Touched
by God
Miracles
still happen
By Judy
Myrick
It was an ordinary day, but it
was no ordinary phone call. Our 33-year-old daughter’s doctor was calling
from Oregon to tell us that Laurie was dying.
I told the doctor we would fly
to Oregon immediately.
“Don’t come,”
he warned. “She won’t be here when you get here.”
“You don’t understand,”
I said. “I must come! If she doesn’t live, she will not fly home
alone.”
We packed and went to the airport.
We telephoned the hospital at every flight connection and we prayed all the
way to Oregon. We were given no hope each time we called.
Laurie had septic shock caused
by a systemic staph infection, ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome),
liver failure, kidney failure, and a blood clotting disorder called DIC (disseminated
intravascular coagulation). Any one of these conditions can cause death, but
she had all five conditions at the same time. There appeared to be no hope
of survival.
We prayed, and many others prayed.
During that very long trip God helped me to accept His perfect will for our
daughter. He didn’t give me any assurance that she would live, only
that He loved her even more than I did. By the time we arrived I had released
her to the Lord’s divine care. It was perhaps the hardest thing I had
ever done. God gave me a Scripture, promising that He who began a good work
in our daughter was able to complete it. (See Philippians 1:6.) I still didn’t
know if that would mean life or death.
When we arrived at our daughter’s
bedside, she was semiconscious. By then seven doctors had predicted that she
would die. Just before she lapsed into a coma, she asked for her Bible. Through
this request God gave me peace to know He was with her and with all of us
whether she lived or died.
After a long night of prayer watching
our daughter struggle to breathe, I requested a ventilator. In light of her
condition, the doctor was reluctant, but he did put her on a ventilator to
“make me feel better.” Three days later God performed a miracle
and raised our daughter to life from this near-death situation. All the doctors
said that this was not due to her medical care. They all acknowledged that
a “greater power” had intervened.
Yes, miracles still happen. Our
family has been a recipient of this miracle. I often have thought about the
power of a God who can do this kind of miracle. Yet, I believe that God performed
a greater miracle in my life than that of raising my daughter to life. He,
in His sovereign power, was able to help this mother to accept His divine
will, whether it meant death or life.
