Prairie View

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Matthew 12:15

Adam and Stacey and their family began attending our church a number of months ago. Some time before that, they had moved into our community from Illinois. At first they attended another Mennonite church in the area. Now they are in the process of pursuing membership in our congregation.

Last week a prayer call went out for their family. Their son, Scottie (6?), who is severely affected by autism, had had a long and frightening seizure. The family was worried and exhausted. As I recall, the prayer request was for healing for Scottie and comfort and strength for the family. Praying against whatever destructive spiritual forces might be involved was also requested.

This morning in our worship/audience participation time Adam told us what transpired after we got the prayer request.

That evening Scottie, who most of us have never heard converse meaningfully with anyone, called out Matthew 12:15 repeatedly, presumably in the distracted and disconnected way he talks, if he talks at all. His parents have no knowledge of his ever having heard this reference or the verse found there, and they don't know that Daniel, who teaches Scottie in a Sunday School class of one, ever talked about it either. But Scottie had the reference down pat. When his parents looked up the verse they read:
But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;

Adam and Stacey drew courage from this verse and felt confident that Scottie had been healed from whatever was causing his seizures. Peace settled over the household.

Later that evening, Adam asked Scottie to tell him who gave him that reference. He would not answer his father, but when Stacey asked him the same question later, he said "Father." Since Adam knew that Scottie could not have been referring to him, he concluded that Scottie had been ministered to directly by his Heavenly Father. And Scottie, without the words to process or convey an explanation, had been a channel of ministry to his parents. The Heavenly Father ministered to all of them.

The evening before the events Adam told us about, Adam and Stacey had met with several of our ministers to study Scripture together and discuss the matter of church membership. The last time Scottie had a seizure (perhaps the only other time), it also occurred right after a similar meeting involving the same people. The proximity of these events alerted the adults to the possibility of a spiritual attack in progress.

In sharing this story, the newest family in our midst blessed us all, and gave us one more reason to trust and worship the God Who cares for us all. And one more reason to intercede on behalf of any brother or sister in need.

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This evening at 5:00 our ministers and their spouses began a retreat at Cottonwood Lane--Marvin and Lois' spacious and temporarily vacant house on Nickerson Road. They plan to spend the night there, and the day tomorrow. Various families are helping provide food throughout the retreat. It is to be a time of fellowship and discussion and seeking the Lord together. I suspect they're going to have a lot of fun as well. (Four of those men were in my class in school, and they are not strangers to a good time.) I'm glad to see this kind of camaraderie in a ministerial team.

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