An Encounter with Swine Flu, but God Heals…

I picked up the ringing telephone about 3 weeks ago to hear my distraught cousin tell me about her twin 6 year old boy who was in the hospital with H1N1 or swine flu.  His twin sister had also had the flu but had recovered. He, on the other hand, was not doing well.

She asked me to pray and I said I would.  I took time off and entered the “peaceful room” – what we call one of our bedrooms and spent maybe a half hour praying for the boy.  I immediately got a sense that this would be more of a challenge than her original report indicated, but I declared that he would live and not die.

The next day, she called me even more distressed, with the news that one of his lungs had collapsed, he was now in intensive care, in an induced coma, as his discomfort was acute. His doctors did not know what else to do.

She asked me to pray again as the hospital outlook was bleak and getting bleaker.  I wasn’t too surprised by the turn of events based on what  had heard the first time, although a bit surprised at the speedy deterioration.

I’ll tell you what I did and what I did NOT do.  I did not call a prayer line or a prayer chain.  I didn’t get on the telephone with masses of people.  If the Lord led me to, I would have, but as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I believe it is a disgrace for hundreds of Christians to pray against one or a few spirits of infirmity.  One believer should be able to minister effectively against the attacks of a horde of demons, with Greater One on the inside.

I entered my “prayer closet” and took the offensive against this infirmity.  I prayed in the Spirit and I prayed with my understanding.  I took authority over the situation and spoke healing over the boy.  I prayed a couple of times – perhaps an hour each time.  When the burden lifted, I stopped, called the mother and told her I believed her son would be fine. At this point, there simply was no outward evidence of this, but I was convinced it would be so.

Although she called me the next day with grimmer news of how his collapsed lung was scarring and he was now unable to breathe on his own, I was not moved.  OK, maybe some concern in the flesh – I’ll be honest – but I’ve learned that the flesh and mind will sometimes react to stimuli in ways that you cannot fully control.  If someone jumps out with a gun, your  adrenaline will spike even if you know the angels of God are protecting you.  That’s what I mean. You must realize though, that this is separate from faith.  Faith is what you KNOW, not what you feel.

In my heart and mind and words to her, I knew and told her he would be fine – but it was interesting watching my own emotions at times.  Sometimes even amusing.

OK, what happened?  Two days after that bleak report, he began recovering rapidly and was out of the Intensive Care.  The doctors and nurses who treated him in intensive care were all coming by to marvel at his “miraculous” recovery.  Another two days and he was home, playing with his siblings like nothing ever happened.

The doctors had said that the scarring in his lung would take at least 2 years to heal, but at his last visit, there was no trace of scarring, the doctors pronouncing his lungs to be “like Lance Armstrong’s”!!

So praise God for this all.  This is not about anyone’s greatness of faithfulness, but God’s.  He preserved my cousin from “sorrow upon sorrow” and kept the life of a boy who will live to serve Him and glorify His Name.  I pray that your hearts might be encouraged, just as mine and my cousin (and her family) have been, through the Lord’s healing mercy. Amen.