Supernatural Miracle: Man is Healed of a Perforated Ulcer, Testimony Brings Nurse to Christ

“What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God” (Acts 20:24, The Message).

It was midnight, and the pain was excruciating.

For a moment, I thought it was just a stomachache, and then I doubled over. To make matters worse, I was in a hotel room in Houston, Texas, over 1,000 miles from home.

I took a cab to a clinic the hotel said was open all night, and on the way, the pain intensified. Now I was on my hands and knees, crawling toward the clinic’s front door. Drenched in sweat, I inched my way toward the front desk. As I looked up, a woman stared down and began to scold me. She thought I was under the influence of something. She pointed to the door, “If you don’t have insurance, you need to leave.”

Moments later, I heard the words “perforated ulcer” and found myself in an ambulance on the way to a Houston hospital. After surgery, the pain level the next day was unbearable. The tiniest movement reminded me I had a 5” scar on my abdominal wall. At this moment, two nurses arrived and very sweetly told me that I would get up and walk down the hallway. Somehow I managed a few shuffling steps.

The next day I looked up and nearly burst into tears. Sherrie walked in the door with my dear friends Jesse and Becky Crain. Sherrie is the love of my life, but she is also a former nurse and a lifetime student of health and nutrition. Within moments I was gulping down a variety of supplements.

On my next attempt to walk down the hallway, I could still barely stand when a man walked up and asked if he could pray for me. This stranger began to pray, and the power of God began to flow. I felt a wave of heat and electricity from my head to my feet. He prayed for healing, and then he prayed for my life to touch the nations. He told me God has a special and unique work for me and that the time was now. I began to cry.

Moments later, Dorgival shared his story of growing up with no knowledge of God. He reached a crisis point when a tumor protruded from his abdominal area, and he had no hope of recovery. But one day, a follower of Jesus came and prayed for his healing. Jesus completely healed Dorgival! His face lit up as he shared, “That is why I come to this hospital to pray for the sick one day a week.”

Dorgival told me if the pain returns at night, to declare Psalm 103:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases

(Psalm 103:1-3, ESV).

That night the pain was so intense I was unable to sleep. As I began to speak the words of Psalm 103, my abdominal area began to grow warm. Then the warmth intensified until it felt like a furnace. Several times in the next half hour, I reached for the call button, fearing something might be wrong.

From that moment, the presence of God saturated my room. When the nurses would ask if I wanted to watch TV, the answer was no. Several visitors and even members of the hospital staff commented on the unusual presence in my room.

On my next walk down the hallway, it was so odd to hear the sounds of television coming from each room I walked by. In one room, the sound of an old western. In the next room, the sound of a political talk show. In the next room, something sounded sexually suggestive. A few steps down the hallway, I heard someone cursing. When I returned to my room, the Holy Spirit gently asked a question. “Which room do you want to be in?”

I was speechless, but the message was clear. You can choose to be in any of the other rooms, or you can choose to be in this room with the manifest presence of God.

My friend Rob Hoskins of OneHope frequently shares his passion for a pure heart and pure motives. Rob testifies that God can provide any financial resource or staff persons, but what he looks for are pure hearts and pure motives. I asked Jesus to take me on a guided tour of my heart and show me any room in my heart that needed repentance.

When I was cleared to fly home to Minnesota, a nurse named Maria introduced herself. “You need to know that you are the talk of the floor. No one has ever recovered this quickly from this surgery.” Maria looked around the room, “The nurses have told me there is a presence in this room.”

I shared with Maria that the presence in the room was Jesus and asked if she would like to know him. I watched the wonder in her eyes as she shared what her mother told her when she was leaving for America. “Maria, someday someone will tell you how to know Jesus. Maria, when that day comes, you must give yourself to him.”

What followed was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever witnessed. Maria heard that Jesus had given his life for her sins and that she could invite him to be her Savior. She was smiling and crying at the same time. She had spent years wondering how to know Jesus, and now it was like watching someone who had crossed a desert take an unlimited drink of cold water.

As Maria left my room, the Holy Spirit whispered again, “Which room do you want to be in?”

Reflect:

Do I have a pure heart and pure motive? Which room do I want to be in?

Equip:

How do I look for the one waiting for the good news?

Aroma of Jesus: Reflect for a moment on the programs and media that are a part of your life. Is there content that is grieving the person of the Holy Spirit? Ask Jesus to take you on a guided tour of your heart. As you surrender to a pure heart and pure motives, be ready for people all around you to be drawn to the aroma of Jesus. “It is in His presence and through His grace that whatever of fragrance or beauty may be found in us comes forth” (Hudson Taylor, Union and Communion).

Walk with Jesus: To see the lost, lonely, and broken through the eyes of Jesus, we need to walk with Jesus. This is why Jesus invited his apostles into a relationship before sending them out to preach. “He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14).

Family Matters: My heart is unmoved if I think of the lost as a faraway statistic. When I understand that the one waiting for good news is my brother or sister, I am compelled to reach them. Jesus calls Maria his sister, which means she is my sister. “So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters” (Hebrews 2:11).

Let’s Pray:

Jesus, as I walk along, there are so many rooms demanding my time and attention, but my heart belongs to you. I surrender what I see and hear, and I ask that you grant me a pure heart and pure motives. “Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:24). I am willing to go looking for the one, but I pray that you bring them to me today.