As a small child, my daughter Kimberly had bronchial asthma. As a result, we were constantly in the doctor’s office. And every other month, we’d have to make a trip to the emergency room. Late one night, she began to experience a severe asthmatic attack. My husband Michael was exhausted and needed to be up early for work so I drove her to the hospital, twenty miles away from our house.
In the emergency room, I was horrified as I watched my daughter gasp for breath. I felt absolutely helpless! No matter what the nurses did, it didn’t help. I stood nearby, distraught, wishing there was something more I could do.
My heart was silently screaming out, This just isn’t right! There’s got to be a better way to live! As the nurse put an oxygen mask over Kimberly’s nose and mouth, I thought to myself, How long have we been here anyway? What time is it? I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was shortly before 4:00 am. We had been there for six hours!
Is this what life is all about, spending endless nights in emergency rooms under the care of doctors and nurses with no end in sight?
I knew there had to be a better way to live.
Shortly after that visit to the hospital, I met a woman named Judy who introduced me to the Healer, God. I began attending her church regularly, where the Word of God was being taught about healing. has After about a year, I realized Kimberly had not had another asthmatic attack. I asked my husband if he had noticed the same thing and he did. Was Kimberly’s wellness connected to my newfound faith?
On the heels of that conversation, the very same evening, Kimberly suddenly had the worst asthmatic attack she had ever experienced. There was some pink amoxicillin in the refrigerator from eleven months earlier. And my husband in desperation asked me if we should give it to her.
I gasped as I took a step back, “Oh, you can give it to her, but I can’t!”
“What do you mean you can’t give it to her?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I…. I just can’t,” I replied.
My husband responded, “Well, what do we do then?”
I quickly answered, “Let’s pray!”
I was surprised when my husband agreed. I had never seen him pray before. He was not attending church with me at this time and wasn’t hearing that God is not the one that makes us sick. (John 10:10) I was not sure he knew God’s desire is that we live in good health.
We stood outside the door of Kimberly’s room, held hands and prayed. We asked God to heal Kimberly and give my husband a sound sleep. A light sleeper, Michael found it especially difficult to sleep whenever one of our children was ill.
We finished praying, then went to bed even though Kimberly was still coughing. I can remember lying in bed, What kind of mother are you? It’s one thing to take chances with your life, but this is your daughter! It was as though someone was standing next to me harassing me. I felt extremely uncomfortable. I began to question myself, Am I doing the right thing by praying and expecting God to heal our daughter?
Five minutes seemed like an eternity. Suddenly, the noise from my daughter’s room stopped! The entire house was silent. I heard, “Look what you’ve done now! She’s dead!”
Fear grabbed hold of me. I listened for any noise from Kimberly’s room. Not sure what I would find, I slowly, quietly arose from my bed to check on her. She was lying in her bed. I put my hand on her chest and felt her heart beating. A sigh of relief washed over me.
I was astonished that our prayer had actually worked!
This was the very first time I had prayed for anything since I had given my life to God. I was excited that God heard our prayer and answered it! (John 14:13) I experienced first-hand, that if I ask anything according to the will of God, it will be done. (John 14:13)
My daughter was now sleeping peacefully so I went back to bed. I wanted to see if God had answered everything we had asked of Him. So I asked my husband a question and when he didn’t answer me, I pushed his shoulder back and forth several times but my husband was ‘out like a light’. I couldn’t wake him up.
God had answered all of our prayers that night, for both my daughter and my husband.
It has been more than 29 years since that night, and Kimberly has not had another asthmatic episode since. Yes, God had healed my daughter.
Martha Wentz has been married for 41 years and is a mother of 2 grown children, grandmother of 3 small children. She ministerd to children, ages 7-9, for 18 years. She also ministered for 9 years in Victorious Overcomers, a support group. Her body was healed of cancer and her marriage saved from divorce by the power & mercy of the One True Living God! She is the author of Unforgiveness, Cancer, and Healing. She blogs at Always Abounding Living. Click here to follow her on Twitter.
photo credit: Alex E. Proimos via photopin cc