Thirty Four Years Ago Today

34 Years Ago Today (Actually tomorrow, Jan. 12)
Today is my birthday, and every year when I am home I get to hear the dramatic story of my birth retold by my mother. I was born in Chile, South America. The doctors had said I was dying and need to be pulled out immediately. The only hospital in the city that had an incubator was the military hospital. Therefore, they snuck my mom through the back door of the hospital. Once in, the doctor gave my mother anaesthesia so she wouldn't feel the cuts. Unfortunately, they gave her too much. After pulling me out of my mother's womb, my mother stopped breathing. They got her breathing again, but instead of watching her, they left her in the hall way all alone.

My mother is a nurse and knew that it was very likely that she would stop breathing again. The only nurse who came by told her that her baby boy was going to die. As she lay there, all she could do was begin to pray Psalm 23 where it says, "Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me." 

She recalls the feeling of a dark cloud coming down upon her of which she could only describe as a darkness of fear and death. She was fighting for her own life and the life of her baby (me). As she prayed, she asked God to have other people praying for her at that moment because she felt she could not make it on her own. 

Six months later, a friend of hers who lived in Alaska (remember we were in Chile) told my mom that on Jan. 12 she was woken up with a sudden urge to pray for me and my mother. She had no idea what was going on, but somehow, this woman was made aware that we needed prayer.

The story continues...After being brought home, my parents had an incredibly sick child. Not everything was right. The doctors later diagnosed me with cerebral palsey and let them know that I probably would never walk or talk. Cerebral Palsey is incurable and the doctors prepared my parents for what life would look like taking care of a child with CP. Every day my parents did exercises with my little limbs. 

My parents then and always loved me and knew that they were going to care for me no matter what, yet they believed in the power of prayer and that God still does miracles today. 

One of the people who was praying was my Aunt Candy in California. She had a weekly women's prayer meeting that got together every thursday and spent time praying together. They did what the Apostle Paul did in the Bible (Acts 19:11-12) and sent a prayer cloth (actually a tissue) to my mother in Chile. My mother sewed that cloth onto my pijamas and one month later all effects of cerebral palsey were totally gone from my little body.

When we returned to Chile, doctors could not tell that I was ever afflicted with the sickness. It was a miracle, or can I dare to say,"I am a miracle!!

I am so grateful to God for my life and my healing. I am so grateful to my parents and to all our family and friends who continue to love me and pray for me. I have lived now 7 years in Amsterdam, Holland  and I can not tell you how important prayer has been and continues to be. Without it, I would not be where I am now and literally would not be able to do what I am doing now. So today on my 34th birthday, I want to say thanks to God my heavenly father, my loving parents and family (thanks Aunt Candy) and to all our friends who even to this day pray for me and my family here in Amsterdam, Holland