The God of Miracles

It was another beautiful autumn morning as I looked out of the hospital window at the white cross up on the mountain. The sun was shining brightly into the room and a nurse asked if I wanted her to close the drapes. She did not see what I saw. She did not know that God was renewing my strength during this time. Strengthening me for the days that was ahead.

It was the fall of 1974 and I was at this time the mother of a beautiful 5 year old daughter and six months pregnant with my second child. I had had no complications in this pregnancy, but the year before I had suffered a long drawn out miscarriage. Six months into my pregnancy, I started hemorrhaging. I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with placenta previa, which is a condition where the baby instead attaching higher in the uterus wall, attached low over the cervix. Later in pregnancy when you start to have moderate contractions, the placenta starts to tear away from the uterus wall and can cause massive bleeding. I was put on bed rest at home and the hemorrhaging stopped and I made it two weeks before the hemorrhaging started again. I was immediately put in the hospital on complete bedrest and was facing the possibility of a two and half month hospital stay.

I could not bear being away from my daughter for that long. And during that time, children were not allowed in hospital rooms and I was not allowed to leave my room and go down to the waiting room. I cried for two days when I was put in the hospital, even to the point of wishing I were not even pregnant. After two stressful days, I woke up one morning with a song on my heart. I was singing, "He has made me glad, He has made me glad, I will rejoice for He has made me glad". I remember thinking, where did this song come from. This was the beginning of a new day for me. That afternoon I was transferred to a different room. The nurse apologized because she thought I didn’t have a very good view from my window. She thought all I could see was the side of the hospital building. (Before I had a view of the downtown area and could watch people busily going about their business.) She did not see the mountain in the distance. She did not see the white cross that a local church had erected toward the top of the mountain. She did not see the change in the seasons that I could see. It was a time when the earth was full of beautiful fall colors. And most of all she did not know that I felt God’s presence in my room, holding me and protecting me under His wings.

We had great fellowship, the Lord and I, during the next two weeks. I looked so forward to these times of being with Him in such a tangible way. He did not promise me that my baby would be ok. He did not promise me that I would be ok. But He did give me perfect peace and trust that he was in control of this situation. I do know that during this time I felt tremendous love from Him and drew upon His strength.

After being in the hospital for two weeks, the hemorrhaging started again. I was immediately given several blood transfusions. After two days, the doctors decided to take the baby by cesarean section because my life was in danger. I was 32 weeks pregnant at this time. My body went into shock and they rushed me to surgery. With tubes in both arms, before I fell asleep from the anesthesia, I was not afraid, I felt a real peace, a warmth that was blanketing me in love. I didn’t know if I would wake up again, but it did not matter.

When I did awake, the room was very cold and it sounded like people were yelling, which I found was very typical after waking up in a recovery room. A nurse told me "congratulations you have a son". I asked if he was ok and she just kept saying, "don't worry, just rest. After I woke up from recovery as they took me to my room, they wheeled me past the intensive care nursery and they held him up so I could see him. He was beautiful, but very tiny. Immediately they whisked him away and were busily working over him. The nurse explained that he needed help with his breathing.

Over the next couple of days his condition worsened. He developed hyaline membrane disease, which is a condition where the lungs are paper-thin and become full of holes. Several chest tubes were put in his tiny chest and he was put on a respirator. When I saw him the next day, my husband and I were told not to touch him because it was more stimulation then he could handle at this time. Also my baby could not even cry or make any sounds. It broke me and my husbands hearts. Many times during our visits, we were suddenly whisked away so they could work on him. Even during this time though, God gave us a special grace.

One especially difficult day after visiting my son, I went to the chapel in the hospital. I cried out to the Lord until I could cry no more. I did not ask for my son’s life. I gave my son to the Lord. I said, "Lord, no matter what happens to my son, I give him back to you". At this point the Lord once again filled me with supernatural strength and peace.

A few days later, the hospital called and said there was a young man from our church that wanted to go in and pray for our son John. Even though we hardly knew this young man, we gave our permission. Later, this young man told us that the Lord told him to go lay hands on our son and pray for him. He said that when he looked at the baby, he didn't know where to lay his hands because there were tubes everywhere. The following morning when we went to the hospital to visit John, the nurses excitedly greeted us and said "How would you like to hold your baby?" We could not believe what we were hearing. All the chest tubes were out and the respirator was off. The only thing he had has a tiny IV attached to his head. He looked so beautiful and so tiny. I believe he even smiled at me. We were overjoyed.

Who was the young man that had prayed for John? As I said before, I hardly knew him. I don't even remember his name. I'm convinced he is an angel. God would call him an obedient servant.

The next day he was out of critical care and in a second level of nursery. He had been in critical care for a total of 10 days.) Here he was just in an incubator to keep him warm so that he could grow. He was 4 pounds 1 ounce when he was born, but had dropped to 3 and a half pounds. Each day he continued to grow and get stronger by leaps and bounds. After five weeks in the hospital, we were allowed to take him home the day after Thanksgiving.

John grew into a very healthy boy. Did God do a good job? You bet. John started running at the age of five and became a long distance runner. Talk about healthy lungs. That takes a lot of lungpower. At the age of ten, he placed 8^th in the 3,000 meter run in the National Junior Olympics.

He continued to run long distance during grade school and high school and won many awards. But was this the plan that God had for his life? No it doesn't end there. When he was a senior in high school God called John into the ministry. He has just finished his second year at Trinity College where he is majoring in pastoral studies. There he met a beautiful girl named Charity Christian and they were married this last May. Two weeks after they got married they went to Omaha Nebraska to minister in the inner city for the summer.

John is a very fiery preacher and loves the Lord with all his heart. Looking back, I remember that day in the chapel at the church when he was so critically ill and I said "here he is Lord, I give him to you. " And I want to thank the Lord for entrusting him into our care for a short time. Again I will to take this time to say "Lord here are my children, I dedicate them to you once again. Use them for your glory. "