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True Grit
Good Morning, Folks! I trust you are all awake by now, and ready to kick off another blessed day. Grab your cup of French Roast or Columbian Supremo, and let's get started.
I never cease to be amazed at the steadfastness of little children, and the simplicity of faith they exhibit under the most trying circumstances. Today's sharing is about some of the most exemplary kids I've ever seen in my life.
This first event took place in 1975, when I was pastoring at Long Beach Christian Center in California, along with Dwain McKenzie -- a lifetime friend and brother in the Lord. On a particular Sunday morning, following my sharing on faith with the church, I felt directed to call for people who had very specific physical needs to come forward for healing. We set up perhaps a dozen, perhaps 15 or 16 chairs in front of the church for folks to come and sit in and be ministered to. The needs were very specific. The call was for healing for the blind, those who were deaf or extremely hard of hearing, and those who were lame or crippled in some degree or other.
This situation was unique. I felt to NOT lay hands on anyone myself, nor have any of the elders in the fellowship lay hands on any of those needing prayer. Instead, I called for the young people -- in this case, they were mostly children ranging from the age of six years to perhaps 13 or 14 years of age -- to come up and pray for the people. My instructions to them were clear, "I just want you to lay hands on the person you pray for. If the person is blind or partially blind, I want you to command them to receive their eyesight in the name of Jesus. If they are crippled, pick up the leg or arm that is crippled, hold it out, and command it to become normal. If they are deaf, command hearing. Whatever you do, you do it in Jesus' name, and the people will be healed."
OK? Sounds simple enough. It also sounds crazy. I could tell you many stories about adults whom I have similarly instructed who looked at me like I had fallen out of a flying saucer. Most adults are too smart for that. Their education tells them this can't happen. Their training and experience tell them that Jesus may have done these things, but that kind of thing disappeared 2,000 years ago.
These kids, however, had been brought up in an atmosphere of faith. Nothing was impossible. They weren't old enough to let their education and training get in the way of simple faith. So they laid hands on people just as they were instructed. Watching them command healing sent thrills and chills up and down my spine. Their faith was uncomplicated. Jesus did it, He said that these signs would follow them that believe, they believed it, and that was that!
No one who went forward for healing that morning missed out. Blind eyes were open, deaf ears were unstopped, legs and arms grew normal -- all in split seconds as the children commanded healing in the name of Jesus.
Well, hey! Jesus did it! Jesus said, "Greater works than these shall you do because I go to My Father!" (John 14:20) "These signs shall follow them that believe: in my name they shall cast out demons, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents (a metaphor for sharp-tongued, wily, deceitful men), they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." That's about as straightforward as it gets! The requirement? "These signs shall follow them that believe...."
There wasn't a shred of doubt in those children that day. It was what followed that really got to me. While everyone was still ooohhhing and aaaahhhing over the miracles that had just occurred, the kids came up to me and said, "Can we go outside and play, now?" We had a large courtyard in between the church auditorium and the fellowship hall where the kids liked to play, and I nodded permission to them.
Do you get it? The miracles were not miracles to these kids: they were the norm! Jesus did it! It was normal for Him. If He told us to do it, then it's normal for us, too! Like breathing in and breathing out. This wasn't supernatural to them, this was natural! If they commanded healing as they were instructed, it was going to happen.....just like that! So, what was the big deal!
One more thing. Two of the children who prayed and commanded healing were my (then) six-year-old son, Christian, and my (then) nine-year-old daughter, Debbie. The simplicity of their faith both astounded and blessed me.
These healings were miracles to the folks whose standard of "normal" was far beneath the standard of "normal" for Jesus and those who believe. It was a lesson to me as well as to the people in that Sunday morning service.
Now let me tell you another story. This one is still in progress. This is the story of Serena Mireles. Serena is five years old, and she is my granddaughter.
Serena is the fourth of five children of our daughter, Rebekah. A little over three years ago, we encouraged Rebekah to leave a very abusive relationship and come to Texas to live with us. A couple of months after she arrived, Serena was playing normally with her brothers and sisters when she suddenly began to act strangely. Rebekah went to check on her and found that she had messed her britches. She took her into the bathroom to clean her up, then set her down on the floor while she washed herself. When she turned back to Serena, she was laying on the floor, crying that she couldn't move her arm.
Within 30 minutes, she was paralyzed from head to toe. We rushed her to the hospital in Mission, where the doctors and nurses began running tests. After several hours, they concluded that whatever Serena's problem was exceeded their medical knowledge, and they shipped her over to McAllen Medical Center. Serena's condition continued to worsen while the doctors puzzled over the symptoms. Within a matter of hours, Serena had slipped into a semi-coma. She was running a fever of 106, and it was a battle to bring the fever down.
Serena hung between life and death for 40 days. Della had been caring for my aunt in California when Serena was stricken and flew home. Rebekah, of course, had three other children to take care of in the meantime, and she was pregnant, expecting her fifth child. Periodically, Serena would come out of the coma and look around. We all took turns watching her around the clock. On occasion, when she would come out of the coma, and she would look around, her eyes snapped to a particular place in the room and a smile would light up her face. Then she would close her eyes, and the lights would go out for awhile with her.
The doctors finally diagnosed her with Transverse Myelitis, a very rare form of Spinal Meningitis that hits perhaps 25 people per year in the United States. They began to warn us that Serena would never recover, that she would remain pretty much a vegetable for the rest of her life, that she would never again sit up, or have the use of her arms and hands or legs and feet.
Neither Della nor I believed that for a second. We knew the Lord was fixin' to do something marvelous, and that we simply had to hold to the Word of God concerning her.
Near the end of the fifth week of the comatose state, Serena began to show evidence that she was becoming more and more conscious of her surroundings. With tubes stuck down her nose and throat, she couldn't talk, but she would move her head one way or the other and bat her eyes to communicate. We realized that she was trying to indicate that someone was there with her -- but a "someone" none of us could see.
Nearly two months went by before the doctors felt they could release her to come home. When she first came home, she still had a traech tube in her throat, and it took great effort for her to speak. The doctors put a diaphragm over the tube when it wasn't in use, and Serena learned to talk using that diaphragm.
I guess I could spend a lot of time with details of her recovery and experiences, but let's get to the nitty-gritty.
When the effects of the all the medications and drugs wore off following her release from the hospital, Serena began to tell us about seeing angels in her room. One day, when a home-care nurse was with her, she astonished the nurse by saying, "I'm going to walk again...and I'm going to dance, too!" The nurse grinned, patted Serena on the head, and said, "Do you think so, Serena?" She nodded her head vigorously and said, "Uhh Huhh! 'Cause Jesus told me I am!"
Now five years old, and in a wheelchair, Serena sits up with difficulty. Though the use of her hands is somewhat limited, she insists on feeding herself. About a year ago, Della was holding Serena in her lap and talking to her when she said, "Grandma, I want to walk. Set me down so I can walk!" It was a command!!
So Della set her down. She hung on to her, and for the first time in more than two years, Serena stood on her own two feet. It only lasted for perhaps 30 seconds or so before she sat down, but she had all of us in tears.
A couple of months ago, Rebekah called me on the telephone. "Serena wants to talk to you." I said, "OK."
"Papa, I'm going to walk! Mommy, you set me down so I can walk. I want Papa to know I'm walking!" They were on a speakerphone, so I said, "OK, Serena! What did Jesus say to you?"
"I'm going to walk, Papa! I'm going to dance because Jesus said so!"
I heard her grunt and groan and she strained to move her legs. Finally she sighed, "My legs just aren't obeying, yet! They don't want to pick up. But they will! They will!"
Serena's grit and determination have astonished her doctors, the neurologists, the nurses -- everyone who has had contact with her. One of the most common comments we get is, "You know what? Serena never complains about her condition. She never feels sorry for herself. If one of her brothers or sisters get hurt, she wants us to pray for them "RIGHT NOW!!" This kid has grit!"
And she does. True Grit. The kind of grit that comes from simple faith. The kind of grit we all need! Like those other kids who prayed, commanded healing, and then went out to play.
Have the best day of your life!
This first picture was
taken when she was
first admitted to McAllen Medical Center |
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The
second picture was taken a couple
weeks later with her mother, Rebekah.
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Serena's first day home
after being
released from the Hospital. |
Serena, two years after
the event.
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--Regner
Regner A. Capener
EKKLESIA HOUSE
RR-15, Box 6180
Mission, TX 78574-9589
(956) 583-5355
Chat
with Regner
This article may be reprinted, reposted, copied and re-used – in whole or in part – with proper attribution.
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