Dear Ones, Beloved of the Lord,

Late on Thursday night, we had a little boy brought to us who was having extreme difficulty breathing. He was somewhere between three and five years old. His parents said he was five, but he really looked three.

The child was having so much trouble breathing, that under his ribs was sucking into a great hollow with every breath. And he was breathing more rapidly than I have ever seen a child breath. Each breath had almost a bark in it. Each was convulsive.

Follow up:

A normal person has 97-100% oxygen when you put the oxygen meter on their finger. Our little boy was down to 58%. Even with oxygen, it would not come above 70%.

Our tiny boy was dying, and there was nothing we could do about it. The doctors looked really nervous. We got albuterol and steroids for him.

I did not get close in the beginning, because the doctors were having enough problems without me being physically in the way. So, I stood in the background and prayed.

When the little boy had his albuterol treatment, we saw no improvement. He could only lie there, and fight for breath. He could not even cry.

Periodically, in totally convulsive contraction, his little body would bolt upright into a sitting position, and his little eyes would roll around seeking help, to no avail.

Watching a child die is hard. His mother fled home to nurse her baby. The young father left for some other urgent business. When I looked around, there was no one, but Johny, my interpreter, and Jacob, another interpreter. The room was full of people- patients, nurses, doctors, families of patients, but there was no one around… Everyone had done what they could, and nothing else could be done, and still the child was dying.

So, seeing this time as an open door, I opened my Bible to that well worn page in James chapter 5. I wish I could tell you that I knew it was going to work. I did not. But, even I knew that just like Johny, Jacob, and myself were all alone in the room, and yet there were lots of people – the same way, I knew that the Word works, whether we make it work or not. It is not our problem. We just have to obey it.

So, almost unable to hear myself over the noise of the child’s rapid breathing, and the noise in the room, I read James 5:14-15 out loud. Then we anointed the boy with the oil, and prayed, releasing our faith for the child’s perfect healing.

Then, I walked away. We had done our part. It was time for evening worship, and to stay any longer with the child would have been to neglect my work, and a lack of faith in the Lord to do His part. I looked back at the little form in his struggle on his bed, and I knew the child could not live. And yet, inside, the still small voice of the Holy Spirit was there, warning me to say nothing to contradict the power of the Word.

We began our worship time in the Recovery Room. People were afraid to sing because of the little boy fighting for his life in the next room. So, I stopped them, and told them about what we had done. We read them James 5, and explained that it was now God’s job to do what His Word said. We obeyed it. That was our part. I had to talk to them about the oil – that it was nothing special in the oil. It was something special in the Word of God, in His power, and in our faith and obedience to do what He said.

The congregation looked very serious, but said, “Amen.” We, together, rebuked the spirit of death, and any spirit or curse from the enemy to take that child’s life on the basis of Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18:18-19. Then we sang our hymns of praise, and we shared the Word of God. The child grew much better by the time our hour was complete.

By the next morning, there was no greatly visible sign of improvement, except that with oxygen, his oxygen levels were around 92. It almost felt as though there was pressure to say that our prayers had not worked.

Johny, who was recently translating a book talking about James 1:4, simply said, “Now we have patience.”

Each day, I pray for each patient who is with us, in the morning, as well as at night. Last night, I went into the Recovery Room for our evening worship service, and there was a little boy playing with a wooden toy truck. He was laughing, and tickling another child around the same age, who was recovering from surgery. I had no idea who he was.

When I asked where our child battling respiratory distress had gone (inside myself, not wanting to hear that he had died, but trusting God’s Word in the face of all reason) I was told that I had just been playing with him! That little playful boy running around and laughing, perfectly healed, was the same child that had fought so hard to live only hours before!

Last night, I felt that you would like to see a photo of how God worked in the child’s life. So, I went down to find him. His empty cot was all I could find. The child, and his little wooden truck, had gone home to his happy family, to attend their own church together.

Our God gives life to the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were. (Romans 4:17)

I have seen very powerfully in this that when the crisis happens is not the time to start believing God. We study the Word of God daily, and practice believing. When the crisis comes, whether we can believe that God’s Word is working or not, we simply do what it tells us and wait. The rest is God’s part.

It is important that before the time of crisis we (1). Know what the Word of God says He will do, and what we are supposed to do. (2.) Practice walking by faith, not by sight. Practice believing that what He says is true, not what we see. (Isaiah 55:9-12).

Please forgive me if I have put too much scripture in this newsletter. I do NOT write these for any other reason than to tell you what is happening while we are in Haiti. But these precious scriptures are just as much a part of what we had speaking to us, as any other living voice, during these events. O praise the Lord for His Word! There is a little boy who is alive because of Him.

I am so very glad that He is God and no one else. He is the only One who is able.