hands so that it cannot be erased.
Alleluia! The Word that I received was Remah in my life. His Word, once it goes out of His mouth, will not return unto Him void! It will accomplish His desire and achieve the purpose for which it has been sent (Isaiah 55:11). God sent His Word and healed me (Psalms107:20).

Although God had healed the blood infection, I continued believing in the devil’s lies. It was hard to believe that I would be healed from MS because it was gradually advancing. All my organs and systems were affected; the worst of all was my heart. Many times it would stop beating. My younger son, who was born in the beginning of the sickness, would ask me: "Mom, shall I call for emergency?" I would reply: “Cry out to Jesus! He’s faster than any emergency!!!" Then he would pray and cry out to Jesus asking to give his mother's life back!

With every passing day, I felt death was coming closer. Until one day I read the book, "The Believer's Authority," by Kenneth Hagin. I realized that the prayer in Ephesians 1:17-21 and 3:14 -20 is from the Holy Spirit and has the same power to me as a God's child. I realized that this book was sent from the Holy Spirit and was sent to me. I started praying: "God, give me a Spirit of wisdom and revelation so I may know Jesus better.” My eyes of understanding needed to be enlightened so that I may know; (1) What is the hope of His calling, (2) What is His glorious inheritance given to His saints, and (3) What is His power given to believers. I realized that, the same power that caused Jesus to rise from the dead lives in me and it is able to heal every incurable disease! This was the greatest revelation to me. Amen! The more I prayed the more things God reveled to me.

When I read: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). I started complaining: "Jesus, you want to tell me that I have an abundant life. Don’t you see that I have to crawl on my knees in order to get a glass of water? Don’t you see that every part of my body rejects me moving? Don’t you see that I am dying? My child is afraid to open the door, after school, for he might find his mother dead." I would go on and on with my complaining.
Jesus told us to speak to the mountain and it will move! Just remember how many times we had let the mountain to speak to us! Finally, I stopped complaining. Alleluia! Praise God! At some point we must learn to stop talking so that God can talk to us. Jesus told me: "Look at the verse again. ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I came that you may have life.’ I went to Calvary and took everything with me; everything that you were supposed to carry."

Then I realized His work on the Cross: Jesus died to give us His eternal life. He took the punishment for all of our sins so He can give us His peace! He has bore our sicknesses in His own body, so He could give us His divine health! He took our weaknesses so He could give us His strength! He broke the curse of the law so that He could bless us! He gave us His Name. When He said: "It’s finished", the devil’s deeds were destroyed. The abundant life that Jesus promised us was free for us. The revelation of this truth brought me faith that changed everything in my life. The way I used to talk had now changed! I started talking with a new hope for healing in my life. I never found life throughout all the 17 years because only Jesus is the life; His Word is Life. He said: "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." Peter said: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life". In Proverbs 4:20-22 it is said: "My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight; keep them within your heart." In His words I found a new life. The vision in my heart was changed. Instead of imagining my death and planning out the funeral in my mind, I found myself talking about God’s deeds for His glory. I began sharing what God’s Word says about me, but it seemed strange to the people around me. They thought the sickness had affected my mind. But it was Jesus who found His faith in my heart and came to prove that His words are true!

One day while lying down, I was praying to be filled with God’s peace and joy. I felt someone standing next to me. Jesus laid out His stricken hand on my head and I felt the anointing. It was like warm oil pouring out in all my body outside and inside and I felt His healing power. I felt Him heal every paralyzed and dead cell in my body. Jesus came with His creative power and made everything new, healthy, and strong. I rose from the bed, knelt and raised my hands up to the Lord. Before, I was not able to raise them, but now they stayed lifted up!

I did not know if heaven was with me or if I was in heaven, but I knew that God’s presence and glory was with me. Then the thief came, with doubt, and tried to deceive me, telling me: "Look at yourself in the mirror! There’s nothing to rejoice about! You have the same body with the same atrophied muscles!"

This time I recognized Satan’s voice. What he said was a fact, but now I knew that I had a choice - to believe in what I was told by the enemy or to believe in what Jesus had done in me! My answer to the voice was: "Get away from me, Satan, in Jesus` name! Jesus came with His anointing and healing power and He will restore everything in my body!"
A second challenge came that very same night. By mistake the disablity office took the papers for the money I received for disabilities. I was not upset, but happy, realizing that it was not a mistake. I believe that Jesus knew on this day, I would be healed and would not need the pension that only extremely sick people receive.

The devil will continue his attempts to steal what we have received from God. I had not been outside of my apartment for almost ten years. When my husband took me outside to see the changes in the city, we came back and found the elevator broken. It reminded me of the times when my husband had to call neighbors to help him carry me up the stairs, or when he alone had to drag me step by step. The Holy Spirit reminded me the Word of God and I cried out: "The Lord is the strength of my life; who am I to fear?” While climbing the stairs I was repeating these Words and it seemed the Lord was carrying me. Sometimes there were symptoms that bothered me, and the devil would try to scare me again! I confessed God’s Word again, "Therefore, since we have a High Priest who has gone though the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession."(Heb. 4:14)

My confession was: "By Jesus` wounds I am healed." That is the way to overcome the devil! In Rev. 12:11, "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by word of their testimony." The blood of the Lamb is always available for us to appropriate, but the word of our testimony is also very important. Two or three witnesses must prove everything. God says: "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live."(Deut. 30:19)

God’s Word is a witness, but the devil is the other witness here on the earth. If we are speaking in agreement with God’s Word, the whole Heaven will be with us and we will have the victory. You may say: "By Jesus` wounds I have been healed" (1Pet. 2:24). But the devil will come to you and attempt to discourage you by saying, "It is impossible. This is an incurable disease." If you choose to listen to him, he will overcome you. But I chose the word of my testimony to be in agreement with God’s Word and thus was brought to heaven! I could just imagine the angels began singing, "She is healed by Jesus` wounds!" And Jesus would stand up, and go to His Father to show Him His wounds and say, "Father, by my wounds she is healed." Our Father would say, "It is true. Indeed she is healed." And Jesus came and His anointing of healing was poured out over me and I rose from the bed!

Today, here I am, running and not growing weary, walking and not growing faint! I waited on the Lord, Who renewed my strength like an eagle. My miracle will not do me any good unless today I seek God’s face, come up to Him, and sit at the table that He has set for us by Our Good Shepherd!

I pray that everything that I have said in this testimony brings glory to His name. God has made me a witness of His mercy!