Hometown Miracle -Beating the Odds

This morning, I read about a miracle in our own hometown. It was in our local weekly newspaper, The Polk County Itemizer-Observer.  The article was written by Jolene Guzman.

In January of 2008, Tim visited his family doctor for routine physical.  Seemingly healthy, as a last minute thought, he asked the doctor to check his lungs because he'd recently developed a small persistent cough.  

Tim says, "He put his stethoscope on my chest, on my back, on my chest and on my back again.  And then he told me, 'You need to go to the hospital.'"

Tests and Cat scans revealed more than 20 tumors in his lungs.  Most were the size of dimes, nickels and quarters, but others were much larger. One tumor was even decomposing and was poisoning his body with toxins.

His diagnosis was illusive.  Because the doctors couldn't pinpoint the actual cause for the tumors, there was no treatment for Tim.  His wife remembers thinking that her husband was a dead man walking. 

"Right at the beginning we began to pray and ask God for healing."  For months, Tim, a tall athletic man who doesn't like to sit still, rested and waited upon God.

Tim called his doctor again in June.  He felt just fine.  A few days earlier he'd even stopped taking the pain medications he'd been forced to take to control his intense pain. 

Baffled, the doctor sent him in for another CAT scan.  The couple didn't get a phone call with the outcome for several days.  

The incredible reason for the delay?  Tim's doctor couldn't believe what he was seeing and had the entire case reviewed to make sure the results were real.  "The tumors have resolved," his Pulmonologist told him over the phone.  "You are getting better."

"God in His mercy reached down and touched my life and healed me," Tim says.

Miracles are happening all around us.  This dear couple's prayers and faith, resulted in God's mighty intervention.  Tim was healed.

What would happen if we sincerely prayed over the impossible things in our lives?  What if we prayed about what we see happening overseas, in our own country and communities?  Sometimes I forget to do that.  Reading this miraculous story in today's newspaper, I felt new inspiration to bring everything to God in prayer as I walk through each day.  

Then I shall look up and watch what He will do.  

Have a lovely day, sweet Friends!  Don't forget to bring all things--even seemingly impossible things--to God in prayer.  He is listening.

(Original News story, Miracle Man Keeps Beating Odds, was published in the August 20, 2014 issue of the Polk County Itemizer-Observer.  The article was written by Jolene Guzman.) 

Sissy is SAFE!

I am posting today to celebrate my darling Sister Clytie's release from the hospital!  Saturday, September 24, my sweet little sis Clytie was rushed to emergency.  She was in tremendous pain.  This was the second time she'd gone into emergency over the past few weeks.  Turns out what the doctors from local urgent care thought might be acid reflux disease--was in reality a blockage in her heart.   

God protected her! The tests they did  for heart related problems had came back as normal, or just a tiny bit high.

So many of you were Praying for Clytie. I am so glad--because I'm sure as a result of your prayers, the emergency room doctor got a bee in his bonnet--he was convinced there was a blockage -- he would not give up looking for one.

This wonderful doctor even asked for two-year old data from another hospital, in order to compare the tests.  Thank  GOD!  Because of this doctor's dogged persistence Sissy is going to be just fine.

Clytie had an angiogram, during which the actual blockage was discovered.  They cleared the vein and installed a stent.

I know there was an angel hanging over that doctor's shoulder, urging him to look further, even though the tests came back as normal.

You can visit Clytie at Random Hearts.  She tells me she can hardly wait to go walking!!!

Sissy has had two brushes with the great beyond.  First the stroke from which she was healed and then a near heart attack.  I know she has something important to do.

A Miracle for Sissy

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.