Miracles DO Happen When God's People Pray!!

I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but I felt I had to write about a little boy named Jack that I came to find out about on Facebook. A friend of mine posted a prayer request for him. She personally knew the family, and she posted the link to a board called "Praying for Jack Budensiek". I went there and started to follow the story of this little 5 year old boy.


Four weeks ago, Jack and his family were on vacation in Florida. He began to climb up a heavy piece of furniture (I believe it was a dresser) and it fell over on top of him, crushing his skull between the dresser and the tile floor. During the 10 minutes that it took for help to arrive, his dad held his son's lifeless body and begged God to save his son, not to let his son die, and to protect his brain. The doctors didn't hold out much hope of Jack surviving. They thought he was either going to die or have serious brain damage. Miraculously, Jack did survive, and he amazed doctors when he awoke from his coma and began talking and then walking. He hadn't died, and he didn't have brain damage! The doctors said they had never had anyone with as severe an injury as Jack's survive. Most of the doctors just shook their head and all they could say was "this is amazing, simply amazing" when they came in to see Jack. The doctors were talking about releasing Jack once he began eating, but all that changed a week and a day after the initial injury.


Jack's mom was holding him when he suddenly started holding his head and screaming. He then coded! They rushed Jack in to do a cat scan and then into emergency brain surgery. The doctor removed a blood clot that was THREE TIMES the size of his fist! The doctor gave the devastating news to his family: he had done all he could, but he only gave Jack a 20% chance of waking up again. This is when I found out about Jack and was burdened to join this board on Facebook along with 3,000+ other people who were all praying for Jack. I told my children (ages 12 and 7) about Jack, and they prayed for him as well. Every day, they'd ask "How's Little Jack?" My husband also prayed for Jack. The doctors as well as his family knew about the people who were praying for Jack. The doctor even told the family to have them keep praying, and pray we did! 


Five days later, the doctors decided to wean him off of the medications that were keeping Jack in a coma. Doctors didn't know if Jack would wake up, but he did!! They decided to remove the breathing tube, but they weren't sure his brain would know what to do. They tube was removed, and Jack breathed 100% on his own! Five days later, Jack drew some snowmen and wrote his name! The next day, he would nod yes or no and began raising his hand (just like in school) and held it up until his family figured out what he wanted, and then he'd put it down. It was his way of communicating, but he hadn't spoken at all. They could tell he was frustrated about that, so we prayed for his communication to improve. The NEXT MORNING, Jack woke up and spoke the most precious words "Mommy hold me". Over the next few days, he began taking steps and would walk with assistance. A feeding tube had been put in because Jack hadn't had anything to eat or drink since his initial injury. His parents were thrilled one day when he took a sip of water; but he had failed numerous swallow tests so we prayed specifically that Jack would start to eat and drink. The next day, Jack asked his mom for some McDonald's chicken nuggets and fries. She figured he wouldn't be able to eat them, but she bought them anyway. Jack ate three nuggets and over half of the order of fries! He also drank sweet tea! Over the next two days, he ate numerous cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, and fries. He was making up quickly for those three plus weeks of not eating!! Yesterday, Jack was released from the hospital!!!!!!!!!!! 


This morning, I read Psalm 40:3 which says "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him." I clearly heard the Lord tell me that many are going to put their trust in Him because of what He did in Jack's life. It's been awhile since I prayed so hard for someone, especially someone whom I have never met. It has been truly amazing to see how God kept answering our prayers! What has happened to Jack in the last month is nothing short of a miracle! I have witnessed what happens when God's people pray and I know that Jack is going to have an incredible testimony about the power of prayer. 


I am writing this to let everyone know that God is still performing miracles today! I know God doesn't always answer us the way we want to all the time, but be encouraged to know that God hears all of our prayers! Pray and believe that God WILL answer!