Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons...freely you have received, freely give. (Matt.10:7-8)
When my youngest son, Martin, was seven years old he developed a severe nose-bleed. My sister Kathleen unexpectedly popped in for a visit and suggested we go to the 24 hour medical clinic to see if there was a foreign object lodged inside.
On the way we prayed for Martin but the bleeding didn't stop.
As we waited in the clinic the bleeding continued and, as there were a number of people ahead of us, we settled in for a long wait.
“Please, save my baby….”
Suddenly the door was kicked open and a distraught young mother came rushing though the doors with a baby in her arms. We knew the baby was dead, because it was uncommonly pale and the mother was begging “my baby can’t breathe…save my baby…”.
Immediately Kathleen and I began to pray for the baby. We prayed earnestly for about ten minutes then a nurse came out and announced that the clinic would be closing due to the serious condition of the baby and directed everyone to another clinic.
Meanwhile an ambulance arrived...
It was obvious from the tone of the nurse’s voice they had not been able to revive the infant. Kathleen and I looked at each other in complete understanding and agreement - we both knew that the spiritual fight for this baby’s life was not yet over!
I looked down at my son and his nose-bleed had stopped. He was fine. Of course, we knew by now that we were not there at that precise time for a nose-bleed. We were there because a baby needed prayer.
At that moment the mother and baby and a doctor and nurse bustled through the clinic and out to the waiting ambulance.
Then a ruckus began...
The baby’s father had arrived with the baby’s pram and was being denied access to the ambulance. He was saying, “but I don’t have a car, I need to be with my wife and child.”
Though the medical staff were sympathetic they would not allow him into the ambulance. Without speaking, Kathleen glanced in my direction and I nodded. She went over to the young man and asked if he would like a ride to the hospital. He nearly wept with gratitude, but there was no time for talk, we had to hurry.
We folded the pram into the boot and he sat in the back of the sedan with Martin, who now was showing no sign of nose-bleed, and we took off for the hospital, a 15 minute drive.
The child’s father confirmed the worst.
As we drove along the young father told us the sad tale. The doctors had not been able to revive his baby. They thought there was something lodged in her throat but they couldn’t dislodge it.
They were taking the baby to the hospital to put a camera tube down her neck to see where the blockage was situated. He began to cry, “It’s too late…it’s been too long...”
Kathleen and I told him we believed in the power of prayer, that Jesus had the power to raise his daughter from death, that faith as tiny as a mustard seed was all that was needed, and that we could pray that God would do a miracle while we were driving.
He stopped crying and told us he used to be a believer but had lost his faith. I asked him if he would mind if we prayed for his daughter and he begged us, “Oh yes, please pray”.
Kathleen and I began to sing and praise God, while one was singing the other was praying out loud.
This unity wasn’t planned or normal for us. It was just the way it happened that day.
We kept singing and praising and praying for about ten minutes, then the young man joined in. He asked God’s forgiveness for turning away from him and pleaded with him for the life of his baby girl.
A heavy blanket of peace…
When this heartbroken father finished praying, a heavy blanket of peace filled the car. It was so heavy that the young man told us he could feel it and I explained that feeling was the presence of God and it was proof that God had answered his prayer.
The timing was also amazing, for the peace of God settled on all of us just as we entered the hospital grounds. We drove up to the emergency entrance and without a parting word the young father opened the door, jumped out of the car and ran into the hospital.
We still had his pram…
As we still had his baby’s pram I parked the car so that we could take the pram inside and place it in the care of the hospital staff.
We opened the boot and were just setting it on the ground when the young man came rushing back to us, gushing, crying, praising God and completely beside himself.
A mighty miracle…
She’s ok! She’s alive! She’s breathing!” He could hardly speak between sobs. “This is the second time we’ve nearly lost her…last time I hated God, but now…this is a miracle!
"She hasn’t been breathing for over 40 minutes…they couldn’t revive her…but she suddenly coughed and started breathing a few minutes ago and the doctors don’t know why…they couldn’t find any blockage…they don’t know why she started breathing again…”
The young man stood with us and praised God in the car park and then he took us inside to meet his wife and three month old baby girl.
He told the doctors, the nurses, his parents and friends who had gathered, and anyone who would listen, that God had done a miracle…his baby was alive!
Mysterious ways…
A simple nose-bleed set in motion a series of events that led to a child being raised from the dead. Through that nose-bleed two believers were led by God to a medical clinic at just the right time to encourage a young man’s faith and help him seek God’s help for his daughter.
I firmly believe that it was the fervent prayer of that young father that moved the hand of God to bring his daughter back to life.
God saved two lives that night; the baby and her grateful father.
How privileged we are to be able to witness God doing his work, his miracles, and to be invited by him to work with him as he does them. My three children, Miriam, Stephen and Martin were invited by God to be witnesses with me to the miracle working power of our wonderful Saviour and Lord. I have learned that is what it means to be God's witness. It's not about being a 'good person' so that others will turn to God. No! It's about witnessing God work to help people and joining him in his work. When we work with him and see the amazing things he does it becomes impossible not to share what we have seen. Monica
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