Some years ago, I saw a miracle happen. Some of you reading this may have seen one yourself. God showed up in an impossible situation. My oldest sister, who had significant lung and heart problems was in the hospital. Her lungs had stopped working. She was on a ventilator. The hospital staff was trying to prepare the family for the inevitable. The family had accepted the fact that our sister was not leaving the hospital alive this time. While I was talking with my sister she wrote on a pad of paper, "I may go to heaven today" She was ready to see Jesus.
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. - 2 Corinthians 5:6-8
In 1976, as a brand spanking new Christian, I had led my sister to the Lord. In preparation for her death, I had reminded her of that, of whose she was, a child of the King. That her hope was in Heaven. That God knows her name, she is not forgotten. I had put the call out for prayer to the Saints. Her children and husband had asked me to pray for her, multiple times over the days preceding her writing that note to me. Her family had a look of desperation in their eyes. They were helpless and perhaps, hopeless. And then, God showed up. The unimaginable happened. The doctor removed the ventilator tube and she started breathing on her own. The previous morning she had been making her peace with God. Saying her last goodbyes. Family was flying in expecting the worst. But that afternoon, she was sitting in a chair, eating and talking.
I was talking to her daughter after the miracle about faith and confidence in God. So very often when we pray, we pray without real hope. We are really not expecting God do intervene. Oh, we would love it if He did, but we don't have the confidence that He will. Perhaps He is not really listening. I reminded her of Jesus responding to Peter on the water and the disciples in the boat … "Why did you doubt?' "Where is your faith?"
Like the father of the boy that Jesus was about to heal.
So He [Jesus] asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” - Mark 9:21-24
As I looked around the waiting room in CICU that day, I saw relief on the faces of those who loved my sister. But I was amazed to see that they missed the fact that Jesus had just showed up in their midst. He reached out His hand and pulled Sherrie up from the water. He had stretched out His hand and said, "Peace, be still." to the storm that was raging in CICU that day. No glory to God. No recognition of God's answered prayer. They focused on what happened - Sherrie was not going to die - and not why she was not going to die.
This has given me pause to reflect. Proverbs 3:5-6 are verses that are part of the scriptural foundation in my life. That day, I was reminded that, for the most part, people don't trust in God but see the world in the light of their own understanding. The lost, blind to spiritual things, are incapable of seeing God at work, although they do see the result of His working. They just don't know why something happened. Luck maybe. But the Saints should have been shouting Hallelujah in the halls, instead they were looking for their car keys so they could go home and get some rest.
I want to encourage you to be watchful and aware. This faith of ours is not a vain faith. The Bible does not just represent some nice thoughts that help us get through life. God is real. He still intervenes in the affairs of man. He hears the prayers of the Saints. And from time to time, He shows up and does something miraculous. That time, it was for my sister's good and for His glory. And I praise Him for it. Hallelujah!
Some years later my sister did pass. From the same malady as before. And today - absent from the body - she is present with the Lord. Hallelujah again!
Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone
No comments:
Post a Comment