Prayer of Faith

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, September 13.

By Andrew McChesney

M

ommy was scared when Emmaculate was born. The nurses were scared. The doctor was scared. Everyone was scared because the little baby girl didn’t make a peep when she was born.

Usually, baby girls and baby boys let out a hearty scream when they are born. It’s like the babies were perfectly happy inside of Mommy and didn’t want to come into the big world. So, they scream and cry when they make their grand entrance into the world.

But Emmaculate didn’t scream. She didn’t cry. She lay so still that the doctor thought something must be terribly wrong. The nurses also thought something must be terribly wrong. Mommy thought something must be terribly wrong. She prayed and prayed.

The doctor tried to make Emmaculate cry. He rubbed her. He poked her. He patted her. Nothing. She didn’t make a sound.

Now everyone was awfully scared. As they wondered what to do, the little baby opened her mouth and began to cry. But it wasn’t a normal cry. Babies usually cry, “Wahhhhhhhhh!” But Emmaculate cried, “Weh-weh-weh-wehhhhh!”

Nobody minded that it was an unusual cry. Everyone was just so happy that she was crying. Mommy was especially happy. God had answered her prayers.

Those first prayers were the first of many that Mommy prayed for Emmaculate.

After the scare at her birth, Emmaculate seemed like a normal girl as she grew up in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. But when she was 3 years old, she began to have fits. Every once in a while, she would start to jump and couldn’t stop. As she jumped, she would bite her tongue. It hurt, but she still couldn’t stop. Then she would fall onto the ground and lay very still.

Mommy was scared. She thought something must be terribly wrong. She took Emmaculate to the hospital.

The doctor gave her medicine, but it didn’t help. Emmaculate kept having fits.

Mommy asked everyone whom she knew for help.

But Emmaculate kept having fits, and they seemed to be getting worse.

A year passed. Two years passed.

One day, when Emmaculate was 5, she started to have a fit on her bed. She jumped and, as she jumped, she bit her tongue. Then she fell onto the bed and lay very still.

Mommy was very scared. She didn’t know what to do. She left the girl and went to her bedroom. Closing the door, she prayed and prayed.

“Lord, You saved my little girl when she was born, and You can save her again now,” she said with tears. “Please stop these fits. Restore her to full health.”

As she prayed, she suddenly heard a sound. It sounded like a cry, but it wasn’t a normal cry.

“Weh-weh-weh-wehhhhh!”

“Could it be?” Mommy wondered.

She listened carefully.

“Weh-weh-weh-wehhhhh!”

“Yes! Yes!” she exclaimed. “It’s Emmaculate, and she’s crying!”

Mommy rushed to Emmaculate. The little girl was awake and well. Mommy was so glad! God had answered her prayers again.

From that day, Emmaculate never had another fit. She believes that God saved her life as a child and that He continues to care for her every day. Today, she is a student at Solusi Adventist High School, and she prays to God all of the time.

“I want to have faith like my mother,” she said.

A Thirteenth Sabbath Offering has helped Emmaculate grow closer to God. Part of a 1994 offering went to open Solusi Adventist High School, where Emmaculate is studying, in Zimbabwe. As a student, Emmaculate gave her heart to God and was baptized. This quarter, your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help other children grow closer to God in Zimbabwe and in other countries of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division. One Thirteenth Sabbath project will give children their very own Adventurer’s Bibles, and the other will create a series of short children’s videos about the fruit of the Spirit. Thank you for a generous offering on September 27.