Luke 8:49-50 - While he was
still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, "Your daughter is
dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more." But Jesus on hearing this answered
him, "Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well." (ESV)
I wrote previously about how God provided a job for me
when I was down to my last ten pounds. The reason for the job was to give me a
gracious manager who gave me the latitude to organize life and handle what
happened next.
At about 2:33 a.m. on 9 March 1988, Sarah, my second
daughter, was born. My wife said, "Is she all right?" My reply was, "Sure,
she'll be all right." The nurse gave me a long, hard stare as if to say, "Who do
you think you are fooling?" As they were stitching my wife up, I went off to
find our new baby.
When I arrived at the incubator, she looked at me with
one eye open. She would have cried, if the tube were not in the way, and I did
cry and call upon God. Sarah had a diaphragmatic hernia and was on ninety
percent oxygen supply.
God whispered in my mind, "I want you to give her back
to Me." I cried and then I said, "Okay." Then I thought, How do you ask a woman
who has just given birth to give her child back into God's arms? I prayed. I was
pumped full of adrenaline, or something.
To my wife, I said, "I think God wants us to give
Sarah back into His arms." She said, "I think so, too." What a relief!
My pastor arrived, and so, along with the
paediatrician, we prayed for Sarah's healing. Ruth, the paediatrician, quickly
moved off to do something. She had noticed that Sarah had suddenly started to
struggle violently with the tubing, having radically increased in strength. It
seemed that this was a direct answer to all our prayers.
The doctors decided that she was now strong enough to
survive an operation to put her intestines and stomach back in their proper
place, so they transported her to the Bristol Children's Hospital. During the
day, I was desperate to hear what God was saying to me. Eventually it arrived:
"Do not be afraid; just believe."
Sarah was operated on, and I was aware of God's hand
on me at this time in a powerful way, sustaining us through the trauma. He
encouraged me not to worry but to continue in prayer trusting in Him because He
was watching too. We had to go back home to sort life out, after staying at the
hospital for ten days. She would be on life support for a further three weeks.
The next day, we returned, and whilst we were away,
God had been working. The male nurse was on duty said, "It is a miracle!" And
told me his account:
"It was early on Sunday morning when Sarah's
temperature increased steeply, and her pulse rate similarly became rapid. ...
When the doctors came on Sunday morning, they agreed with me and ordered an
immediate X-ray because they were concerned."
When the results came back, the doctors were confused,
because where there had been only one lung previously, the X-rays now showed
that there were two. A very interesting development!
Now, twenty-three years later, Sarah is expecting her
own baby this month: January 2012!
Having experienced God's answers to prayer, I feel no
need to be unnecessarily fearful, because I have seen firsthand that He is
engrossed in the lives of all those who dare to call Him Saviour. In similar
manner to Shadrach and his pals in the fiery furnace or Peter on the lake in
Galilee, people who dared to trust in God above life itself, we can aspire to
that faith too, each in our own way!
Of course, I need to say that God has given us a brain
to use to the best of our ability in His service, so let us not be rash!
Nevertheless, through God's will for us, working in our everyday situations, we
can ultimately trust Him, because sometimes we cannot see the bigger picture, or
the unknown unknowns.
Romans 8:38a,39b - For I am sure that neither death
nor life ... will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus
our Lord. (ESV)
If only we could remember that more often and be
confident that God loves us!
Prayer: Lord, thank You for Your Word that shows us
the way forward, even when it is presently not visible. We come beseeching You
for freedom from all that ensnares us and masks Your will for us. Help us to let
go of bad things, so that by Your Holy Spirit, You can pour new life and
expectancy into our beings to make us whole once more. In Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.
Rod Marshall
rmarshall@glos.ac.uk
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
Thanks to http://daily.presbycan.ca
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