I think the best way to begin this blog would be to start with my family's own incredible miracle story.
Friday, December 4, 2009, 5:30 a.m.: My younger sister Clytie had been rushed by ambulance to the hospital. She'd suffered a major stroke. When I arrived, Sissy's right side was paralyzed and she could barely speak. A few hours later, the doctors had done everything they could--it was a waiting game. Clytie would get better, worse, then better, then worse--the last numbing wave was the most frightening.
I was rubbing Sissy's right foot when I realized she wasn't feeling the pressure of my fingers. I looked at her right hand and it was starting to curl against her side. I felt so scared for her. The nurses tested her responses--she could not lift her leg, or her arm and she could not speak.
I walked to the head of the bed and put my hand on her hair. She had closed her eyes and was so still.
I began to pray. As I did, I felt God telling me to put my other hand on her head and pray for her healing. I fought the idea for a moment--what if this command was just my imagination? But I obeyed.
As I prayed my hands became hot--like an oven. It was the strangest thing--I could feel the heat radiating down from my palms. My prayer was that God's healing power would pour down through Clytie's body like warm oil, sweeping the numbness from her body. In my mind's eye, I watched the hurt places in her brain reconnecting and sparking. I stood there praying for the longest time. When I was done, I smoothed her hair and looked down into her dear face.
Clytie opened her eyes and said, "Aren't you getting bored standing there with nothing to do?!"
I said, "Of course not, I've been praying for you." Suddenly it hit me. Her speech wasn't slurred! I said, "Sissy, I think something amazing just happened!"
Just then with an expression of astonishment, Clytie lifted her right hand--the one she couldn't move before. She started wiggling her fingers. She curled her toes. She felt her face. The numbness had left her body.
All the ICU doctors and nurses were astonished at her complete recovery. The occupational therapist called Clytie a rock star! The physical therapist told me privately that an instantaneous full recovery like my sister's is exceedingly rare. Sissy and I listened with glee as the poor neurologist tried to find words to explain. He finally stuttered, "...Sometimes things happen that we just can't explain." Clytie was slated to spend five days in ICU, but she was doing so well they didn't know what to do with her. So they sent her home.
But that's not the end of the story.
A week later Clytie had a follow-up appointment. The receptionist came out, looked around the waiting area, then went back into her office. A few moments she was back, glancing across the room with a puzzled look on her face. She returned to her office. Then she was back, looked at the paper in her hands, then at my sister. She said, "Clytie?" As my Sister gathered her things to go into the examining room, the receptionist apologized.
She had been looking for someone in a wheelchair!
The doctor did a myriad of tests. When she was done, she told Clytie, "You are a walking miracle. You shouldn't even be here right now." She said, "I don't know what it is you have yet to do, but you are here for a reason." Then with tears in her eyes, the doctor embraced my sister.
A miracle for Sissy. It really happened. Neither Clytie, nor I, nor our family will ever be the same. I pray this true-life story touches your heart with a new sense of hope. Miracles still happen, because GOD IS STILL GOD. Don't give up.
Look up.
If you would like to visit Clytie and her wonderfully inspirational blog, you'll find her at
Random Hearts.
