By Rebecca Holloway
When God’s people pray,
And take the pains of earth to the doors of heaven.
When God’s people pray,
There is hope reborn, there is sin forgiven.
And miracles you can’t explain away,
When God’s people pray.
(Wayne Watson, “When God’s People Pray.” If you’d like to hear this song, click here.)
Forgive me for going to the “way back files,” but I could not get this song out of my head for the past several days. From the moment we walked in the doors of Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, I knew things were going to be different. But I had no idea how God would massively blow my mind with how He answered my definite requests that I had posted earlier this week. Honestly, I had all but lost hope over our situation with Evan. It had just become so bleak. So dark. I just couldn’t see a way that he could ever get better. And yet God had so much more that He wanted to do. He had told me that. Even though I had written about the “exceedingly abundantly” more that He wanted to do, I don’t think I even believed it. Now I do.
Here’s why: when I started the “Prayers for Evan” page, I did it so that our church family and friends could keep up with us as we headed to TCH. I thought we may get as many “likes” as people who regularly attend our church plus a few more. Well, as of right now, the page is up to 692 likes, and one of my posts reached over 4,000 people! That just blows my mind. If that many people are praying for Evan, results will happen. And they did. If you have never believed in the power of prayer, let me just give you a few examples of what happens when God’s people agree in prayer:
When God’s people pray, a 3 year old stays awake the entire 4.5 hour drive to Houston. (This also happened because his mother poked him and shook jingle bells in his face for part of that time. Poor kid.)
When God’s people pray, the family arrives on time with little traffic in Houston.
When God’s people pray, a scared family who has no idea where to go in a hospital that looks more like a city are met at the door by a patient services representative who shows them where to find lunch and then escorts them up to their appointments. This happened both days.
When God’s people pray, the cost of the medical test had been covered by the generous gifts from the heart of His people. Their hotel room was also paid for by those same gifts.
When God’s people pray, that same 3 year old sleeps during his EEG and then wakes up when he needed to so the test could be done correctly. The EEG techs were amazed at him!
When God’s people pray, the doctor thoroughly examines the 3 year old and comes up with a specific plan to help him get better. He orders more tests to be run. He gives the child the correct medicine for the exact type of seizures he is having. He goes over every detail with them. He seems to know his stuff, and he seems very nice.
When God’s people pray, a blood test that was going to have to wait for insurance approval gets approved on the spot so it could be done while we were at TCH instead of having to do it at home.
When God’s people pray, the family learns they will be receiving a cash subsidy for which they have been on the waiting list for 3 years – just when they were wondering how they were going to pay for all this medical care.
When God’s people pray, a child who has been having 5-6 seizures a day has only 2 in the 2 days they were traveling and is more himself than he has been in weeks. That only could have been the result of prayer.
So if you’ve never believed in the power of prayer, if you have never believed God could do what He says He can do, read this again. And then come talk to me. Because when God’s people pray, there are miracles you cannot explain away!
“Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?”
(Romans 11:33-35, NLT)
Rebecca Holloway is the wife of Pastor Stewart Holloway of the First Baptist Church in Pineville, La. This was originally posted as a One Minute Blog.
