Hope you had a wonderful Easter! We had a wonderful Easter service yesterday about the Resurrection power of Christ and how this power can be used in our own lives. God is so powerful and mighty and His desire is that we would live in His freedom!
I'm not sure if you've heard the full story of my dad John Burke - his incredible miracle - but this miracle is a true 'resurrection story'. I have shared a portion of the story in the booklet which is one of the downloads on our website but there is more to the story
A Resurrection Story - My Father Restored!
Back in November of 2007, our church had a 14 day prayer initiative where we were praying round the clock for various ministries and personal requests.
I had included my father, John Burke, as one of the personal requests for prayer. I had asked for prayer that his ability to speak would be restored to him. It was so hard to not be able to communicate with him properly and it brought me to tears to see such a rapid decline in his health. He has late stage Parkinson’s disease and was at the stage of not being able to walk or talk.
The week that the prayer initiative had been started in church, I had wheeled my Dad into the church service in a wheelchair for the first time and he was really depressed. I could barely understand what he was saying and I would have to put my ear right next to his mouth. When he walked, he would loose his balance and his feet would curl up underneath themselves and he would fall and thus he was now in a wheelchair. He had several bruises on this body from falling multiple times.
My dad is my hero, he has always been articulate, strong and encouraging but at this time he was quiet, depressed and he said very little as he knew his words would not be understood.
He had also been to a healing service where he had been anointed with oil about a month before and nothing miraculous had happened (or so it seemed), but, He had been given a special passage from the Lord - My Grace is Sufficient for Thee. He held on to these words tightly.
That same week as the prayer chain was going on he had gone back to the doctor’s to see if there was anything else that could be done for him, he was desperate! The doctor had just read some unpublished research from Italy about the deep brain stimulator that he has implanted in his brain from surgery he had in 2005. With an adjustment in the settings of this stimulator, it was noted that there was a marked improvement in a few of the patients.
He had also been to a healing service where he had been anointed with oil about a month before and nothing miraculous had happened (or so it seemed), but, He had been given a special passage from the Lord - My Grace is Sufficient for Thee. He held on to these words tightly.
That same week as the prayer chain was going on he had gone back to the doctor’s to see if there was anything else that could be done for him, he was desperate! The doctor had just read some unpublished research from Italy about the deep brain stimulator that he has implanted in his brain from surgery he had in 2005. With an adjustment in the settings of this stimulator, it was noted that there was a marked improvement in a few of the patients.
That very day, they did this adjustment to my dad. He was able to get out of his wheelchair and walk with a cane! His voice was restored!
This was a miracle that was completely beyond what I could even ask for or comprehend. All I had asked for prayer was that his voice would be restored and now, his balance, walking and his voice were restored! I had been taught an important lesson. To keep believing and to have faith that God can do the impossible.
This was a miracle that was completely beyond what I could even ask for or comprehend. All I had asked for prayer was that his voice would be restored and now, his balance, walking and his voice were restored! I had been taught an important lesson. To keep believing and to have faith that God can do the impossible.
Over and over, verses came streaming through my mind..one of my favorites is Matthew 7:7-8.
‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives,
and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.’
There's even more to this miraculous story..just last week my dad went back to the neurologist office and the neurologist was amazed because he continues to improve and yet, she still has a hard time accepting that this is a miracle. She told my Dad that after the amazing results from his adjustment back in November, she had called 23 other Parkinsons patients who also have had the brain surgery and have the deep brain implant - they all came into the office to also get the same adjustment but afterwards..not one of them had any change. Only my dad.
God is so powerful and awesome. When we get discouraged that things are falling apart or times are difficult, we have to remember the Resurrection POWER of Jesus. I love these verses from Romans about Abraham - He was faced with many hopeless thoughts and fears and yet he continued to trust in God.
Romans 4:20-23 (The Message)
‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives,
and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.’
There's even more to this miraculous story..just last week my dad went back to the neurologist office and the neurologist was amazed because he continues to improve and yet, she still has a hard time accepting that this is a miracle. She told my Dad that after the amazing results from his adjustment back in November, she had called 23 other Parkinsons patients who also have had the brain surgery and have the deep brain implant - they all came into the office to also get the same adjustment but afterwards..not one of them had any change. Only my dad.
God is so powerful and awesome. When we get discouraged that things are falling apart or times are difficult, we have to remember the Resurrection POWER of Jesus. I love these verses from Romans about Abraham - He was faced with many hopeless thoughts and fears and yet he continued to trust in God.
Romans 4:20-23 (The Message)
Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That's why it is said, "Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right." But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.
Blessings to you today,
Love in Christ,
Sue
