Does God still work miracles today?
I don't know your definition of a "miracle," but this news story fits mine.
Meet Ruby Graupera-Cassimoro and her newborn daughter, Tally.
You are looking at a woman who had no pulse for 45 minutes.
It happened September 23, 2014, at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Ruby, age 40, had just undergone an uneventful cesarean to deliver a healthy baby girl.
In the recovery room she complained of shortness of breath, then suddenly went silent.
This second-time mother's heart stopped
For the next three hours a team of doctors and nurses worked tirelessly, using chest paddles and compression. During the final, discouraging 45 minutes Ruby registered no pulse at all.
At some point it was determined she had suffered a rare amniotic fluid embolism. This can occur when fluid that surrounds a baby in the uterus escapes into the mother's bloodstream and heart, clogging it, creating a vacuum and stopping circulation.
At last doctors called family members into the operating room so they could say their goodbyes. Physicians told them they could do nothing more for Ruby and they were ready to pronounce her dead.
Nurse Julie Ewing accompanied the family out of the O. R. They all held hands and prayed, with the nurse on her knees.
Then doctors noticed a blip on the monitor
Could it be that Ruby's heart was beating again?
Yes--and it kept beating!
Despite 45 minutes without a heartbeat Ruby woke up. She showed no evidence of brain damage.
No bruises or broken ribs from chest compressions.
No burns from the four or five times doctors used electric shock to try to restart her heart.
Hospital spokesman Thomas Chakurda said Ruby's survival is a story of two miracles--her resuscitation and no serious brain damage.
"It’s 'divine providence,'" said Hospital spokesman Thomas Chakurda. "Today she is the picture of health. She's at home, perfectly healthy and caring for her newborn.”
So was she really dead?
Ruby told ABC News, "Oh, I was dead. My husband tells me, 'You were gray. You were cold as ice, and you were dead. You had no color in your lips.'"
In an interview with the Christian Post, Ruby said, "I don't know why I was given this opportunity, but I'm very grateful for it. God had the right people in the right place."
The inevitable question
Especially when we or someone we love is seriously ill--and we've prayed God would heal--the same question haunts us: Why doesn't God heal everyone?
I cannot answer that question. I wish I could.
What I do know is that God gives life.
All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. --John 1:3 (ESV)
He knows the number of our days. (Read Psalm 139, especially verses 14-18, and be blessed.)
He loves people enough to provide a way for us to be at peace with Him.
God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. --John 3:16 (ESV)
God's love for us is absolute and never changes, even when His answers to our prayers don't match our specific requests.
Whatever your situation, hang on to hope
I love what God said to the prophet Jeremiah in what looked like an impossible situation. To me, it's a verse to cling to in tough times.
"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?" --Jeremiah 32:27 (NIV)
Ruby's story shows us miracles still happen. Everything we know about God tells us how.
Comments?
Growing along with you,
Lenore
