My First Miracle

When I first met a couple of volunteers from the Family International some years ago and they needed a place to stay, I invited them into my home. I didn’t immediately grasp everything they told me about Jesus, however, and remained skeptical.

Then something happened that changed all that.

One morning while out for my daily jog, I doubled over from a stabbing pain in my back, which intensified as the day went on. That night I developed a high fever. I went to the hospital and explained my symptoms—blood in my urine, pain, fever. The preliminary diagnosis was a serious case of kidney stones. More tests were done, and I was told to come back the next day for the results.

Sick in both body and spirit, I went home to rest. There I told the visiting volunteers about my suffering. They offered to pray with me, but I stubbornly told them, “No, I don’t think I have enough faith.”

They just smiled and said, “Okay, we’ll pray for that, too!”

They prayed for my quick and complete recovery from what was ailing me, reading from the Bible on healing and claiming specific verses as though they were promises God had made directly and specifically to me. Then they prayed for me to be cured from unbelief.

Before bed I found myself reading those verses over and over, and slowly I began to feel at peace. A tiny seed of faith was taking root in my heart.

The next morning I felt much better, so I went first to work at my office, and then to the hospital for more tests. The doctor was clearly confused as he kept rereading the test results. Finally, he handed them to me and tried to explain what I already knew—the X-ray showed nothing! I was healed!

The second set of tests was almost like a different patient’s examination records, the doctor said. But I knew what had taken place. It could only be called a miracle.

The pain was gone, all the symptoms of kidney stones were gone, and they were replaced with faith. That evening when I read the Bible with Family members, I read it in a different light. It was no longer merely a source of intellectual stimulation but, as Jesus said, it was “spirit and life” —words that had saved my life led me into a wonderful new one.

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John 3:16 ESV “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Mark 2:28 ESV So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Acts 1:18 ESV Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.