You might be asking yourself right now how I can be so sure that there is power, when those that have been born again, begin to pray. I know that there is power in prayer because of what our family has experienced over the last several weeks.
Many of you know that our youngest son, Brayden, was hospitalized a couple of weeks ago due to the fact that he had been vomiting for over a week with no end in sight. I will never forget how I felt on Wednesday July 4, 2012; I literally felt like I was watching my little boy slowly die. I will also never forget that day for another reason, because that is when God's people began to pray for Brayden. First, we sent out a message to the prayer chain at our church and asked them to pray for Brayden and for wisdom for the doctors that were treating him . Then we began to post on Facebook about the situation and asked our brothers and sisters in Christ to please pray for Brayden. It was so amazing how quickly the Lord began to put things together and answer the many prayers that were being made for Brayden.
The next day, on Thursday July 5, Brayden was transferred to a Roanoke hospital and their pediatric unit. We could not begin to imagine how tremendously the Lord had blessed us with this move until we talked with one of Brayden's doctors on Saturday. On Saturday morning as the doctor came by to talk with us the conversation turned to spiritual things. We found out that this doctor was a Christian as we talked with him, but I must admit that I was not expecting what he said to us. Once the doctor found out that we were Christians, he asked us to pray for him because his knowledge was limited. He went on to tell us about how that he would pray over his patients and ask the Lord to show him what to do. When I heard this, it literally brought tears to my eyes. God in His sovereignty and divine providence had given us a doctor that was a Christian!
On Sunday July 8 they did a endoscopy and colonoscopy on Brayden so they could see what was going on with him on the inside. Again, we sent out something on our prayer chain at church and began to ask our pastor friends to have their churches pray too. We also put out a request for prayer to our brothers and sisters in Christ on Facebook. We could not begin to imagine how many people were praying for our little boy and how far this prayer request had traveled. After the procedure we finally had a diagnosis of what was happening and what was causing Brayden to be sick. It wasn't what we were expecting or even what we wanted to hear, but it definitely wasn't the worst that we could have heard. Even with hearing this bad news, God wasn't done working in the situation. The next day as Brayden's doctor came by to talk with us more about the diagnosis, we were totally in awe at what happened next. As the doctor finished talking with us, he went over and closed the door and had prayer with us all.
Through everything that has happened to Brayden over the last several weeks, the only thing that I can say about it all is that Jesus Christ has been so good to us and that our family stands in awe of our Savior! My mind cannot even begin to comprehend how good God has been to us through everything. The Lord has been so gracious and merciful to us through all of this and it has been an amazing blessing how He has shown His sovereignty and divine providence in this situation. It is our prayer that Jesus Christ has been glorified through all of this and that He will continue to be glorified as our family moves forward. Words cannot express how much we appreciate all of our brothers and sisters in Christ praying for our little boy. We stand in awe at how the Body of Christ has responded to us over the past several weeks. It is our prayer that this situation can be used to show our family and friends that are lost without Christ their need for Him before it is eternally too late. Again, thank you all so much for the prayers, first and foremost, and the cards, visits, calls, and gifts that were sent to Brayden! We have been humbled by the tremendous show of prayer and support from the Body of Christ!!!
How do I know that there is power in prayer and that prayer really works? I have experienced firsthand the results when Christ's people get on their knees and intercede to Him for another family in Christ!
