Miracles: Alive and Well

Sunday afternoon my husband and I were enjoying some down-time watching some Tim Tebow football, when we got an urgent phone call from one of our church members. She was very upset and distraught because her husband, a deacon in our church, was in danger of dying. John, who is in his 80's, was not expected to live through the weekend. In fact, he must have sensed that the end was near because he called on all his children to come to the hospital. As they were gathered around him, sobbing, he, in essence, gave them a patriarchal blessing and told them each how much he loved them. Jay, his wife, really needed a minister to pray with her and the family. So I joined Mark as we jumped in the car and drove into Grass Valley and went to the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital ICU Waiting Area. When we arrived, Jay was crying and two of her daughters were consoling her and trying to calm her. Apparently John was experiencing some serious internal bleeding, and the doctors couldn't find it's source. So, they did an exploratory surgery with a camera on a probe so that they might find the source of the bleeding and stop it. We were there for several hours and had received no news. John has several medical conditions that make any invasive procedure a high risk. We were all preparing for the worst possible outcome. However, we all have great faith, and were reminded by Mark's sermon that very morning, that we need to go to God FIRST when we have health issues. So, we prayed for John and the family....for God's will to be done, for healing (if God willed), and for comfort for the loved ones. We prayed once, then later prayed again, and ultimately a third time because we had to leave. As we said the final "amen", the doctor poked his head into the room and said: "Whatever you're doing, it works---we found no more bleeding inside of John's body, and he is going to be fine." Needless to say, Jay was jubilant and praising God for his goodness. We were all amazed and had chills running up and down our spines! We had anticipated losing John, but God had other plans! We were all grateful that the Lord has given Jay her husband back, and hope that this miracle will be a testimony to others who have lost hope. It definitely renewed my faith. Recently I was reading an account in the gospel of Matthew (chapter 20, v.29-34) of two blind men who were shouting at Jesus as he walking by. The crowd told them to be quiet, but Jesus and stopped and asked them point-blank: "What do you want me to do for you?" They replied, "Lord, we want our sight." Jesus had compassion on them, touched their eyes and immediately they received their sight and followed him. The thing that stood out to me was the simple question Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus still asks us that question today. He cares about what is causing us anxiety and worry TODAY---in our lives. He WANTS to heal us, to meet our needs. We need to just tell Him what we want for Him to do. That is encouraging for me to know when all of life's stresses and problems seem overwhelming and there isn't anyone to turn to, except God.