Miraculous healing

...continued from 3/26

A week after surgery and Andrew was still not doing well but that afternoon, he woke up around 2PM and asked to go to MomMom's house. I called my mom to see if that was possible and she agreed to come pick him up. I think they went to visit the animals at a nearby farm; one of Andrew's favorite places. We were shocked and weren't sure it would last but were finally feeling hopeful. What had turned things around so drastically? From a child who could barely sit up to enjoy a story to a child who not only wanted to get out of bed but who wanted to go out and about? We had been trying to motivate him for days.

That evening, a friend from church came to drop off a meal for our family's dinner. This had been such a helpful part of our church's caring for us. Of course she asked to see Andrew and I explained the odd, but wonderful way that Andrew had woken up and asked to go on an afternoon trip with MomMom. Our friend asked what time this had happened. When I told her, her jaw dropped and she said, "That was exactly the time that I felt like I should pray for Andrew so I called my daughter over and we prayed for him." Now it was my jaw that was on the ground.

When The Good Doctor came home for supper, he asked me where Andrew was (remember there were no cell phones to give him a play-by-play during these events and as a pastor, I had no idea where he would be to call him). I told him what had happened and he also asked, "What time was that?" He, too, was incredulous to hear what time this had happened. He said, "Cindy, I was in a meeting with a couple of other pastors. At the end of the meeting, one of the pastors asked about Andrew. I told him how our week had been and he said we should all pray for Andrew right now so we did and he prayed out loud. That was at 2PM!"

Coincidence? Some would say so. But for us, it was our loving God's miraculous answer to many, many prayers on Andrew's behalf. That day was the turning point and we slowly started to see our bright, happy, inquisitive son return to us.

This wasn't the first lesson I learned about the power of prayer during Andrew's surgery. The first two answers came before the start of his surgery.

The Sunday before Andrew's surgery we shared his situation with the congregation. I had purchased a stamp that said, "Handle with Prayer," and we told the congregation that anyone who wished to receive a stamp to help them remember to pray could come up after the message. Almost every person went home that day with a stamp on the back of their hand. One of the prayers I requested that morning was that I would be able to sleep the night before the surgery. I am a terrible sleeper even under the best of circumstances and I could foresee a night of restless - or no - sleep. Imagine my surprise to wake up the next morning completely rested! And a day or two before the surgery, a pastor friend whose church was also praying had called The Good Doctor to relay a message from one of his church members. This woman had been praying for Andrew and while she was praying she saw a vision of an angel hovering over operating table, with Andrew below. That image was just what I needed to hold me through those long hours when Andrew was in surgery.

And a few months after surgery, we realized something else that was an answer to prayer. Remember when the doctor told us that if Andrew didn't have the surgery, it was possible that he would be fine but that the doctor's can't predict who will experience pressure on the brain and who will not? Prior to the surgery, Andrew would often get headaches and about an hour or so later he would vomit. We asked the doctor if this could be indicative of pressure already there and he said it could but there was no way to know for certain. It did always seem odd to us that a 4 year old would get such terrible headaches. Well, after the surgery, it never happened again. Something that used to happen once a month, never came again. We were thankful for this confirmation that the surgery was not just cosmetic but medically necessary.

We don't know why Andrew had to go through this experience. We don't know in what ways it has affected him to this day but we have no doubt that God was there with each one of us through every moment of that experience.