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!
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Discover how you can manifest miracles in your life.
Rebecca, founder of the Law of Attraction Training Center
(http://www.lawofattractiontrainingcenter.com ) 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.
