A Medic Explores Miracles and Healings, Part 5
By Dr Mark Houghton MB, BS (Lond.), MRCGP
Today’s case involves an American lady called Gina Boop. She was a healthy middle-aged woman when, one day, her husband was devastated to find her speechless and half conscious, but breathing. The amazing machinery of modern medicine got to work and a scan showed a blood vessel had burst in her brain (an aneurysm, to use the technical term).
The neurosurgeon explained his outlook. They could operate to remove the blood clot, but the procedure would destroy some of her brain. Gina’s husband Bud was presented with a choice: do you want her walking but speechless, or in a wheelchair but speaking?
He wrestled in prayer. Was he to believe the word of God, or the surgeon who was (rightly) giving his opinion based on medical knowledge? Family members sat by Gina’s bedside day after day, feeding her with big positives. They talked about great holidays and other good memories. Gina’s niece, Jenny, read aloud the parts of the Bible that promise life, health, healing and miracles. She thanked God in prayer that Jesus Christ had healed Gina 2,000 years ago. Together they affirmed God’s truth that on the cross, He had “taken up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” Matthew 8:17 states this truth, together with the original prediction from Isaiah (Isaiah 53:4) that Jesus fulfilled as He proved His ability to remove disease as he “healed all the sick” (Matthew 8:16). And that was not the only occasion on which He did so.
Bud came back to the surgeon with his decision: “I would rather have Gina talking and in a wheelchair – but anyway, I believe she is going to be both talking and walking.” The surgery went ahead and after six weeks in hospital, Gina went home. She was a little unsteady on her feet, and she was cross-eyed, but her family refused to take no for an answer.
They reasoned that Jesus cured every condition fully, not partially, and since He is alive now, why shouldn’t Gina be completely healed? They prayed based on this truth in the Bible, and Gina worked with it. Today, she is 100% well with no visual palsy, nor any impairment to walking normally. As a medic, I love this story because it illustrates the best medical care co-operating with the power of God through his followers. I consider Gina to be living proof of that great promise from Jesus Christ: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
