Astonished Physician

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, November 21.

By Andrew McChesney

T

he physician thought Renita would never survive.

The 13-year-old girl was unconscious, and her heart was barely beating, when she was hospitalized in Bengaluru, India.

“She could die at any time,” the physician told her parents. “But we’ll try our best.”

About 100 Adventists from Renita’s church rushed to the hospital. They comforted the parents outside the intensive care unit where Renita lay on a bed. Many church members knelt on the cold hospital floor and prayed. Others traveled to the church to pray.

The next day, pastors and church members from all 15 Adventist churches in Bengaluru came to the hospital to pray for Renita. Among them was Renita’s aunt, Ruth Mary. She had a lot of faith in God.

“You do your job,” Ruth Mary told physician. “My God will take care
of everything.”

The physician did not believe in God, and he looked annoyed at Ruth Mary’s words.

Renita’s friends prayed at school. The school principal organized student prayer bands to lift up Renita in prayer.

On the third day, the physician still wasn’t sure whether Renita would live. Ruth Mary, however, had no doubts.

“You do your job,” she said. “My God will take care of everything.”

Now the physician was really annoyed. He wondered how Ruth Mary could have so much trust in an invisible God.

Church members continued to pray. Four days passed. Five days. Ten days. On the eleventh day, Renita opened her eyes.

Ruth Mary, who had been fasting and praying for 10 days, was delighted.

“You keep doing your job,” she told the physician. “My God will take care of everything.”

The physician was more than annoyed. He felt a little angry.

Renita gradually grew stronger. On the fifteenth day, the physician decided to perform a small operation on her throat to help her eat better. Ruth Mary didn’t like that idea.

“She sings to God in church,” Ruth Mary told him. “If you do that, she will lose her singing voice.”

The physician decided to wait. The next day, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Renita was recovering so well that she didn’t need the operation.

Turning to Ruth Mary, he said, “You were always talking about your God,” he said. “Now I see that your God has saved Renita. Go give thanks to your God.”

The news about Renita’s miraculous recovery spread throughout the hospital. Other patients and their families were astonished to see the amazing answer to prayer, and many asked for prayers.

That evening, Renita was moved to a regular hospital ward. A month later, she was released from the hospital. Afterward, she visited all 15 churches in Bengaluru and shared her testimony.

“I am standing as living witness before you,” she said. “It is only through God’s grace that I have my life back. Thank you each and every one for your prayers. I am nothing without prayer. With prayer, everything is possible.”

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help construct a new building for Renita’s Savanagar Tamil Seventh-day Adventist Church in Bengaluru, India. The current building is old and falling apart, and church membership has surpassed the size of the building. Thank you for planning a generous offering for the church.