Miracle stuns surgeon, bolsters faith
Miracles through divine intervention happen on a regular basis. People pray, God moves, miracles happen. However, only a small fraction of the time are miracles documented. It can also be hard to separate true experiences from rumors or real experiences that have been “enhanced.”
And although many people believe in divine healing even in hopeless situations…it sometimes seems to be reserved for “other people.”
That’s the way it was for Amy Knight, a single mother of three - Kayla, Ryan and Alex - who attends Whitehouse (Texas) First Assembly. She explains that she’s heard of fantastic healings before, but she’s never personally experienced or ever seen one.
Michael Fleming
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| Whitehouse First Assembly Senior Pastor Michael Fleming. |
According to First Assembly Senior Pastor Michael Fleming, Amy’s 11-year-old daughter Kayla, who regularly attends children’s church and her Mpact Girls Club (formerly known as Missionettes), began complaining about ongoing headaches that continued to grow in severity.
“The headaches grew in intensity until in May, I took her to the ER,” Amy says. “They took an X-ray there and noted an abnormality, and recommended I see a neurologist.”
But neurologists don’t come cheap. Due to their income level, however, Kayla qualifies for Medicaid, but it took weeks for Amy to find a doctor who would accept a Medicaid payment. Two months later, Kayla finally got in to see a doctor in nearby Tyler, who ordered a CAT scan and then an MRI.
By this time, Kayla was spending most of her time in bed, unable to get up and her headaches nearly unbearable.
When the doctor in Tyler saw the results of the MRI, he quickly noticed a large white blotch - a tumor in Kayla’s brain. He immediately sent the pair to see a specialist in Dallas. After several visits, the specialist ordered another MRI to confirm the tumor’s size. It had grown significantly.
“The doctor took me aside and told me that if the tumor continued to grow at its current rate, within two weeks the tumor would cover her brain and Kayla would be brain dead,” Amy recalls. “The other option was surgery, but with that surgery there was a 95 percent chance of her not surviving. It was a difficult decision, but I chose to let Kayla at least have what was left of her life, rather than taking such a long chance on that operation. I told the doctor that I was going to leave it in God’s hands.”
Later that day, Kayla asked Amy what was wrong with her. Amy told her everything. But added, “We’re going to let the church pray for you tonight and we’re going to believe that it’s [the tumor] not going to be there anymore.”
“During the service that night,” Fleming says, “Kayla came up from her Mpact Girls Club, sat on the front pew and we gathered around her. We started to pray - we could feel the presence of God. We prayed that when they went back for tests, that the tumor would be removed and the reports would be changed.”
Two days later, Kayla was back in Dallas for another MRI.
“After they got the results back, the doctor called me and told me to come in,” Amy says. “I was thinking it was bad news . . . he put the MRI in front of me and I really didn’t know what I was looking at. To me, I didn’t see a thing, so I thought the tumor had spread across her brain.”
Brain scan, before and after
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| Before prayer (left) and after. Two days after being prayed for at church, the second MRI finds no tumors in Kayla’s brain. |
In fact, the doctor was stunned and was struggling for an answer. The tumor hadn’t spread across the brain . . . it was totally gone. Vanished. No trace! And Kayla’s headaches? Gone as well.
“‘It’s gone. I don’t understand, but it’s gone,’” Amy recalls the doctor saying about the tumor.
“The doctor had told me during our visits that he believed there was some ‘higher being,’ but he didn’t believe in God,” Amy says. “But after he saw these results, he said that if he didn’t believe in my God before, he will now. ‘This right here will change my mind…it’s truly a miracle,’ he said.
“I told him, He’s not my God - He’s everybody’s God,” Amy adds.
On the way back from Dallas, Amy excitedly phoned the church to share the good news. That Sunday they shared not only the testimony in church and children’s church, but put the MRIs up side-by-side so everyone could see what God had done.
“You hear about stuff like this all the time and you want to believe,” Amy says honestly, “but you can’t explain it until it happens to you. I know people will be skeptical, and so would I, but I’ve seen her when she was sick, I’ve seen the MRIs . . . it’s like a haze has been lifted off my eyes, and now I really know we serve an all-powerful God.”
Since the initial report, Kayla has been back for two more exams - both have come back negative, giving her a clean bill of health.
“I wasn’t letting God take care of things like I was supposed to - my faith wasn’t where it was supposed to be,” Amy says. “I now know I don’t have to worry about anything. Whatever happens, happens for a reason, but God is in control.”
Fleming says that the miracle has increased faith in his congregation. People are praying with “expectation,” he says.
Ironically, Fleming shares he had the church prayer list printed up early that week as he was going on a vacation with his family. Kayla’s name was on it. An associate pastor who was reading the list the following Wednesday directed the congregation to “draw a line” through Kayla’s name, stating, “Apparently, at First Assembly, we can’t type out prayer lists ahead of time!”
And what about Kayla’s thoughts?
“When you put something in God’s hands, it’s nice to know He’s going to do something about it.”
For more information about Whitehouse First Assembly, see it’s Web site. To read or watch the local news report on Kayla’s miracle healing, see the link on the church Web site or click here.
TJ
August 11th, 2008 at 10:35 am #
That’s what I’m talking about! Miracles still happen! This is the day and age where we need our miracles documented to prove to people it really happened. Lovin’ it!