Miracles Happen

You are the God that performs Miracles; you display your power among the peoples. Psalm 77:14

Miracles happen. I know this, because I have witnessed it. I suppose that working in a hospital would give you a greater chance of witnessing something that defies all medical logic because even though the doctors are God's instruments of healing, they are also human. Humans make mistakes and can be wrong. I have seen, however, two cases of life support withdrawn where two days later there is a miraculous turn-around that absolutely stuns the medical teams. Based upon the tests that were run and the images of the brain, the heart or the lungs, the damage or disease was severe enough to be thought unable to sustain life, yet the patients wake up, become alert and able to interact with their surroundings.

Perhaps my biggest issue, however, is, "what do I do with this?" I know that I need to praise God with thanksgiving for a family's chance to spend more time with this particular patient. I need to praise God in the off chance that had their salvation not been secure, there is now time for that to happen. I need to praise God for all of the little and big blessings and surprises that are given to us. I need to thank God for reminding us that we are human with human failings and that only God is God.

Perhaps that last comment is the most important one. It seems like the perfect time for a miracle is at the time when we think that we have all the answers. The times when we declare that we have seen this a hundred or a thousand times before with similar symptoms and always the same outcome, that one in a hundred or thousand chance kicks in. I am still convinced that even the most routine medical procedures that correct something that would have likely killed the person back in the days of Jesus – the vaccines against debilitating childhood diseases, the antibiotics that cure the pneumonias and the antivirals that reverse the effects of the flu, the appendectomy – these can legitimately be classified as miracles.

Working with dying patients, however, is different. For someone who has run their course of treatments and have had no change or only gotten worse to the end that the medical team suggests that curative medicine is no longer appropriate and shifts their focus to keeping the patient comfortable to turn around and begin interacting with their environment are the stories that lead to devotions like this. The only possible explanation for the person's recovery is that it was the will of God. Medical science will not (because they cannot) take credit for it. After all, it was their recommendation to focus on comfort rather than push to work for a complete or partial recovery.

In case anyone is wondering, it is my witness that God DOES still perform miracles of the same magnitude as the healings that Jesus did over 2000 years ago. It is also my witness that for everyone who hopes and prays for a miracle, the largest majority of those will be disappointed. I can't begin to understand why. I only know that it is the will of God to be so.