By Sara Parker

Share your story of how God provided a miracle in your life or in the life of someone you love. Comment below!

A couple of weeks ago, we sat down to an embarrassingly unhealthy meal of hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and chocolate milk. About ten minutes into the meal, our 8-year-old son Kai had stomach pain so sudden and severe that within a half hour we were on our way to the Urgent Care down the street.

^{Kai bravely tries on a smile after getting an IV}

Three hours later, I was following an ambulance as it transported my son to Texas Children’s Hospital, where he would likely need surgery for a blockage in his stomach.

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20

I had no one with me physically for support, but I gathered my friends and family through prayer. I called all of my family first to get a big fat prayer chain going, and then I sent a couple of e-mails to some best friends, and to some great friends at church who passed the prayer request along. I prayed with my son, too, before he got in the ambulance.

But as much as I hoped and prayed that Kai would miraculously not need surgery, the odds were against us. The doctor who had seen the CT images seemed highly concerned about the stomach blockage. “He needs to be seen by a pediatric surgeon tonight,” he advised.

“You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.” –Psalm 77:14

Thankfully, my son did not need surgery after all. The doctor at Texas Children’s diagnosed a “stomach virus” as the culprit of the pain, and we were released from the hospital at about 4 a.m.

I proceeded to send e-mails to friends and family: “Happy to report that Kai simply has a stomach virus…but I’m not too happy with the Urgent Care we went to…way to give a Mom a heart attack.”

The next day, my husband reminded me that a lot of people had been praying. “Maybe the diagnosis was right, but God intervened,” he said. Via e-mail, a sweet friend gently reminded me of the prayer chain too.

Meanwhile, I shrugged off their words and simply chalked the whole thing up to a misdiagnosis. But then, a couple of days later one of my sisters called, and she brought the subject up again. I figured it was time to sit back and evaluate.

Kai never did have a fever, and he was almost fully recovered by Saturday. The doctor at Texas Children’s never saw the original CT scan because the files did not transfer over properly to their system. Had God intervened and healed our son in answer to our prayers?  Or had the Urgent Care doc erred on the side of too much caution?

The questions got me thinking.

“He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” –Job 9:10

When my older brother was around three years old, he was kidnapped in Ocean City, Maryland. It was the classic case of everyone thinking someone else was watching him. I have heard the story many times, and most vividly remember the part about my father stopping to pray…and how when he stood up, he simply began walking toward a parking lot. As he walked, he spotted his son, my brother, on the shoulders of a man who was walking swiftly through the sea of cars – away from the bustle of the Boardwalk.

When my dad tells this story, dark fear fills his eyes as he relives that moment when his only son was miraculously kept safe by the hand of God.

I have a friend whose baby was diagnosed with possibly three heart conditions just a couple of weeks before he was due to be born. I don’t think I have ever prayed for a miracle as hard as I prayed for that sweet little baby. He was born perfectly healthy with no sign of heart problems. Luck? A misdiagnosis? Or God?

As we enter the Christmas season and the celebration of the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, will you share your stories here for others to see? If a story just doesn’t come to mind, pray that God will remind your heart of a miracle that you may have written off as sheer good fortune. May your stories bear witness that God is still actively at work in our lives today.

“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.” –1 Chronicles 16:11-12