I've Never Met Anyone With More Faith Than This Person... Here's Why

I knew something horrible happened when I heard my wife’s voice.

All I remember her saying was, “Mom’s being rushed to the hospital!”

I texted my father-in-law. He texted back. “Pray for her. She’s going into surgery.”

No one knew exactly what was happening to her.

Hours later, with family and friends gathered at the hospital, we learned that my mother-in-law had suffered a brain aneurysm.  Her doctor would tell us, later, the impact on her brain, was as if she had stepped on a land mine.

After many hours of surgery to save her life, the doctor walked into the waiting room and asked my father-in-law if he could speak to him. My father-in-law said, “You can tell all of us.”

The doctor took off part of his scrubs and said, “The operation went as well as it could. She is stabilized. Now, we have to pray and see what happens.”

Over the next month, while in an induced coma, she suffered two strokes. At one point, another doctor spoke to my father-in-law, myself, and a family friend.  It was grim, grim news. He said that she was going to be in a vegetative state the rest of her life. There was basically no hope.  Then, he left.

We walked a few feet over to my mother-in-law’s hospital bed, where a Priest was holding Holy Oil. He anointed my mother-in-law with the oil and said some prayers.

We walked out of the room. I was so angry at what the doctor had said.  I turned to my father-in-law and said, “Dad, I don’t care what that doctor said. Mom is going to make it.”

I kept thinking about a bible passage – Matthew 8:5-13 – the Centurion who came to Christ and said that his servant was back home, paralyzed and suffering terribly. He told Jesus, “Just say the word and my servant will be healed.” He was saying to Jesus, that Jesus didn’t even have to come to his house – just by Christ saying the word, the Centurion believed his servant would be healed. Christ was taken by this man’s faith. He said, “Truly I tell you. I have not found anyone in Israel with such great of faith.”

And so, I prayed with the earnestness of the Centurion.  Day after day, I would drive an hour to the hospital and kneel at my mother-in-law’s bedside, while she was in a coma, and I would beg God to, ‘Give the word and heal her.’

Well, that was 6 years ago… and my mother-in-law is still alive. She can walk, she can exercise, she can write, she has an incredible memory and has all her faculties about her.  She is still learning to speak and use her right arm.

It has been a long journey, especially for my father-in-law, who watches over her, daily. It hasn’t been easy. But, after every family get-together, I will invariably say to my wife, Tricia, “Can you imagine if mom wasn’t here?”

In a few weeks, we are all going to watch one of our sons graduate from college.

God is good.

If you or anyone you know is going through an ailment, remember the faith of the Centurion.

Keep the faith…

Robert