God delivers on those prayers a lot. You hear many stories of tumors miraculously disappearing, people walking after horrific accidents, and folks flat lining and coming back.
So when we pray, hard, for a miracle, and the miracle is not miraculous healing, it can hurt and seem unfair. I won't pretend that our human hearts don't feel that and our brains don't have a hard time accepting that.
But my prayer is that, if you've prayed for a miracle in your life, what I'm writing today will help your heart heal a little more.
I'm here with good news. If you've prayed for a miracle, your prayer was answered, even if your loved one passed. And here's why: miraculous healing is only one small part of what constitutes as a miracle. I'm going to break down the other parts in Part 2 of this series, but I wanted to start by sharing my own personal miraculous healing, because it's MY story.
The Right Place at the Right Time
There's a doctor in Charlotte who kept my x-rays framed on his desk for years (maybe he still has them, I don't know) so that he could tell people my story. The x-rays revealed the impossible: traumatic brain injury of a 4 year old little girl, bits of skull had been embedded, and part of the brain was destroyed. All because she was in the right place at the right time.
To anyone else, it would seem that I was in the WRONG place. But in order for this story to be one of miraculous healing, I had to be where I was. I was playing in the yard while my grandpa was giving my cousin a ride on the riding lawn mower. Without too many specifics, my cousin (who was 3 at the time) started to fall. Somehow, he hit the throttle while my grandpa was catching him, the lawnmower sped up, and I was quite simply in the way.
***I'm going to go into some details here, so fair warning. If it's too much for you to handle a little blood, scroll on until you see the *** again.
I was hit. My skull was smashed in, little shards impaled into my brain, my hair wrapped around the axle, and my scalp pulled away.
***Okay it's safe again.
My grandpa pulled the lawnmower off of me and saved me. That was miracle number one of many. He talked to me to keep me conscious until the ambulance arrived to rush me to the hospital.
Now, I don't know what you know about small towns in the 80's, but I'm here to tell you the hospitals were not as equipped as they are now. I was rushed to Richmond Memorial Hospital in Rockingham, NC. In other words, I was rushed to the 1988 version of a doctor's office on steroids. It was just a small town, and they just didn't have the means to perform outrageous miracles, and that's just the way it was. But they were going to try.
And that's when miracle number two happened. A doctor from Charlotte happened to be visiting. He saw me and immediately told them they'd need to get me to Charlotte if there was any chance of survival. They did the only logical thing they could and started preparing me for the ambulance ride. He stopped them again and demanded that I be airlifted. Of course, there were no helicopters at Small Town USA Memorial Hospital, so miracle number three had to occur. There just so happened to be an air show in town that day. I was loaded onto a borrowed helicopter and airlifted to Charlotte.
What I remember
I used to remember little specifics leading up to the accident happening in a different area of the house, simply a recreation I had put together in my head. I don't remember anything about the lawnmower coming towards me, I don't remember being scared or being hit or any type of pain whatsoever. That's probably a miracle in itself.
I do remember being in a large room with lots of beds and waking up to see my mom and dad standing over me. As soon as my eyes opened, they were ushered out. I assume it was the end of visiting hours or something, but I recall making the most mean, mad face I could possibly make and tracking the nurse that made them leave around the room with that look. She was going to know who not to mess with.
I also remember hearing the doctor tell my mom that I wouldn't be able to move one side of my body very well for the rest of my life, which, small potatoes compared to losing my life entirely, right? But when I heard it, I refused to believe it. So I kicked my hospital blanket off, using both legs, and flailed my arms around, making him retract his statement. Don't put your limitations on a four year old.
Fred Flintstone
My miraculous healing could have ended with me surviving, and that would have been the miracle. There are so many things that could have gone wrong, things that could have remained impossible. When my mom walked into my room and asked if I knew who she was for the first time after the accident, I replied with "Yes. Fred Flintstone." (I like to think I was just messing with her, but the truth is I was probably still putting a lot of effort into just surviving at the moment.) I also knew color names, but didn't match them to the right colors. I could have lived the rest of my life in a wheelchair, or been able to walk but have absolutely no control over what I did or said. I could have been in special classes, unable to make and maintain memories, unable to read, unable to communicate... the list goes on.
But I survived and my recovery was truly a complete and total miraculous healing. I have a few small scars on the back of my head and a tiny soft spot, but my coordination completely returned. I've been a dancer, an athlete, a drummer, I've memorized lines for plays, I can sing (to a point), I enjoy learning and trying new things, I was in advanced placement classes... There is nothing in my current life that would lead you to believe that I should have lost it all.
(This is the part where my husband would remind me how clumsy I am, but that was there before the accident as well.)
The big point is: people prayed for a miracle, and I got one in the form of miraculous healing. I wasn't done yet. And God wasn't done with me yet.
But, just because the prayer for a miraculous healing isn't answered with a "yes" doesn't mean that God didn't use a person or that He was DONE with that person. That person's miracle was just in a different form. So, I invite you to check out Part 2 where I delve into other types of miracles that God grants through a person's life. Just because the physical body is gone, doesn't mean that God is done.
Oh Hollie, I remember this so clearly! We were all terrified but God was truly in control and we all witness an amazing healing. A miracle! You are perfect and I love you so much!
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