Can Prayer Heal an Injury That Should Have Been Fatal?
As a toddler, my brother fractured his skull and almost didn’t make it. Then the saints prayed.
In 1984, my parents, younger brother, and I moved from the East Coast to the West Coast. We weren’t sure if the move was a real move or just a month or two assignment, so we lived in a dormitory of a missions’ organization for some months. When my parents decided to make the move permanent, my dad headed back East to drive back with our stuff.
My mom, ever subject to terrible morning sickness, sent my brother and I outside. I had just turned five, and Luke was about 18 months old.
I remember climbing up some concrete stairs, and then climbed down, and my brother was lying at the bottom. His color seemed a bit off, and he didn’t respond normally, and he had blood trickling out his ear. That all seemed odd to me, so I went to tell my mom, “Luke is acting funny.”
The next thing I remember is an ambulance and a large enough crowd of people that I couldn’t get close. My mom didn’t know anyone, and needed to go in the ambulance. My dad had taken our car, and she wouldn’t have given a thought to a taxi, to follow later. What could she do with me?
A woman name Cookie offered, on the spot, to take me home and care for me.
For the next few days, I have vague memories of Cookie’s house. It was dark and small.
My mom tells about trying to find a dime to call 911 on the payphone, not realizing that 911 was always free.
As a parent, I have tried, at times, to imagine how traumatic this event must have been. No husband present. No way to contact said husband, as he didn’t call every night. And even if could have … what could he have done?
She said, “I don’t remember having my purse. Did I eat? I think I slept in the chair next to Luke’s bed.”
He had fractured his skull. While I blithely climbed, he must have followed me, slipped between the concrete risers, fallen several stories, and landed on concrete.
He almost didn’t make it. They were about to put him on the respirator.
But the staff at the U.S. Center for World Mission prayed.
And within a few days, he came out of that trauma with no long-term damage.
Well … he needed to learn to walk again. A vision therapist later in life said, “Did you ever have a traumatic brain injury? There are certain aspects of how your eyes are working that would indicate that.”
He still doesn’t much like heights or needles.
But he was facing death. And the Lord preserved his life.
Lord Jesus, for those who need prayer for big things … do the big things, Lord. As you healed my brother of an injury that should have been fatal, Lord, and you healed so thoroughly and well, we cry out that you would do it again, Lord. Increase our faith, so that we even think to ask.
Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Amy Joy
Click here for Part 2 of this story.
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