The following story is a wonderful witness about healing through prayer. Thanks Rose for sharing and for being here to answer to eventual questions in the comments!
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Ni som har läst om denna undersökning (här finns mer att läsa om studien) och eventuellt drar slutsatsen att förbön inte hjälper - läs följande berättelse av Rose Cholewinski - en katolik som tillhör en östlig rit, och vars man Stan, som detta handlar om är diakon.
Läs den för all del också om ni älskar att läsa om när Gud ingriper... :-)
Hon bad om förbön för sin man på en maillista - och fick det underbara bönesvar hon vittnar om. Jag bad henne att sammanfatta det hon skrev och gästblogga här. Fick nedanstående inlägg igår.
Hon kommer att finnas till hands här för att svara på eventuella frågor - så har ni sådana är ni välkomna att fråga i kommentarerna!
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My husband went into total renal failure. . Prior to bypass surgery he had also been in congestive heart failure, with an aggressive staph infection, which began in Jan 2006, then in Feb.2006, he had a quadruple bypass. Things had not been right for him since he had by-pass surgery; he never regained his strength. Finally in the summer of 2007 he did a pastoral care course, but at the end of it he got sick, and started gradually swelling. There were no signs of problems with his heart – his heart actually carried his body through all of this, and the staph was treated successfully.
When we took him to the hospital on that Monday - he was lucid and pretty clear headed. The hospital chaplain - a priest - met him in the ER (the waiting room even) and gave him Eucharist. By Tuesday, it was pretty clear he was not going to be with us as he was fast slipping away fast. As he entered this time beginning on Monday, in his pain and suffering, when he could not communicate, I heard him say loudly - 'God I told you I can't do this by myself', he was going fast.
After he no longer talked with us, one could see on his lips and hear by listening closely that he was either praying the Our Father, the Jesus Prayer, or he would be praying in tongues. As they moved him to MICU our deacon - my husband is also a deacon - came by and laid a small icon of the Theotokos on him. We could not find it, and somehow, he had gotten it under his gown, and if anyone tried to remove it, he would moan loudly - he could not talk - yet he knew if someone touched his icon.
I got sick during all my running, so I ended up going to get a shot in the ER on Monday morning. My shot in the emergency room ended up in a 9-day stay in the hospital for me. Well, at least we were under the same roof, not room, but same roof, and Jesus was present there in the Eucharist so we were blessed.
I have to share a little, let me see if I can recall the sequence of events...
1. I heard the Lord say on Tuesday 'all for my honor and glory.' I said OK Lord! By Tuesday night, it was clear he was becoming disoriented and could not function on his own.
2. Fr. Deacon Stan got steadily worse; his kidneys shut down completely. The four pints of blood became four more pounds of fluid. He was placed on 24-hr dialysis.
3. He had too much CO2 so they placed a tube in him - innovated him, I guess with a ventilator - to get it out.
4. By then, he was gone, there was no communication from him for four days.
5. They said he was heart was holding strong, pumping 50% of the blood it saw, which was great and keeping his body going, considering two years before he had had bypass surgery (God even prepared
that).
6. They said he was there.
7. On the Monday I was in the hospital as noted above, our Lord Jesus Christ, sent three priests to pray
with him.
a. Fr. Wrigley anointed him in the morning – he slightly opened his eyes, but just as quickly went back
out.
b. Fr. Isi came in the early afternoon, and he gave him to the Lord that if his life was to be a vegetable then to take him home. If not, then heal him. He pressed on his chest accidentally, and his eyes opened wide, but he went back out.
c. Fr. Frank (our priest) came, it was late noon, early evening. He anointed him, used relics I know of St.
George, but not certain who else, I think a combination. Prayed with him. Deacon opened his eyes and tried to follow and then went back out.
The kids (our youngest is 23, not really kids) came that evening (I am only going by what I have been told, as I was in the hospital myself, on the next floor). The kids said he opened his eyes, and followed them around the room.
The next morning, the nurse said, he had his eyes opened and was responding to her commands.
Then his blood gases got better. The next day - actually his hands were strapped down - he managed to pull out the ventilator tube from his throat. His fighting spirit was back.
That evening I think it was, they said his kidneys started working.
The next day the dialysis machine coagulated, since it was at night, they had to wait till morning to get it back online. HIS KIDNEYS WORKED THE REST OF THE NIGHT!
They put him back on, but his blood gases improved so much they took him off the ventilator. By then they were removing three liters of fluid and hour from his body.
WELL! YOUR FAITHFULNESS TO PRAYER, AS BROUGHT FORTH A MIRACLE.
They removed 65 pounds of fluid from him. He weighed 244 when we took him in, he now weighs 174, about where he was weight wise when this all started.
The first food he received after the ventilator was removed - THE EUCHARIST!
At some point after he was doing somewhat better, he heard the Lord tell him, he would be restored 100%, not just in health, but everything.
Yesterday, they took him off dialysis 20 minutes early. He needs less, they have him on the lowest possible dialysis setting. Also, they have only said he was receiving it because of the inflammation that is in there.
Though during this time, he could not pray out loud, he was always in prayer. Now thanks be to God that we don't have to go through all of that to pray, but to pray in Spirit and in Truth is to always have our mind and souls in an attitude of prayer. If we do, then no matter what the circumstances, the Holy Spirit will pray through us and for us, when we ourselves can no longer pray.
He was in the hospital for a total of seven weeks, including Easter. I took him a bottle of anointing oil from our service we have at Church on Wed. of Holy Week. He then prayed over a few of his nurses, anointing them. From then on, he had a steady stream of hospital employees coming to him for prayer. Then, once in rehab - which he did in the hospital - one of the physical therapists took him to Mass everyday. So even though he was in the hospital for himself, he was ministering to God's people. It makes his training as a 'chaplain' take on a whole
different meaning.
He has been home for four weeks now. His lung function is normal, his heart function is normal, and it is all somehow by God's grace everything is becoming normal. He is doing exceedingly well. He is on dialysis,
which they say is temporary, with his kidneys working, he still has a lot of inflammation to get rid of.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST, IN SO MANY WAYS IT WAS LIKE THE VISITATION OF ABRAHAM! Our Lord sent three priests to pray.
IN SO MANY WAYS IT WAS LIKE LAZARUS WAS CALLED FORTH FROM THE TOMB! As
he was there four days.
DANIEL 13: (of Susanna)
35 Through her tears she looked up to heaven, for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.
44 The Lord heard her prayer.
In my tears I trusted, as did so many others friends, loved ones, and many that I will never know until we get to heaven. I could do nothing for my husband, I was in a hospital bed, and I could not even hold his
hand. People said they walked away from him in tears, not understanding, but trusting.
I had a lot of time to pray, and I am still processing it all. I especially remembered those who are suffering for our spouse's health. I hope in some small way, my suffering and my testimony as it is right now, can help.
Remember, my testimony, is that God's people were faithful to pray.
2 Chronicles 7:
14
And if my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble
themselves and pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I
will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land.
15
Now my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this
place.Etiketter: English, förbön, Gud, helande, mirakel |
