The miracle of $1.11 – true story!

Tess was a precocious eight year old when she heard her Mom and Dad talking about her little brother, Andrew. All she knew was that he was very sick and they were completely out of money. They were moving to an apartment complex next month because Daddy didn't have the money for the doctor bills and our house. Only a very costly surgery could save him now and it was looking like there was no-one to loan them the money. She heard Daddy say to her tearful Mother with whispered desperation, “Only a miracle can save him now.”

Tess went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet. She poured all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall’s Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door. She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good.

Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!

“And what do you want?” the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven’t seen in ages,” he said without waiting for a reply to his question.

“Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s really, really sick… and I want to buy a miracle.”

“I beg your pardon?” said the pharmacist.

“His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?”

“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” the pharmacist said, softening a little. “Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs.”

The pharmacist’s brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, “What kind of a miracle does you brother need?”

“I don’t know,” Tess replied with her eyes welling up. “I just know he’s really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can’t pay for it, so I want to use my money.”

“How much do you have?” asked the man from Chicago. “One dollar and eleven cents,” Tess answered barely audibly. “And it’s all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.

“Well, what a coincidence,” smiled the man. “A dollar and eleven cents – the exact price of a miracle for little brothers.” He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said, “Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let’s see if I have the kind of miracle you need.”

That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.

“That surgery,” her Mom whispered. “was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?”

Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost… one dollar and eleven cents … plus the faith of a little child.

Source: Bestinspiringstories.com

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Man finds 'Jesus fish' in Sweden: a sign from God

Fish factory workers in Sweden got a shock when a salmon was discovered on the assembly line with a clear sign of the cross on its belly, prompting workers to hail what has been dubbed the "Jesus Fish".

Lars Ludvigsson has worked for decades in the salmon industry, and currently spends his days filleting "tonnes" of Norwegian salmon on an assembly line inGothenburg. 

But Thursday was no ordinary day for Ludvigsson and his co-workers.

"This guy from Gambia suddenly started shouting that he'd found something special and everyone rushed over to look," Ludvigsson told The Local.

There, amongst all the other salmon, was a fish with a clearly marked black cross on its white belly.

"The scales were in the exact shape of a cross. The guy who found it was very excited, even I was excited actually. I've been in this business for 30 years and have never seen anything like it," Ludvigsson said.

"I called it The Jesus Salmon for fun and the name stuck. The guys who found it were convinced it was a sign from God."

Ludvigsson's Jesus fish marks the second time in recent weeks a fish has made headlines in Sweden. In August, Swedish men were warned to keep an eye out for a crotch-chomping fish found off the southern coast of Sweden.

While Ludvigsson can only speculate as to whether the fish is an omen or a coincidence, the humble fish has a firm place in biblical history. Jesus is said to have hauled in a miracle catch from the Sea of Galilee.

The fish itself is a popular Christian symbol, also referred to as Ichthys - a fish in two intersecting arcs.

So what next for the Jesus Salmon from Norway?

"I've kept the fish for myself," Ludvigsson told The Local with a hearty laugh.

"I'm planning to have a blessed dinner tomorrow."

Source: thelocal.se

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God Mends a Broken Heart

“I woke up at 4:00 in the morning,” Joyya remembers. “And I felt like I was trying to breathe underwater. It started in my abdomen and just… I could not bear the pain.”

Four days after giving birth to her second child, Joyya Thomson experienced the most terrifying night of her life. “And I heard gurgling in my ears, and I felt like I was trying to breathe underwater.”

Joyya had also gained an excessive amount of weight, especially in her legs and feet. “I knew something was horribly wrong, so I was trying to decide if we needed to call 911 and have the ambulance pick us up, or if we could make it in the car. And I thought it would be best if we just get in the car and go, because I felt like I was fading very quickly. I remember listening to my heartbeat, and it just felt like it was struggling, just every single beat. It wasn't working right.”

“I just thought, ‘Something is wrong with my body, and I’m losing life right now.’ I could actually feel myself losing life. When I first got into the ER, they could tell I was having trouble breathing. And so I was admitted right away.”

The doctors performed several tests. The diagnosis: congestive heart failure. But they didn't know the cause. “When I was in the hospital, I was just trying to stay calm, because I felt like, ‘I don’t think they can help me.’ And all the tests they were doing, they weren't finding an answer, I felt. So, I was trying to stay peaceful because I didn't want to panic in my last moments. I was trying to just continue to feel the peace of God and trust Him throughout it all.”

While Joyya’s husband David was taking care of the two children, Joyya called her mother.  “And I said, ‘Hey Mom, it’s Joyya.’ And she said, ‘What’s going on, are you OK?’ I said, ‘I’m in the hospital, and I don’t quite know what’s going on, but I wanted to give you a call so you can pray.’ And she said, ‘OK.’ But that moment that I was on the phone with her, the doctor came into the room. I said, ‘Mom, can you hold on for a moment?’ But I didn't place her on hold; I put the phone down in my lap.

“He sat down and said, ‘Joyya, you’re going to have to have open-heart surgery. We are going to schedule you for emergency open-heart surgery. And that needs to happen right now.’”

Joyya’s mother Maxine also remembers it well. “I heard the doctor say to her that she had torn a valve in her heart,” says Maxine, “and that they were going to have to life flight her to the Seattle hospital.”

“‘We’re going to do one last test, and we think there is a tear in your heart, in the valve of your heart. We’re going to try to go in and repair that today.’ And he’s explaining to me that I’ll be on medication for the rest of my life, and I won’t be able to breastfeed my child, who’s four days old at this point.  The news he was telling me was devastating. He said, ‘OK, we’re going to do one last test, then we’ll come back and transport you so you can have your emergency open-heart surgery.’ And I said, ‘OK.’”

“The conversation ended, and Joyya got back on the phone,” says Maxine. “And she says, ‘Did you hear that?’ and I said ‘Yes. I did.’”

“So we made a plan,” says Joyya. “I said, ‘OK Mom we had about fifteen minutes before they are back in here to do my next test. We need to pray. I’ll call my pastors. You call who you need to pray, and we’ll go from there.’”

Maxine knew what to do. “We hung up, and I got down on my knees, by my bedside, and I got the phone, and I called The 700 Club and this is what I said: ‘All I need is somebody who will believe God with me. Because I already believe that God can heal her body.’”

Joyya had the final test, an echocardiograph, before her surgery. She waited nearly an hour for the results from her doctor.

“He says, ‘I don’t know what happened.’ I said, ‘OK.’ And, he said, ‘We don’t see a tear in the valve of your heart.’ And I said, ‘OK.’  And he said, ‘So you don’t have to have open-heart surgery, and you’re getting better. I’ve never seen this before. We don’t understand why it was so bad, and why you've getting so much better this fast.’ And I remember thinking, ‘Thank you, God! Thank you, God! Thank you, God’ because I realized He healed my heart.”

“We talk a lot about God being a heart surgeon, and that He’s able to do heart surgery. But we talk about that in an emotional way. ‘O God, please change my heart.’ But to know that God can change my emotional heart, and he can change my physical heart; that He literally did heart surgery on me was miraculous.”

Today, their daughter Jordan is three and their son Isaiah is 1½.

“It’s just a privilege to be able to watch them grow up, to watch them play and learn how to read and learn their numbers. Just to be a part of those moments. Seeing Isaiah walk, and hearing those first words. When I was in the hospital, I didn't think that I would have that opportunity. To see them growing up is a blessing, and something I’ll always treasure, every breath that I take, I treasure, and I’m so grateful.”

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Can I Be Healed?

If you are suffering from a disease, an injury, or a chronic medical condition, you may wonder if you can ever be healed. The Bible has good news for you!

While doctors and medicine are a gift of God – and He certainly uses them to bring healing – His power is infinitely greater than any human wisdom or prescription. In fact, He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20b).

Throughout the Bible, God encourages us to call upon Him for healing. He says in Exodus 15:26b, “I am the LORD who heals you,” and we call Him “Jehovah Rapha” because He is the God of healing. Psalm 103:2-3 says, “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”

Some think that miracles no longer occur, citing 1 Corinthians 13:8. However, this passage refers to the return of Jesus Christ. When He comes again, we will no longer need prophecies, tongues and miracles because we will be in His presence.

Until then, the anointing, power and gifts of the Holy Spirit are readily available to help us in every situation!

Here at CBN, we have received thousands of reports from people in America and around the world who have been healed in answer to prayer.

As you read this booklet, ask God to make the Scriptures come alive in your heart, to build your faith, and to grant you a miracle!

Focus on Jesus

God’s Word reveals how deeply He loves His children and wants us to have health and wholeness. 1 John 4:8b-9 says: “God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.” Jesus said, “I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10b, NASB). Throughout His life, Jesus demonstrated what abundant life means for His followers – including us today!

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John give numerous accounts of how Jesus healed people of serious infirmities and illnesses, including blindness, deafness, leprosy, seizures, and paralysis. He even raised dead people to life! Notice the word “all” in Matthew 8:16b: “He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.” .

He then carefully prepared the disciples to perform these very same miracles. Luke 9:1b-2 says, “He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” He indicated that miracles were a sign that the kingdom of God was at hand, saying, “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons” (Matthew 10:7-8a).

At the Last Supper – knowing He would die within hours – Jesus wanted to impart some final words and encouragement to His friends. He said: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father” (John 14:12-13). Jesus then repeated this bold pledge for emphasis: “You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it” (vs. 14).

One disciple who personally heard Jesus say this was John, who later wrote: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).

By His suffering and crucifixion, Jesus once and for all won our salvation, forgiveness, healing and eternal life.

1 Peter 2:24 says, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.” (The King James Version says, “By whose stripes ye were healed.”) In this, Jesus fulfilled the prophetic words of Isaiah 53:4-5: “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows ... . But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”

Hebrews 12:2 encourages us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Through His resurrection, we have new life. Romans 8:11 says, “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.”

Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus promised His disciples that the Holy Spirit would come upon them, empowering them to continue His ministry in the world (see Acts 1:8). This was first fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:1-4), and the same Holy Spirit is available for us today! Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” What He did before, He continues to do today. God is pouring out His Holy Spirit in our day and age – all we need to do is ask. Very importantly, healing is among the supernatural gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12:9.

Have Faith in God

James 5:14-16 gives very specific instructions about healing: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

Jesus said, “When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:25).

These scriptures are good reminders that we should forgive others or seek forgiveness before we pray for our healing. Unconfessed sin, bitterness and grudges can block a miracle. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”

Similarly, Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 that taking communion in an unworthy manner can result in sickness. Dabbling in the occult is also a barrier to God’s flow in our lives, so if you have had any involvement in astrology or witchcraft, renounce it immediately and completely in the name of Jesus.

Sometimes outward physical healing may not occur if the Lord has something else to teach us or accomplish within us.

However, we must be careful not to jump to conclusions about why someone is suffering. Job’s friends offered cold comfort with their judgmental observations during his time of testing. And the disciples once asked, “‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life’” (John 9:2b-3).

Our task is simply to ask God in faith for healing, to believe that He is at work, and to trust Him for the outcome. If fear wells up, remember 1 John 4:18b: “Perfect love drives out fear” – and God loves us perfectly.

In Matthew 7:7, Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” In the original Greek, these verbs mean, “Ask and keep on asking; seek and keep on seeking; knock and keep on knocking.”

Jesus continued, “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (vs. 8). He illustrated this principle in Luke 11:5-8 with the parable of a man who kept knocking on his neighbor’s door during the night until he received the bread he urgently needed.

One of the biggest keys to receiving a miracle is found in Mark 11:22-24. The disciples were amazed to see that a fig tree Jesus cursed had completely withered overnight. Jesus simply said, “Have faith in God.” God is the source of everything – our life, our hope, our provision, our healing, and our future! Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

James 1:6-7 cautions: “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.”

In describing the armor of God, Paul wrote: “Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16b).

If people aren’t quickly healed, they may think their faith is insufficient. But even our faith is a gift of God! Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” Corrie Ten Boom – who survived the horrors of Hitler’s concentration camps to preach the Good News around the world – often said that she only had a little bit of faith, but it was in a great big God.

So no matter how weak, frail or insignificant you may feel at times, remember that Almighty God is infinitely powerful, forever compassionate, and always with us!

Believe for a Miracle

The first step in receiving a healing is to give your heart to Jesus Christ. Take time now to confess your sins, receive forgiveness through His death on the cross, and ask Him to be Lord of your life.

Giving our lives to Christ includes our physical bodies. Romans 12:1b says, “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” The next verse continues: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Rather than praying “If it be Thy will,” first ask God what His will is, just as Jesus did (see John 5:17, 19-20). Spend time in God’s Word, asking Him to show you His promises for your life. Then base your prayers upon His Word to you.

Many people ask God for a miracle but omit a key requirement – the spoken word. God has given us authority over disease, demons, sickness, storms, and finances.

Matthew 10:1 records that Jesus “called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” We are to declare that authority in Jesus’ all-powerful name. Remember that in Mark 11:23, Jesus told the disciples to speak to the mountain, and it would obey!

If possible, ask other believers to agree with you for your miracle. In an act of faith, lay your hands on the part of your body that needs healing. We are told in 2 Chronicles 16:9a, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” God desires to strengthen and support you!

As you pray, come against the enemy and command him to leave you. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we can enter God’s presence and boldly make our requests.Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Pray straight from your heart, saying something like this:

“Dear Lord Jesus, I ask You, the Creator of the Universe and the Great Physician, to hear my prayer for personal healing. I believe that You want me to regain my health and strength, and I pray that You would touch me now with Your grace and power. Please forgive me of any sin and remove all obstacles from my life which could prevent my healing. If I am angry or bitter against anyone, bring their names to my mind now so I can forgive them completely. In Your mighty name, I take authority over this sickness and rebuke it. I speak to this illness and command it to leave forever in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, I also recommit my life to Your service, and I will glorify You as part of my testimony. Thank You for hearing my prayer. Amen.”

As you speak forth God’s promise to you with an anointing of faith, believe in your heart that it has already happened. Then try exercising your faith by doing something you have not been able to do before!

We simply approach God with our petitions and trust Him for the answers in accordance with His perfect will for our lives. Remember that God’s healing may include medicine and professional medical help.

Romans 8:28b promises, “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” No matter what we face, God is with us! “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (vs. 35, 37).

Don’t limit God – trust Him for your miracle today!

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Tony Davis: Unfinished Business on Earth

Tony Davis was a young rhythm and blues singer who followed the path of many aspiring musicians. He moved from Orlando to Los Angeles seeking to sing R&B. Tony’s dreams of stardom just weren’t coming true, so he turned to God for help.

He prayed, “Something has gotta happen. God if You’re real, please help me; help me get out of this.”

"I gave my life to Christ right there. I changed my life around and said, 'You know what? I want to start to sing for the Lord.' I wanted to do gospel," says Tony.

Tony started his new career as a gospel singer. He thought his life was back on track.  That is, until the night he went to pick up his wife.

"I just went to pick up my wife from work. When I pulled up to the house where she worked, bullets started to ring from out behind me. The first bullet hit my left leg and my thigh area. I turned to run and as I turned to run, two more bullets followed me, hit my leg again, and I ran and fell down beside my car. Another young man started to shoot me all over again. A bullet hit me in my right thigh area. Another bullet hit the ground and came up through my leg. Another bullet went across my face and my chest." 

"And I said, 'Enough! In the name of Jesus!' A young man was standing behind the tree, and he had the gun pointing towards my head," says Tony. "I said, 'Why?' 'What have I done to make you shoot me like this? You don’t even know me. What have I done?' "

"His hand began to tremble, and he lowered the gun. At that point, I knew I was going to die. It was too much blood."

One of the bullets shattered Tony’s main artery. He bled to death right there on the street. His wife, Chriselda, ran outside when the shooting stopped.

"When I went there, he was laid out shot in his blood. I actually saw myself that the ambulance was giving him CPR. I asked to go with him and they would not take me because they were giving him CPR, trying to bring him back," remembers Chriselda.

"I started to float towards these clouds. These clouds opened up and through these clouds, I saw this huge city. It was so strange, but the city was beautiful. I saw these colors I’ve never seen before in my life... these strange, glowing colors, radiant colors, just glowing out of this huge city. All of of a sudden this voice said, 'It’s not yet your time.  Go back.' I’m like, 'No.' It said my name. 'Tony, your work is not yet done. Go back.' "

The doctor had already pronounced him dead. 

"I opened my eyes. I looked up. I was on life support and this thing was in my throat; this long tube with a trach was in my throat. This doctor was standing over me and he was about to throw this sheet over my head. But he dropped the sheet, and he ran out the room. Doctors and nurses ran to his room. They were checking me and they couldn’t believe. They said, 'You was dead for 30 minutes.' ” Usually after a few minutes of death, they expected me to have brain damage."

Tony was alive, but the doctor had some disappointing news for him.

The doctor said, "We had to cut your throat immediately to try to get air into your body. So we cut your throat, and we mistakenly cut a piece of your vocal cord. So what we can do at this point is, we can put a box on the side of your throat and you can talk through this box."

And, they told him they may have to amputate his left leg.

The doctors told him, “Unfortunately, the artery we put in your left leg is not working properly. It’s not sitting right in the leg."

Chrisleda remembers, "I was mad with God because I asked God, 'Why did He let something like this happen to a good person that’s trying to serve Him?' ”

Tony says he held on to his faith in God.

"I’ve served God in spirit and in truth and in that, I believed that He was going to show up and heal me. I believed that Jesus said, 'By His stripes we are healed.' That’s in the Bible and I believed that He was going to heal me, and I’m going to stand on that only."

Tony prayed for a miracle, and says he got it that very night.

"All of a sudden, I felt this warmness come into that room. It came into the room.  It was a nice warmness, and it touched my leg. I felt it go up to the artery and I felt like stuff was being mingled together in my leg. And all of a sudden, it went up to my throat," he recalls.

Tony says that while God healed his body, He was also working on his heart.

“You must forgive,” is what God said to Tony. 

Tony responded to God, "You got to be kidding me. Why should I forgive those guys that shot me like this?”

God said again, “You must forgive." And Tony answered, “You know what [God]? This is a choice for me. I’m going to forgive. It’s not a feeling, but it’s a choice. So therefore, I forgive."

The police told Tony he was probably the victim of a local gang initiation.

Chriselda says, "I really strongly believe in my heart that it was a miracle because the way that my husband was shot. I saw that people came in the hospital, when he was in there, with one bullet in their body. They died. He had five bullets and he never died. But, God brought him back for a reason."

Tony is still singing gospel and says that wherever he goes, he wants people to understand the power of God’s love.

"I know and I truly believe when the scripture says that not even death can separate us from His love. I think about how He touched me and brought me back to life ... how He gave me my joy back, and my strength back, and my faithfulness to Him. I mean, I’m just totally overwhelmed with His grace and his mercy."

Learn how to have a relationship with God

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Pritchard Adams: An Undeniable Miracle

Pritchard Adams served as a missionary to Haiti for 28 years. He was visiting Canada the morning he felt a pain so severe in his head that he collapsed to the bathroom floor. By the time paramedics arrived, his condition had gotten worse.

His wife Dana sets the scene, “Prit grabbed the back of his neck and his eyes just glazed over and he went unconscious. They immediately put the oxygen mask on him and whisked him away.”

In the emergency room, doctors discovered a subarachnoid hemorrhage; an artery at the base of his skull had burst, filling the space between his skull and the thin membrane covering the brain. Nearly half of all people with a ruptured brain aneurysm die. And those who survive likely have severe brain damage.

“They had to put a drain in his head to draw the blood out of his head. He just had tubes coming out from everywhere,” Dana says. “When I saw the look on the doctor’s face and heard the report of the aneurysm that there were few survivors that survived a brain aneurysm. I knew that things were very, very grave.”

Doctors performed surgery to stop the bleeding. But Prit had already slipped into a coma. They didn’t expect him to live through the night. By this time, people around the globe were praying and fasting for Prit’s recovery.

Dana: “We just immediately started to pray. And decided that we would let the medical community do their job and that we would do the thing that we knew how to do best and that was to stand by his bed.”

Prit survived, but not without complications. His blood pressure soared and he developed pneumonia and an infection. Doctors warned Dana that if Prit had a second aneurysm that he would not survive. Two days later, he went into cardiac arrest, and he had a second artery explode in his head.

Dana turned to prayer. “I knew at that moment that Prit was slipping out of my hands and that if God did not intervene we were going to lose him. Immediately I stood by his bed and I started rebuking the spirit of death. I said, ‘No, you cannot come here. You have no authority in this place.’ And I just began to declare, ‘Life Prit, live Prit live Prit.’”

Doctors resuscitated Prit and began to prep him for the surgery to repair the second artery that had burst. But before they could operate something changed.

Dana: “The neurosurgeon came in and he shook his head and he said, ‘Mrs. Adams, your husband is a perplexity to us. Three times now he has skirted death. We were getting ready, prepping him to take him in to do brain surgery to find out where the hemorrhaging was coming from and an hour ago he started to improve. We do not understand and all we can do right now is just say we will follow his progress.’”

Doctors were not optimistic about his full recovery. Cat scans showed the speech and motor areas of Prit’s brain were badly damaged and that he would have permanent and severe neurological impairment.

Dana reflects. “I got very, very tired, and wept, and wondered how long this trial was going to last. But I always believed that the Lord was gonna somehow heal my husband.”

Dana’s faith never wavered. She reminded God of His promise to take care of them.

Dana prays. “And I said, ‘You said in the day of adversity that I could call on You and today is a day of adversity. I need You and I need You now because there is no hope there is no way my husband is going to come out of this unless You give me a miracle, Lord.’”

On July 27th, 23 days after the first aneurysm, Prit woke up and a few days later he started to speak.

Dana: “We prayed that he would start talking and when he started talking he wouldn’t stop.”

After 52 days in the hospital, Prit left in good condition. Today, Prit has fully recovered except for some short-term memory loss. He walks two miles a day and is looking forward to going back to minister in Haiti.

Prit reflects. “I am more thankful than ever for my wife and for my children, for my family and for my spiritual family that we have in Haiti the churches, the believers that we have. I am thankful for every moment now, for every minute that we have and more than ever before.”

Dana: “I’m grateful that I have my husband back. I’m grateful that I have the father of my children back, my lifelong partner, my soul mate, my best friend. I would encourage whoever received a report that contained no hope for them, to take that report to the Lord. Prayer and the word of God are greater than anything they could face.”

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A Baby at Death's Door: The Miracle Story of Ethan Stacy

By the time Ethan’s parents took the long painful walk through the cemetery to see the place where they would bury their son, Ethan Stacy was within days of death.

Ethan was already under the care of a hospice nurse. His body was rapidly shutting down.

According to Dr. Melissa Rhodes, Ethan had AML, an aggressive type of leukemia. She serves in the oncology unit at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., where she was one of Ethan’s physicians.

“Children who are actually born with leukemia don’t usually do very well,” Dr. Rhodes says. “The best that we could offer was to put Ethan through difficult chemotherapy and still not know that he would make it through.”

In fact, chemotherapy is so toxic for newborns that doctors gave Ethan’s parents the option not to treat their son. After two weeks in the hospital, Chad and Mandy made the painful decision to take their son home.

“The chemo could kill him,” Chad says. “There are all kinds of risks.”

“We came home and I remember lying in bed and praying,” Mandy says. “We said, ‘God, give us an answer’. We both woke up the next morning and both said, ‘Nope, we’re not going to put him through it’.”

Most doctors at Vanderbilt supported that decision. “We figured if Ethan truly had the kind of leukemia that we felt he had, then even with full treatment he may not do well,” says Dr. Rhodes. “For that reason we felt it was right to honor the family’s decision.”

After only a few days at home, Ethan’s baby acne, which is common in newborns, had become infected. So they went back to the hospital. That’s when the tumors began to show up…

“We noticed a lump in his calf,” says Mandy. “We paged the doctor, and they told us that it could be a blood clot or a build up of the leukemia cells, which is called chloroma.”

Tumors started popping up in other places such as Ethan’s feet, hands, and his forearm.

“Leukemia itself means cancer of the blood; it’s a blood disease,” explains Dr. Rhodes. “But in this particular kind of leukemia it can also go out into the tissues. That’s what we believe was happening with Ethan. He actually had leukemia in his skin, in his hands, his feet, and his legs, as well as in his liver and spleen which is more common. So he was showing that he had a very advanced disease at that point.”

Ethan was now about three weeks old, and his condition really started to decline. He stopped eating and began to experience sleep apnea.

“[The nurse] told me that he might develop what’s called sepsis, which would be a total body infection, and that he would go peacefully or he might hemorrhage,” Mandy recalls. “I would see blood in his diaper or maybe coming out of his ears. I was so scared to open up his diaper to even change it.”

When the hospice nurse arrived, Chad and Mandy knew they were near the end but Chad, Mandy and their friends continued to pray… believing God for the impossible.

“I remember rocking him and singing, ‘Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. I want to see you’,” Mandy says. “I knew that if I just focused my mind on Christ that’s the only way that I could make it through.”

The night that Ethan faced his greatest medical crisis, something happened. “Mandy late that night started feeding, and he started taking his bottle a little bit at a time,” Chad says.

The next day, Ethan was a little stronger… But was he having one final rebound before death?

Mandy says, “I remember sitting at the kitchen table and saying, ‘I believe God’s healing him. I can see God working.’ Then he just gradually started getting better. And over the next week, we were back up to six ounces of formula every three hours.”

Over the next two weeks, Ethan improved! And when Mandy took him back to Vanderbilt to check his blood counts? “His platelets level was like 415,000 -- in normal range, where it had been 39,000 at his lowest point.”

This stumped Dr. Rhodes and her colleagues. “Ethan had gotten about as sick as a baby could possibly get and then spontaneously got better. So we wanted to look. We did the bone marrow test, which showed no evidence of leukemia. The tumors gradually went down over a period of probably a week or so. It was just remarkable to witness it.”

Chad and Mandy knew they had witnessed a miracle when they repeated the bone marrow biopsy in July with the same results.

Today, Ethan Stacy is a strapping two-year-old, who loves playing with his dad and big sister Kaylee. It goes without saying that the Stacys are thankful.

"The prayers of my friends and church members meant everything to me,” Chad says.

Mandy agrees. “It’s just awesome that we have a God like that… I just can’t get over the miracles. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for him because I know it’s going to be big.”

Can God change your life?

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Young Girl Survives Four Days Alone in Swamp

On the morning of April 10, 2010, eleven-year-old Nadia Bloom hopped on her bike, and sped off toward the wooded area at the end of her subdivision to take some pictures of nature.

But she didn't return.

“After twenty minutes, thirty minutes, I stepped outside the door waiting for her to circle around and tell her to come in,” says her mother Tanya Bloom. “When she didn't do that, that’s when I got in the car to go look for her.”
                     
Tanya was especially concerned because the area around the family’s home in Seminole County, Florida, is rife with alligators and other predators. “I knew there’d only be two places she could go,” Tanya says. “There is a little play place and there is a pond. So I drove toward the pond first and I saw her bike in the cul-de-sac, and her bike was parked neatly right by the pond, with her helmet on the handlebars.” 
                       
Tanya went looking for her daughter in the dense thicket near the pond. When she couldn't find her, she called 9-1-1. Within hours, local and state authorities set up a massive search operation. “It’s a surreal moment. You’re feeling like ‘This isn't happening. I can’t believe this is happening,’ and ‘Where is she?’”
                    
Soon, night began to fall and still no sign of Nadia.
                
“Everything that you believe about God is going to be tested. And you have to make a decision. Is He who He says He is? We chose to believe that, no matter what.”

As word spread throughout the community, the Bloom’s pastor gathered people to pray. “It was a very open, honest night of people just calling on God and just saying, ‘Please God, intervene. This is beyond our control, and we really need you.’”
                   
The search continued for several days, and Nadia’s story gained national attention. Nadia’s father, Jeff Bloom, says his hope started to fade. “As time went on, the other alternatives to her being found start to become more of a reality. And you start trying to come to terms with those other events happening.”

Tanya adds, “There were times where I would have hope and then, you think she could have been taken by somebody. And that’s a whole different avenue of, if someone took her, what could be happening to her.”
                     
All the while, townspeople continued their outpouring of prayers and support.

“Her school had sent home some letters from one class and there was a child that wrote, ‘Hope will bring her home,’ Tanya remembers. “And I just started weeping. But again, that restored the hope, from this little kid.”
                   
Jeff adds, “One of the prayers that I prayed-and it was almost constant--was that, whatever happened, God would be glorified through these events.”
                      
Four days passed and still, search and rescue teams came up empty handed.  Then, there was a lead. But it didn’t come from a search party or helicopter.  James King, a member of the Blooms’ church, says God told him where to look for Nadia. “It was a still small voice,” James says. “But He led me, in different cases telling me, ‘Yes, go this way,’ or ‘Don’t go that way.’”
                     
That afternoon, James made the call to 9-1-1 with news that the Bloom family and the town of Winter Springs had been waiting four days to hear.
       
“To go from that depth of emotion to that exhilaration in a span of a few seconds is unbelievable,” Jeff Bloom says. “I ran into the bedroom and I almost broke down the door to tell Tanya and the whole house erupted. It was awesome.”
                  
The people in the Blooms’ neighborhood threw Nadia a welcome home party. Jeff Bloom says his prayer that God would be glorified was answered. “There were people around the world that sent us letters and called and sent emails praying for Nadia. I had emails from people who did not have faith, and they would say, ‘I don’t believe, but this is as close to a miracle as I've ever seen.’” 

Some of the details of the ordeal are already starting to fade for Nadia, but she’ll never forget that there is a God who still does miracles today. “It’s very miraculous, Nadia says. “I remember when I was little, I questioned if God was really there for us, but He does that, I mean really.”

“No matter how scary it is,” her father adds, “you have to keep your trust in Him.”

SOURCE: The 700 Club

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Aunt of Palmdale girl on life support: 'I believe in miracles'

Doctors have given the family of the 7-year-old girl caught in a car-to-car shooting in Palmdale "little to no hope" of recovery, said the girl's aunt.

Desirae Macias was put on life support Wednesday and listed as brain dead after she was shot in the back of the head while riding in the backseat of a car. Family members, meanwhile, are surrounding her at a hospital and praying for a miracle.

Rose Galvan, the girl's aunt, said that doctors are planning to perform a brain scan to re-examine her brain activity.  But the doctors have already prepared the family to expect the worst.

"The thing is, they have to disconnect her from the machines to so this," Galvan said.  "So there's little to no hope because anything can happen in the process."

But Galvan remains hopeful.

"I believe in miracles," she added.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department released the names of three men arrested in connection with the shooting.  Jesus Peralta, 22, and Carlos Peralta, 19, both from Palmdale and Eduardo Diaz of Little Rock were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. 

Authorities said the men chased a car carrying Desirae and her family after a verbal altercation at a Mobil gas station.

The family tried to evade the suspected gunmen as they shot at their vehicle. When they arrived at their home, they discovered Desirae had been shot. A bullet had ricocheted off the taillight and went through the backseat before hitting Desirae, police told Galvan. 

The second-grader was in the backseat shielding herself when the bullet struck the back of her head, Galvan said.

Desirae's mother, who is studying to be a medical assistant, performed CPR while neighbors called police.  Dried blood still stains the sidewalk where Desirae laid. A makeshift memorial was erected around the spot.

A sign left by classmates at her elementary school read, "Buena Vista is praying for you."

John Severin stopped by Thursday morning to add a tiny stuffed teddy bear to the growing memorial. He saw the little girl and her five siblings often cheerfully playing in the yard.  But Thursday it was eerily quiet.

"It's just sad," Severin said.  "Here I am, 45 years old, and have seen a lot.  She's just 7 years old.  God bless her."

Source: LA Times

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Mystery 'Angel' Priest Appears At Missouri Car Crash, Performs 'Miracle,' Then Disappears (UPDATE)

Rescue workers and community members from a small Missouri town have a mystery on their hands. An "angel" priest reportedly appeared out of nowhere at the scene of a bad car accident Sunday, performed what is being called a "miracle" and then disappeared.

It all unfolded around 9 a.m. on Missouri 19 near the town of Center. Katie Lentz, 19, had gotten into an accident and was pinned between the steering wheel and the seat, reports area news outlet KHQA. A rescue crew arrived at the scene and worked to get Lentz out of the mangled car for 45 minutes, but they were unable to free her.

As time passed, Lentz's condition worsened. Eventually she asked if someone would pray out loud. That is when a gray-haired priest, dressed in all black with a clerical collar and carrying anointing oil, appeared and prayed over the girl.

Shortly after, the rescue workers were able to free Lentz and send her to the hospital. When they turned to thank the priest, he was gone. He isn't in any of the dozens of photos taken from the accident, and no one has been able to identify him.

"I think it's a miracle," New London Fire Chief Raymond Reed, one of the rescuers at the scene of the accident, told KHQA. "I would say whether it was an angel that was sent to us in the form of a priest or a priest that became our angel, I don't know. Either way, I'm good with it."

The teen's mother, Carla Churchill Lentz, feels the same.

She told USA Today that emergency workers said there is no way her daughter should have lived through the crash. She believes the man may have been "an angel dressed in priest's attire because the Bible tells us there are angels among us."

Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of My Life with the Saints, has a different theory.

"Most likely the priest will be identified, and people will be able to thank him," he told The Huffington Post in an emailed message Thursday. "If he's not found, that may mean he wants to remain anonymous. Could it have been an angel? There are similar 'angelic' stories in the lives of the saints, when a figure inexplicably appears and cannot be located afterwards. There are angels, of course, but we tend to ascribe to angels anonymous acts that we find incredibly loving -- when in fact human beings do incredibly loving things in hidden ways every day."

On her Facebook page, Carla Churchill Lentz revealed her daughter has undergone surgery for sustained injuries, including a broken femur, broken ribs, a lacerated liver, a ruptured spleen and a bruised lung. She thanked everyone for their support and asked them to "pray out loud."

A spokesperson from Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Ill., told HuffPost that Lentz is currently listed in serious condition.

UPDATE:

Father Patrick Dowling, of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Mo. has come forward as the "angel" priest. Dowling has acknowledged that he was the priest who anointed and prayed with Katie Lentz, 19, at the scene of the accident near the small town of Center.

The story has fascinated the country for the last few days as people speculated on who -- or what -- this mysterious priest might be.

"I think it's a miracle," New London Fire Chief Raymond Reed, one of the rescuers at the scene of the accident, told KHQA last Thursday. "I would say whether it was an angel that was sent to us in the form of a priest or a priest that became our angel, I don't know. Either way, I'm good with it."

Last Friday, when reading an article about the crash and mystery priest in theNational Catholic Register, Dowling admitted in the comment section that he had been the priest who administered care to Lentz. The priest explained that he had driven as close to the accident as he could before approaching, with permission of the Sherif, and then "absolved and anointed Katie, and, at her request, prayed that her leg would not hurt."

(To see Dowling's full comment visit the National Catholic Register)

Speaking with the Catholic News Agency, Dowling offered his humble assessment of the situation:

You must remember, there were many people praying there, many, many people … and they were all praying obviously for healing and for her safety.”

“I was probably part of the answer to their prayers, I came by and anointed and absolved, (but) I didn't say another word..

When asked last Thursday by The Huffington Post to explain the 'angel' priest, Father James Martin predicted that a priest of flesh and blood would come forward, "Most likely the priest will be identified, and people will be able to thank him."

Well, Dowling has come forward, and we all do thank him.

Source: Huff Post

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