On his birthday in 2004, Scott was having one of the worst days of his life. He had recently been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and was growing tired of the continual thoughts of dying. While driving home, he began to cry and said out loud, “I don’t want to die!” Immediately another voice spoke to him and said, “You are not going to die.” Scott knew there was no cure for his disease. His doctors offered him no hope of survival. He said again, “I don’t’ want to die!” The voice of God spoke to him again, “I will heal your speech and heal you completely.”
Four years later, in October of 2008, I transported Scott from the ICU at a local hospital. I asked if I could pray for him. He couldn’t answer for himself. He has a tracheostomy and isn’t able to talk. His wife shot me a big smile and said, ‘yes.’ As I touched his arm, I closed my eyes and saw the words, “I will heal.” I was a little shocked. His wife asked if I had prayed for him. I said ‘not yet’. I told her I believed that God wanted to heal her husband. She became very excited and told me that Scott also believed God was going to heal him.
The average life expectancy for people with Lou Gehrig’s disease (Amyotrophic Lateralizing Sclerosis or ALS) is about 5 years from their diagnosis. Scott was diagnosed in 2004. He is almost completely paralyzed. He communicates by blinking his eye as his wife points to letters on a white board. One blink means yes, two means no. In this way he spells out words one letter at a time. He requires mechanical ventilation to stay alive. Standing next to him, I closed my eyes again and saw the words, “I will heal him.”
As I prepared him for the ambulance ride to the nursing facility, he was having trouble getting adjusted to my ventilator. It felt different than the hospital ventilator. He felt as though my ventilator wasn’t working correctly. After I placed him on it he began to sweat and his face turned red. I could tell something was wrong. He tried to spell out the words to his wife but it was taking too long. I put my hand on his shoulder, closed my eyes and saw the words “it’s not working”. I asked Scott if this is what he was thinking. He blinked once to indicate ‘yes’. I put my hand on him and closed my eyes and saw the words, “Can’t breathe, it’s too slow”. I turned up the rate on my ventilator and asked him if it was better then placed my hand on him and saw the words, “yes, it’s better now.” After a few minutes of adjusting the settings he was breathing fine.
Later that day I was alone with God. It occurred to me to ask when Scott would be healed. I closed my eyes and saw the month and day with no year. I didn’t know it at the time but the date I saw was his birthday; the same day when God spoke to him 4 years earlier and told Scott about His plan for healing. As his birthday approached last year, we were all hoping he would be healed. Instead of a miracle we were given more hope. Around his birthday, his family members began to have visions. One was a vision of angels cutting the chains off of Scott as he was in bed. In another vision Jesus was walking with them through a valley and said they were going to the top of the mountain. We realized his healing would take a little longer.
Scott and I have become friends since I transported him. We found out we have some things in common. We both like to cook and play golf. When I visit him I like to remind him of the things we’re going to do when he’s healed. I tell him we’re going to play golf together and that I’m coming to his house and we’re going to make a huge feast for our families. I’m not just saying these things to make him feel good. I believe with all my heart we’re going to do these things when he’s healed. Our friendship is limited now, but I expect things to change when he’s home. We have a bond of faith that’s special. We’ve both received a promise from God that defies medical science.
I’ve never had a very consistent prayer life. When my daughter has trouble sleeping, I tell her to pray because it usually puts me to sleep. When my wife developed some health problems last year I began praying more. Since meeting Scott I began praying for him almost every day. I’ll probably never be a prayer warrior. But God is slowly getting me to pray more by putting people in my life who need healing. God knew the best way to get me to spend time with Him was to give me some promises of healing and then wait for me to come to Him in prayer. I believe Scott will be healed. So will many other people. Some healings happen immediately, some take a long time. I’m not sure I understand why. All I can do is trust in what God said and continue praying for him. When he is healed, Scott will have an incredible story to tell. I can’t wait to write about it. Stay tuned.
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