Prayers and Blessings

Prayer works.

Consider that statement for a moment.

Prayer works.

When a person needs the help of a ventilator to breathe, there comes a time when you have to be weaned off of the vent. I had been on the vent for about a month when my respiratory therapist decided I was ready to try breathing on my own.

My first trial off the vent lasted for 30 minutes. At the end of those 30 minutes, my lungs and all the muscles helping me breathe were completely worn out. It felt like that strange tightness you get in your when you've laughed to hard and you have to gasp for breath.

Two weeks after this first trial, my average hours of breathing unassisted per day hovered around 3. Even though I worked every day at keeping calm, taking slow breaths and ignoring the slow ticking of the clock, I really hadn't made any significant progress towards total freedom from the vent.

Discouragement loomed, compounded by a weekend where I was simply too sick and weak to even attempt any time off the event and I felt like I would never be able to breathe on my own.

That Sunday night, one of my regular night nurses, Mini, asked if she could pray with me. After dispensing my meds, she closed the door, took my hand and began praying aloud. Mini asked God for complete healing and for strength so that I could breathe on my own. Her prayer was simple and direct, and left me feeling more hopeful than I had in days.

On Monday, I stayed off the vent for 5 hours. Tuesday, I increased my time to 8. From there, I kept building each day, until Thursday I stayed off the vent for 24 hours. To go from a place of total weakness and dependence to a place of freedom and strength in less than a week was nothing short of a miracle -- a direct result, I believe, of Mini's prayer and the prayers of my family and friends.

That progress has continued by leaps and bounds. I went back to work this week part-time exactly six months after Jim and I went to the ER. That kind of recovery simply doesn't happen without faithful people praying for strength and healing.

I look forward to continued progress and to the complete healing that has been prayed for by so many of you. I feel like the paralytic man whose friends lowered him down through the roof so that he could be healed by Jesus. I can only praise God for the dedication of my family and friends and for His blessings!