Recently in the state of Missouri during this harsh winter season, a 14 year old teenage boy, John Smith, was playing on icy Lake Sainte Louise with two of his friends. While playing, the three boys all unexpectedly fell through the ice; one making it out of the water, the other holding onto a piece of ice for dear life, and Smith remaining unfound for fifteen minutes. Smith was immediately rushed to a local hospital and received 30 minutes of CPR, which you can click here to know more about it, but was clinically diagnosed dead by Dr. Ken Sutterer after 45 minutes with no signs of hope from Smith. After Smith’s mother Joyce was informed of the heartbreaking news, her first course of action was to turn to prayer. Joyce recalls immediately praying, “Holy God, please send your Holy Spirit to save my son. I want my son, please save him,” and hearing doctors say “We got a pulse, we got a pulse!” following her prayer, as her son started showing signs of life again.
“I don’t remember much about it to be honest,” John Smith commented, “I’m surprised I’m alive, but it’s a real miracle that I’m alive, and I thank God I’m alive. There’s a reason I’m alive, so I’m just going to kind of follow what God has in store for me throughout my life.”
Dr. Jeremy Garrett, another one of Smith’s doctors, called this incident “a bonafide miracle.”
“It doesn’t seem like it was his time to go,” Padua senior Andrea Giordano comments on the story. “God probably has more planned for him to fulfil on earth and wants him to continue his life longer.”
“Throughout history, miracles have occurred which cannot be scientifically explained,” comments Mrs. Vavala, Padua’s campus ministry director. “As a person of faith, I don’t need to keep searching for a scientific answer, because I accept that God can do more than we can ever imagine or understand. If we agree this is a miracle, why wouldn’t we give God the credit?”
The answer is yes, the power of prayer can apparently be much stronger than we think.