Christopher's Miracle Story: They didn't teach us this at medical school!

The Bible and modern medicine work best together!

What would the doctors say? Christopher's digestive tract had been miraculously healed. He was eating a normal, healthy diet and maintaining his weight. His "toilet functions" were all normal. All tube feedings and medications had been stopped. They were no longer needed, but how would the doctors react to all this? Would they be skeptical? Would they be amazed?

I made an appointment for Christopher to see his GI specialist on December 15, 2012. I didn't mention the reason for our visit. I just told the receptionist that Christopher needed a checkup. As we waited for the day of the appointment to arrive, I couldn't help but wonder how the doctor was going to react. I wasn't sure if she was a Christian, or if she even believed in God. We had never discussed religion or God before. Our conversations had always been very professional, very clinical. How would she respond to the news of a miracle healing?

Bruce VanNatta had some insight into answering this question for me. Since Christopher's healing on November 6, 2012 we had communicated a few times by phone and e-mail. I kept him up to date as to Christopher's status, and he encouraged me to share the good news of Christopher's healing with others. He had been on the front lines of the communication battle trying to get the news of his own miracle healing out to as many people as possible. While most of his experiences were positive, he warned me that occasionally people can be very skeptical about the message of God's healing, and some people are downright hostile!

He explained to me that physicians are trained to be neutral. They are taught to not take sides. He said that some doctors are scientists through and through and tend to be very skeptical of any "miracle claims." Other doctors are open to the possibility of Godly intervention, but most often they just won't show their hand. He told me that most often doctors will revert back to their medical training. They will listen politely but not reveal their own feelings about the matter.

As it turned out, Bruce was absolutely right. When the day of the appointment came, we sat in the doctor's exam room waiting for her to come and meet with us. I had decided to let Christopher take the lead. It was his story, and I wanted to give him the honor of sharing it with the one person that had been there since the beginning, his GI doctor. We didn't discuss how to tell her or what words to use. I just decided to let him do all the talking.

After just a few minutes she came in with an intern in tow. She introduced the doctor in training and asked if it was okay if the intern sat in on the appointment. We agreed without hesitation. One more person was going to get to hear the good news about how God had healed Christopher.

As the doctors sat down, the GI doctor asked Christopher what had brought him to her office that day. She wondered out loud if he was experiencing some kind of problem. Christopher assured her that everything was fine. In fact, it was more than fine! He launched into a detailed description of how Bruce and our family had prayed for him and how God had instantly healed him.

I think you could have knocked her over with a feather! I watched as her mouth literally dropped. She kept looking at him. Then she would look at me for confirmation of what Christopher was telling her. She was completely caught off guard. She was expecting to hear news of a problem or concern, not news that God had healed Christopher's digestive tract. This wasn't supposed to happen. She had told us time and time again that there was no cure for Christopher's condition, and that it was likely that Christopher would get worse with time and not better.

Her head must have been ready to pop with all the questions swirling about in her medically trained mind. When did this happen? How long has it been since your last tube feeding? Are you having any pain or discomfort? Are your bowel movements normal? What are you eating and how often? When was the last time you used your feeding tube again??? The questions were coming fast and furious, and her pen was moving quickly as she jotted all the answers down with a look of stifled excitement on her face.

When her curiosity was satisfied, she took a deep breath and announced her opinion/diagnosis of the situation. She told Christopher fondly that she had known him a long time, and that she had been with him from the beginning. She said that she knew he had been through a lot, and that she was very happy for him. She went on to say that she didn't know why his stomach was working, but that she was just glad that it was.

Then she asked the million dollar question, so...when should we take these tubes out? Christopher was ready to yank them out right then and there, but the doctor wanted to take a slower, more practical approach. She wanted to give it 3 months just to make sure that he could continue to eat and maintain his weight. She gave us the name and number of a good surgeon (ours had retired), and told us that she was comfortable with the tubes being removed sometime in March 2012. She suggested making an appointment with the surgeon ahead of time to discuss the situation.

Question asked, question answered. She didn't jump for joy or give God all the glory for a miraculous healing, but she didn't look at us and tell us we were crazy either. Just as Bruce had predicted, she was clinically neutral but very happy for Christopher.

God uses healing hands.

As Bruce had told me, our job was just to give her the message about what God had done. It would be up to her to decide what to do with that information. It was her job to conclude whether or not God was at work in this situation. We gave her the information, and she had to decide what to do with it.

I'm hoping that behind that clinically neutral veneer that she was quietly praising God for the healing miracle that he had done for Christopher. Just one healer, who limited by the constraints of human frailty and fallibility, recognized the awesome power of the one who can heal all, Jesus Christ.

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can pray like this: