I believe in miracles. It’s not that I didn’t before, it’s that I had a hard time deciding if an event really was a miracle or not. I attributed that to a lack of faith on my part, and it very well may have been. But on September 27, 2001 several things were cleared up for me.

    Let me explain.

    My wife Joanna and I were expecting a baby boy that we had already named Jacob. The doctor told us that he should be born October 18, 2001. We prepared for that date. With the nursery incomplete, and several items necessary for a baby lacking, Joanna went into labor three weeks prematurely.

The Arrival of My Son

    Several hours later, we had a beautiful baby boy. A beautiful baby boy struggling to breathe by himself. A beautiful baby boy being hurried to the intensive care nursery with his panicked father close beside him. The excitement in seeing my son for the first time quickly spun into another emotion — terror.

The Prognosis

    My father-in-law, Joe Beam, stood with his arm on my shoulder comforting me. I watched my son as he lay in a plastic see-through, bed. Tubes were in his nose and mouth helping him to breathe, and needles in some of his veins keeping him hydrated. I wanted this bad dream over. I wanted him to be healthy and safe. Instead, he lay there with medical machinery keeping him alive.

    The eyes of Dr. Brawley sensitively measured my reactions as he explained the situation. I tried to latch on to any possibility he proposed that seemed safe, but none of them did. Immature lungs, Pneumonia, other dangerous viruses. Though unlikely, the best case scenario was an extremely bad case of fluid in the lungs. Dr. Brawley said to be prepared for a few weeks in the hospital and for surgery to be done inserting a tube directly into Jacob’s windpipe.

Asking God to Intervene

    Joe began emailing and calling Christians around the world. People began praying. Joanna was praying. I was praying. In my mind it was never a matter of if God could heal my son, but if He would.

People began praying. Joanna was praying. I was praying.

    My parents traveled six hours to be with us and prayed for God to heal Jacob. Many people contacted us to let us know they were praying. Joanna and I knew that God was being asked by his children to be with Jacob and we were comforted by this.

God is Working

    Dr. Brawley phoned Joanna’s hospital room the next morning with incredible news. During the night, Jacob had snatched the tubes from his nose and mouth. He was doing so well without them that the doctors decided to leave them out. Jacob was breathing unaided! “You have got to see the X-Rays,” Dr. Brawley said.

    Half-an-hour later Joanna and I stood in the intensive care nursery looking at our now healthy, normal, baby boy. He no longer had tubes in his mouth and nose. Dr. Brawley saw us from the hallway and again said, “You have got to see the X-Rays!”

The X-Rays “The Radiologist said it was a miraculous change,” Dr. Brolly said as he prepared the X-Rays for our viewing. “This is day one. Black is good and means that his lungs are clear.” He pointed to Jacob’s lunges in the X-Ray of day one. Very little black. Lots of foggy matter. “Now,” he said, “look at today’s X-Ray.” The light illuminated the film as Joanna and I looked on. Eyes wide and hearts pounding we looked from left to right at the before and after pictures. The after pictures were all black! All clear! “Prayer works,” Dr. Brawley began. “With the possible problems that were in Jacob’s lungs it couldn’t have cleared up that fast!” We all looked for several minutes in silence. Dr. Brawley just smiled and shook his head in awe.

I Thank God for the X-Rays

    I don’t know how to convey to you what God did that day. I have trouble grasping the phenomenon myself.

    I am thankful for the X-Rays not just because they showed me that my son was well. I am thankful for the X-Rays because they allowed me to see God working.

    I know too many Christians who think that prayer is a good thing to do, but never really solves anything. They give credit to chance, or luck, and consider God to be retired from intervening for mankind.

    The experts tell me that their medicine couldn’t have cleared it up that fast, if at all. If you choose to accept coincidence, forgive me if I laugh. I will be happy to show you the X-Rays. You would immediately see the supernatural touch of the only power in the universe who could have healed my son that quickly. God.

Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. (Isaiah 59:1)

    I believe God works miracles. How about you?

Title: "X-Rays"
Author: Lee Wilson
Publication Date: October 24, 2001

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