Coincidence or God-incidents?

Reflecting upon the instances where someone has asked for healing prayer and healings have occurred, one tends to ask: "is this just a coincidence that they were healed?" By that I mean, would they have gotten better without having come for healing? After all, most of the time when someone has a need to improve their state of health they are simultaneously under the care of a physician or in some state of medical treatment. Thrown into the mix is an incident of healing prayer. Makes ya kinda say Hmmmmm.

As I've previously stated, I don't check back to see how well God has performed. I don't call or visit to see what changes have taken place. But let me share what happened in July of 2006 and the followup call I received 4 months later.

I was attending my newphew's funeral in Michigan and while at the funeral home one of my sisters asked me to pray over her daughter's knee. She had been suffering from a chronic kneecap detachment and had to use crutches throughout most of the previous school year. The management at the funeral home provided us with a quiet, secluded area for prayer. My sister, her daughter and I prayed for a healing - whatever healing God would provide, be it a healing of the attitude about the affliction; a healing of the ability to deal with the pain; a healing of the kneecap itself...whatever manner of healing God would provide would be gracefully accepted. We prayed that God would enter into the situation and we accepted that whatever His will was, we would be grateful for Him hearing our prayers. We had tears in our eyes and smiling faces as we prayed. God is so good!

While at work one day in mid November the phone rings. It was my sister (who NEVER calls me at work) bubbling over with enthusiasm. She told me that ever since we prayed over her daughter her knee kept getting better and better. Plus she said that her daughter joined the swim team at the beginning of the school year and is the fastest butterfly swimmer on the team. We both praised God together on the phone. I came home and discovered a voicemail message she had left prior to digging up my work number exclaiming how great God is and thanking me for praying with them.

Coincidence? God-incident? I say God-incident.

There tends to be a lot of anecdotal evidence of healings with very little WOW-factor involved. By that I mean, how often do you hear of concrete, scientifically studied healings taking place? In fact, when intercessory prayer has been clinically studied there seems to be no apparent difference in the recipient's condition versus those for whom no prayer was given. But in those studies it wasn't personal. By that I mean, the people being prayed for never met those offering the prayers. The scientific method would yield skewed results if there were personal interactions between those praying and the one's being prayed for. So, when someone tells of knowing that someone has received a healing through prayer, if you look for proof you may not find it. It could easily be dismissed as coincidence.

The fact is there are WOW-factor healings that take place. CNN, NBC, ABC or CBS just never seems to have a reporter there when it occurs. But when you talk to honest, God-loving people who relate their personal experiences regarding healings, and you look them in the eye as they relate, there's no denying what they believe.

Albert Einstien is quoted as saying that if you don't believe in miracles, you'll never see one. If you believe in miracles, you'll see them everywhere.

I believe.