one scary night

 I struggled to remain calm, to breathe calmly, too.

My stomach felt strangely sick, unlike I’d ever felt before. I lay in my tiny tent in a remote village in the middle of nowhere. Oh, God, I need You! I need-

I couldn’t finish as I grunted and gasped in agonizing pain, making my teammates’ faces twist in worry as they prayed. I literally felt the strong poison travel up my right side, starting from my foot and making it all the way to my shoulder. Not only was half my body swelling dramatically, it was almost paralyzed as well.

It had been an ordinary day in the rainforests of Panama, until I encountered a dangerous spider and began experiencing its poison as it ravaged my body. As I lay on the hard ground, I realized how dire my situation really was. I was hours and hours away from the closest civilized hospital. Even if I wanted to bring in an emergency helicopter, the darkness of the rainforest at night, combined with the fact that it would take a two hours hike to reach cell phone signal made it an unlikely successful choice. Besides, my team and I had no clue what kind of spider it was, what medicine to give me, or if I was actually dying.

Dear Heavenly Father, I know I need to trust You, but I have to admit, this is one time that I’m really scared! I have no medicine, no hospital, no idea what’s going on, and I can’t even tell my family and praying partners that I need prayer! Oh, God I give myself to You and trust You...

I almost burst into tears, but the pain kept me from crying; it hurt too much to cry. What I needed was a miraculous act from God Almighty!

In the midst of the confusion, prayers, and pain, a local indigenous pastor knelt down by my side in the night and began to fervently pray in Spanish. In spite of my pain, I strained to hear his words. He tearfully asked the Lord to stop the poison, to heal me. A peace settled deep in my heart as he prayed, but I wasn't sure why.

After the pastor left, I still was in an immense amount of pain, but something was different - the spider’s poison had actually stopped! It stopped exactly at my right collarbone where it had been working its way upward when the pastor pleaded for God to halt the poison.

Seven days later, tears ran down my face as I was finally strong enough to make the hike up the mountain to call my family. The pain, immense swelling in the entire right side of my body, and the almost paralyzed feelings had slowly subsided throughout the following week. Each day I gained strength back and each day I was reminded how I had surrendered my life to God, no matter what happened during those minutes. Each day was a reminder of His miraculous healing touch and the peace that He gave.

It was with tears of joy that I made that phone call, “Dad, Mom, guess what God did last week...”