Prayer Works

My aunt had emergency surgery a week ago, on Monday. She had a staph infection in her hip, and the doctor had to go in and remove her hip replacement in order to remove the infection.

The doctor who performed the surgery is actually a member of our church. He is a great Christian man who is known to be extremely meticulous in his work. My aunt went into surgery, and she had been in there for a few hours when my mom got a call from our youth pastor.

He was just calling to check in with my mom about an upcoming ski trip, and he was shocked to hear she was sitting in the waiting room at the hospital. He immediately jumped up and drove up to the hospital to wait with her in the waiting room. When he got there, it was my mom, my great-aunt, and my grandma.

They chatted for a few minutes, and then Gezer, my youth pastor, asked if he could pray for the surgery. He said he felt led to pray, and he was hoping the others would join him. They of course said yes, and he prayed.

Now, my great-aunt and my grandma are not religious people. My grandma goes to church every so often, but my great-aunt rarely goes. They bowed their heads to pray with him out of respect, and they thanked him when he was done.

Just an hour or so later, the doctor finally came back with news of the surgery. He said that because her hip replacement had been done 14 years ago, the technology had greatly changed. He really struggled to get the hip ball replacement to come out. He said he used all his tools, and he thought he was going to have to stitch her back up and try again the next day with different tools.

He then looked up and asked "did you all pray for me while I was in there?" My great-aunt and grandma sort of looked up in surprise, and Gezer said "Yeah, we did pray for you."

The doctor then looks at all of them and said "I knew you did. I could feel it." You see he was just about to give up, when he felt God leading him to try one more time. He attempted to remove the hip ball one more time, and at that point, it just popped out; no problem.

I don't care where you are in your walk with God or what your views on prayer are. I know it works. I know that prayer is powerful. It's our one direct line to the God of the whole universe. I know I don't utilize it the way I should, but after this powerful reminder, I know that I will never take my prayers for granted.