If you’ve never witnessed the power of God, it’s easy to fall into a pit of despair when things are rough, but when you have witnessed, with your own eyes, a true miracle, you KNOW that God is capable of anything.
Late last night, my friend Dennis posted this on his Facebook page. This friend and I worked years ago with a program at our church called Life Hurts God Heals… a twelve step recovery program for teens facing all sorts of addictions (drugs, alcohol, cutting, etc). Dennis now uses his time to share his story and bring other lost sheep home.
Fourteen years of sobriety for my friend… amen!
Today, I’d like to share a snippet of a miracle that I witnessed earlier this year. If you’ve been following my blog, you know that my best friend and business partner was very ill earlier this year. He was in the hospital for six weeks, starting on December 28.
The ammonia levels in his brain were out of whack and they couldn’t seem to get them under control. The affect of ammonia in the brain is that you, essentially, lose your mind. He could communicate, and he always knew who I was, but much of what he communicated was nonsensical… he made up stories, told tales, acted out mischievously (he may have pulled the fire alarm in the hospital!)
The doctors called for a meeting with his family and essentially told them that he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life… and told them to find a nursing home for him.
We had been through a pretty rough patch nearly six months prior, and everyone felt this was the best it would ever be.
I remember going to the Lord in intercession prayer on Rob’s behalf. It was the Saturday after they told his family to find a nursing home for him. As yet, there were no nursing homes willing to take him because he was sometimes combative. I knelt by his bed, next to the “sitter”, hospital staff who was assigned to watch him because he could not be left alone. I asked her if she believed in the power of prayer and if she minded if I prayed. She said she did and it was fine.
I knelt beside Rob, held his hand, and begged God to spare his life and bring him back. I can’t say that I heard God say it would be ok… and I had literally prayed the same prayer for six weeks prior to that, so there was nothing particularly special about that particular day.
I returned the next day and did the same. That day, before I left, he asked me for his phone, which I had been keeping because he couldn’t operate it and I didn’t want it to get lost. He wanted to look something up on the internet. Surprised by his persistence, I handed him my phone and told him that if he could figure out how to get to the internet in it, I would bring his phone back to him the next time I visited. He found the internet. He tried to log into his bank account but could not remember the password. The sitter was amazed. So was I. He hadn’t been coherent enough to even get that far in over six weeks.
The next day I took his phone with me. I noticed that they had also given him back a desk phone… they had previously removed it because he abused his right to have one by making calls in the middle of the night to random places. Instead of giving him his phone, though, I wanted to really be certain he was able to function and that this wasn’t some game he had been playing, so I gave him mine again. He went to his account and logged in this time…
On Tuesday, I called his room and he answered the desk phone. He said the nurse was there and asked me for my number so he could call me back. I thought to myself, “there’s no way he’s going to be able to do this…”. But sure enough, a few minutes later my phone range. He told me they were talking about sending him home. “No way,” I thought. I figured it was another one of his tales. I called the nurses station to confirm and, sure enough, they said they were having him evaluated by the Psych department and if it went well they’d release him. I hung up just as my cell rang again.. it was him wanting to know why I had called the nurses station to confirm his story! Lol.
As I reflected that night, I could so clearly see the hand of God upon him, bringing more and more mental clarity to him each day. I began to praise God for the healing that I witnessed in just a few day period. It was not instantaneous but there was steady improvement day by day.
He was released from the hospital the next day. What I have witnessed in the months since that day in February has been Gods power… drawing Rob close and closer to Him… by Gods Grace alone, Robs been given a new life.
In another interesting turn of events, Rob has gotten connected with a childhood neighborhood acquaintance… and, watching that friends posts in Facebook shared that he thought he might be alcoholic. Sensitive to his plight, Rob has begin sharing his views on God with this friend… and trying to help him get into detox.
We are praying hard for Richard… and I am praising God every single day for His grace… and healing… and power. I am excited to see Rob being used by God to affect another persons life. This is the family of God at work… doing exactly what we are called to do… He uses broken people to reach broken people… amen and amen and amen.
As I saw my other friends post last night, I am reminded of just how big the problem of alcoholism is… last week Rob posted for the first time publicly that he struggled with alcohol. He had previously never wanted anyone to know… (and, quite frankly, had hid it himself for years)…. but he had the courage to admit it…. the workers are few but the harvest is plentiful.
Through Gods power and Gods power alone, Dennis.. and Rob (and maybe Richard someday!) will allow their stories to touch other lives and bring other lost sheep home… all glory to God our King! Time is short and we want to bring as many lost sheep home to the Shepherd as possible!
Robs is a life transformation I’ve had the pleasure of seeing up close and personal. I pray Gods angels continue to protect Dennis and Rob and not let Satan or his demons near them to try to knock them off course. I pray, in advanced for the lives they are able to reach because of his story… and I pray God will use his story to bring others home.
I will never tire seeing God transform lives. I’m so happy to be part of this amazing miracle of transformation. Thank you, Lord Jesus!
Be blessed today, my friends! God is still on the throne. Hallelujah!
SB
Journey-For-Life 