Pick Up Yo Mat!

On rounds with a fourth year medical student a couple days ago, we went to check in with her patient that had been diagnosed with tetanus earlier that morning. He couldn't move and could barely even talk to us because of the muscle spasms through out his arms, legs, and jaw. Feeling strongly that he needed prayer, we sat next to his bed and lay hands on him.

The next morning, my friend went on rounds again and saw this once bedridden man walking around outside his room interacting with people. After talking to him, he said that he was feeling better, out of his bed, able to walk and talk. Confused, she went to ask the doctor if she could give him oral pills and discharge him from the hospital. The doctor said that there is no way that a man that was confirmed to have tetanus by the medical student and several doctors the morning before could be ready to leave in one day, especially here where it can take weeks.

So the doctor went to check on the patient and ask him questions. In shock, the doctor asked my friend, “did you do anything yesterday afternoon?”…And she said, “yeah, we prayed in Jesus' Name!”

Even better, the patient was one of the few who had enough schooling to know French, so my friend was able to translate the prayer and understand him without a middle person.

The man ‘was cured; he picked up his mat and oral medications and walked home‘…“the man went away and told the Nigeriens it was JESUS who made him well”…John  5:9,15.

Not only that, but the day before, a baby who had been constipated for over a month was brought in by his young mother. I was able to pray for him while we were waiting for the doctor and a few minutes later, before any medicine had even been prescribed, the baby had pooped what looked like a month’s worth all over his mom.

I guess Jesus also said, ‘pick up yo poopy baby and walk home‘!