You know
how a movie will show you an accident in show
motion? What is about to happen is really bad
and you know that in reality it only took a spit
second, but the film is slowed down so it takes
10 to 20 seconds to show you the entire event.
That's how I felt as I was preparing supper that
evening.
Matthew's tiny
fingers s-l-o-w-l-y reached out and touched the
boiling water as it dripped through the holes in
the colander. I froze. Next I saw his entire
hand under the colander. I was stunned and it
seemed like it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r for me to set
aside the pan of fresh cooked green
beans.
"Oh, my God!"
I screamed, as I grabbed his tiny
wrist.
Erick, the
eldest of our five kids heard the commotion and
came running to see what had happened. I sent
him across the street to see if any doctors were
attending a church function at that moment.
"Cold water!"
the command came from somewhere deep inside me.
As quickly as I could, I turned on the cold
water tap and held his tiny hand in
it.
"Please God,"
I prayed, "Let there be a doctor there who can
tell me what to do."
Poor Matthew!
Born with Down's syndrome and, as I suspected,
autism, his sense of self was so undeveloped he
never cried as a baby. At nine months of age he
underwent heart surgery and the only sound he
made during his recovery was quiet grunting. I
had to plead with the nurses to give him an
analgesic-they did not believe he was in pain:
"Because he isn't crying," they said. The
nurses could not understand that he had never
cried, even as a newborn-he never cried when he
was hungry or in wet diapers. I did every thing
for him according to a schedule. Matthew
received only one dose of Tylenol while in the
hospital for heart surgery. Can you
imagine?
Today he did
not cry. He was oblivious to the heat of
scalding water upon his tender skin.
My thoughts
raced ahead to possible treatment for a burn and
how he might react to having his hand bandaged.
I knew he would not understand how important it
would be to keep bandages in place! What will
we do? Oh, hurry, Erick, bring help!
"There are no
doctors at the church," Erick
reported.
My heart was
pounding so hard! What could I do for him now?
As I continued to pray and ask God for help, I
caught sight of a canister sitting on top of the
refrigerator. The label said, "Liquid bandage."
I gently dried Matthew's hand and sprayed the
liquid bandage all over his hand.
Closing my
eyes, I prayed once again, "Please God, show me
what to do!" When I opened my eyes, I held one
of Matthew's hands in each of mine. I held them
next to eachother-wondering if I was just
imagining things: Both hands were the same
normal color. There was no way to tell for sure
which hand he had placed in scalding water.
They were both normal. There were no blisters,
not even redness-not at that moment and not
later.
I don't know
how to explain what happened that day-other than
by praying for help and guidance Matthew was
granted a miracle.
What this
event did for me is also difficult to put into
words. It felt like someone was orchestrating
events beyond my control-events designed to
prove that miracles can and do happen-to
ordinary people-today!
________________
How can you
create more miracles in your life? For an
in-depth look at how to allow miracles to occur
in emergencies and in ordinary everyday life,
join Rebecca Hanson for the A
Year of Miracles
TeleCourse.
Rebecca, founder of the Law
of Attraction Training
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and author of Law of Attraction for
Business, has used her unique blend of
rational and intuitive gifts to masterfully
assist thousands of people in the art of
deliberately creating the life and business they
truly want.
