Faith and miracles

    One night in December 2023, Lauren, a high school senior, and her boyfriend were hit by a drunk driver. They were both pinned in their seats. While Lauren’s boyfriend was able to free himself, it took firefighters more than 20 minutes to free Lauren from the wreckage. She was barely responsive and unable to follow commands, showing signs of a massive head injury. When her mother arrived, she asked if she could lay hands on her and pray for her.
    Lauren survived the flight to the hospital. There it was discovered that she had an open scull fracture with brain matter coming out of her skull, the pressure inside her head was too high, she had several fractures and was bleeding internally. Her father sent out prayer requests for her on social media. Her mother, a former trauma nurse, continued to trust Jesus for her daughter’s healing. After some days, the pressure in her brain started to decrease and stabilise and she was gradually weaned off medication. After two weeks she began to regain consciousness and started being able to follow commands. After thirty-nine days in the hospital, Lauren was transferred to rehab. She regained her ability to walk and talk and was able to walk across the stage at her school graduation.
    Over a period of time, Lauren also had to deal with her feelings for the drunk driver who hit her. She has chosen to forgive him knowing that that is what Jesus would have done.
    I found myself getting emotional at times while listening to this testimony. It seemed like one of those impossible situations that had you wondering how it would end. When I looked at Lauren’s car in the video, even I wondered how could she have possibly survived and hearing that she had brain matter coming out of her skull did not help to improve my opinion of the outcome. Truly, this was a case for God, the God of the impossible. 
    I was encouraged by her mother’s faith in her God. She was a former trauma nurse and would have witnessed her share of accidents. She rightly admitted that her faith brain was battling with her medical brain. She knew what could happen and even should happen from a medical standpoint but she chose to believe that her God would pull her daughter through. And He did. He did not disappoint them. 
    Have you ever been in an impossible situation where you knew what the outcome should be yet, you chose to believe God anyway for a miracle? I have personally discovered that it is easy to trust God when things look favourable but when they don’t and your eyes don’t see what you want to see, faith in God can be downright difficult. But according to Hebrews 11:1 that’s what faith in the God of miracles is all about: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen." You don’t have to see it to believe it. Rather, you have to trust God to make a reality what your eyes can’t see. That’s why the Bible also says that we need to walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)  ). If we relied on our senses we would always be discouraged. Trusting God means believing that He is able to and will do what is impossible for us to accomplish. 
    I have had enough opportunities to trust God in spite of what I was seeing and experiencing. I have honestly told God that it is so easy to trust Him when things are going the way I would like but when they are not, trust is difficult. Yet, it is those difficult situations that God uses to increase and strengthen my faith in Him. Sometimes it’s not even about if He can but if He will. How many of you can relate? We know God can but will He do it?
    I can say that trusting God has never been a waste of time for me. God continues to take me successfully through every situation I face. And that’s just who God is. He loves us and genuinely wants the best for us. He is still the God of miracles, the God who can and will do the impossible for you, just because He loves you.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. There will be times in life when we will have to face insurmountable challenges. Yet, with God on our side we can have the confidence that He is there and He is able to do what we can’t … the impossible!

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