Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Miracles




Miracles... touches of glad perfection - sometimes great, or small in their daily thousands - lighten our time with Supernatural Presence, for a while. Burning bright, they are born of tears after darkness passes over - suffering darkness, often severe suffering darkness beyond chosen boundaries, beyond control. Miracles change and lift and take us passed ourselves into a new story. A deeper story.

Two beautiful, painful miracles intensely graced our little church in January - large, public miracles of severe mercy. Breaking and building all at once, crushing and healing; life and the Lord in tandem. They moved us through desperation to amazing hope and on to profound humility. Beauty remains in our fellowship, but not as simple - deeper again. Tears and awe mingle in recognition of Mighty God, conforming all things, every detail. New life stories call.

A young, South American man, son of a pastor,
married with four children all under 5, was diagnosed
with aggressive, stage 4 lymphoma just before
Christmas. He was literally given 48 hours to live
because the cancer had spread throughout his body.
Not even chemo was offered in case it would kill him.
This man has a powerful worship anointing on his
life - people cry when he sings because the anointing
calls the deep parts up. Yet, he'd left that gifting
to pursue business opportunities for reasons that
life offers.

Two intercessors went to pray for him in hospital the
day he was expected to die. He was in agony because
with nothing to loose now, the doctors had agreed to
put one dose of chemotherapy straight into his spine.
He was going in and out of consciousness, screaming
because of the pain. The intercessors just ended up
crying over him. Then, they left so that this man's
wife could say her goodbyes.

When the prayers hadn't heard anything four hours
later, they returned to the hospital. Our friend was
sitting up on his bed, talking, and was full of
conviction. He said that when the intercessors started
to pray/cry, Jesus appeared in bodily form to him at
the end of his bed. He had told him that He had taken
his pain (the chemo pain disappeared then) and that
our friend has work to do! Jesus said he is to return
to worship ministry and is to preach Christ's love in
South America.

Since Christmas, this man has remained in hospital
because he was so weak after his cancer, and he was
receiving a full course of chemotherapy. Last week, he
was pronounced cancer-free - in remission. He has
been
glowing from his hospital bed to anyone who
comes
along, and he's making plans to record his
songs and
travel to South America. Both he and his
wife have
whole-heartedly changed their direction
from business
back to ministering to people!

So, out of pain comes healing and restoration.

The same day this healing was described, I sat by a
couple and their 3 year-old daughter at church, who
were still grieving the loss of their infant son
several months ago to a congenital heart defect.

Sunday night we heard that on her way home from
shopping, an SUV crossed over the median and
slammed into two cars on the opposite side - one
of which was this young mother's. Tragically, her
3 year-old was killed immediately and the mom
was critically injured and airlifted to hospital.

The day after the accident, this mom woke and
communicated through a touch pad, but the day
after that she became unresponsive for 48 hours.

She woke up after that 48 hours and her husband
said to her, "You've been in a coma." And she
said, "I know, I had some things to sort out...."
She said she did not remember the accident but she
somehow had known that her daughter was dead.
While she was in that unexplained unresponsiveness
she said the Lord took her to Heaven. She saw her
daughter with the Lord and she saw she was okay -
that she was actually not dead at all. The Lord
gave this mom the choice of coming Home now, or of
returning to Earth to "make her life count." She
choose to come back! Her husband came to church
on Sunday and said she is amazing. From the first
time she woke after the accident - when she had
absolutely no will to live - to when she returned
from her coma, she had completely changed. He said
her hospital room is filled with the Holy Spirit
and people come to visit just to feel the
atmosphere around her. He said she is glowing!
She knows her daughter and her baby boy are safe
and that she has a mission now. The Lord has filled
her devastation with purpose. The hospital had
said that she might be discharged in two months,
but updated that yesterday to say that she can go
home today! She is longing to come to church this
Sunday and says she could feel the prayers being
prayed for her.

Her husband knows amazing grace, too. From
phoning to offer complete forgiveness to the family
in the SUV, to standing right beside his wife in
her new calling, to saying last Sunday what a
blessing it is that his last memories of his little
girl will be of holding her in his arms at church,
where she was so happy, and of her eating pretzels
and marshmallows at the coffee bar....

All things, however hard, work together for good,
above and beyond our imagining. Even when we suffer
and loose so much through life, a touch from the
Lord can completely change everything within us!
Hope out of darkness - so typical of Jesus.

Humbled by His Love,
Gemma