Prayer Prepared the Way for a Miracle
The birth of a child is always a miracle but Jonathan Luke Sutton, our 11th grandchild, needed more help than expected. He was born on January 24, 2005 at 2:56 in the afternoon. Luke has three (3) sisters and one (1) brother, ages six (6) and under, and the proud parents are Bill and Lynn Sutton.
Luke’s birth was very dramatic, and could have been tragic, but prayer prepared the way for divine intervention.
Here is Lynn’s story (and mine) in her own words:
The trip to the hospital Monday afternoon was a wild ride to say the least.
On Saturday, the 22nd, I woke up with agonizing pain in my left kidney, and asked Bill to take me to the hospital. After spending 6 hours in ER, they determined that my right (yes, right) kidney was blocked and I needed surgery. The pain was so intense that I was kept comfortable with morphine and other pain medication. On Sunday morning (23rd) I had surgery. In order to perform the surgery, they had to give me a spinal, which is much like an epidural. It deadens the body from the waist down. After the surgery, they sent me to Labor and Delivery to monitor the baby.
I was feeling nothing – between the drugs and the spinal. Several times the nurses and my doctor asked me if I felt the contractions that were apparently taking place but as I said, I felt nothing. In fact, I was out of it – completely. On Monday morning, the 24th, between 10 and 11 o’clock it was determined that I could be released from the hospital. Remember, having contractions. Nobody checked to see if I was in labor – they just let me go.
I returned home at 12:45 and fell into bed not really knowing where I was or what was going on in my body – the drugs still in effect. At 2:00 o’clock that afternoon my water broke and I knew it was not going to be a restful afternoon. I told mom (Germaine) to take me to the hospital while my dad stayed home with Griffin to wait for Chandler Grace to get home from school. (Emma and Katherine were in Georgia spending time with Bill’s parents. This was to give me some time to relax and get things done before the arrival of the baby who was due in mid-February.) I really felt when I got in my mother’s car that we would make it to the hospital. About 10 minutes into our 45-minute drive to the hospital, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the baby would be born in the car. Of course mom was praying (that should come as no surprise) and so was I! The peace that passes all understanding came over me and I was in the presence of my God. I told mom that everything was going to be okay.
Bill was in his car following us and had no idea what was going on. In fact, I am sure he was closing some deal on his phone while our son was trying desperately to get into this world. About 5 minutes from the hospital the first big push came. As we pulled into the hospital I told mom you’re going to have to catch this baby. Mom is yelling out her open window, “We’re having a baby! We are having a baby now!” We drove on to the emergency entrance, and I said, “Mom, you have to stop the car right now. This baby is coming!”
She stopped, jumped out of the car and raced around to the passenger door still screaming for help. Everyone in ER looked frozen in time. She jerked the door opened, and held out her hands to catch the baby…”O, dear God, help us! It’s his foot!” He was breech–a footling breech, which I have been told, is the most dangerous of all breech positions.
But God had prepared the way for a miracle. The ER nurse who came to help had been a Labor and Delivery nurse at one time, and knew exactly what to do. With God’s help she delivered the baby at 2:56 PM. Since then several nurses and doctors have told us that not just anyone can deliver a breech baby.
At delivery the baby was not breathing. They had nothing to cut the cord with, no clamps and nothing to wrap him in. The nurse put him in my arms saying, “Rub his back, rub his back and talk to him. We’ve got to get this baby breathing.”
Finally, the cord was cut, and the doctor whisked the baby away with Bill at his side. The last thing I remember was Bill running back to the car saying, “Lynn, he’s crying, he’s crying. The baby is all right. He is crying.”
Afterwards I went into shock and stayed in shock for a few days. They moved me into labor and delivery where my OB/GYN took over. It was at this time that I told my doctor that since Saturday it was excruciatingly painful to take a deep breathe or swallow anything, including water. On Tuesday morning, the day after Luke’s birth the Upper GI specialist put me under for another procedure, which revealed that the entire lining of my esophagus was burned off…the doctor told my parents it was the worse he had ever seen. It looked like a war zone.
That afternoon my pastor from Village Baptist Church and several friends came by to visit and they all prayed with me. God was not finished with me yet. Prayer had prepared the way for another miracle. The next morning the GI specialist came in to discuss his findings and the treatment. He was prepared to tell me that it would be 4 or 5 days before I would be comfortable again. However, he was shocked when I told him that I had the best night’s sleep that I had had in months, I was able to breathe and thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast including a cup of decaffeinated coffee. My God had healed me while I slept. The doctor said, “You must be a fast healer. I have never seen anyone heal this quickly.” I’m not the Healer, but I am the healed.
Luke had repository distress and fluid on his lungs, and the hospital was not equipped to take care of him. A few hours after his birth, he was transported from Fort Walton Beach Medical Center to the Sacred Heart Neo-Natal Care Unit in Pensacola, Florida where he remained for ten days. Now, at four months old, Luke is a bouncing 14 lb 8 oz bundle of joy who has been given a clean bill of health. We are thankful for all of the prayers and the support that we have received here at home and from around the world. It has been overwhelming and humbling.
According to the Bible, seven (7) is the number of completeness, a perfect number. So here we are the William Sutton family – a complete family.
Lynn and I continue to share the miracle of Luke’s birth. If you or any or anyone that you know is expecting a child, I encourage you to pray the written scriptural prayers, The Unborn Child and Godly Order in Pregnancy and Childbirth, which are included in the Prayers That Avail Much for Mothers, and in the Commemorative Gift Edition of Prayers That Avail Much. The effectual, fervent prayers of the righteous avail much!
Now thanks be unto God who always causes us to triumphant in Christ Jesus!
Loving in Jesus’ Name,
Germaine Copeland
President of Word Ministries, Inc.
Home of the Prayers That Avail Much Family Books
Member of International Breakthrough Ministries
www.prayers.org
Germaine Copeland is the author of the best selling book series, Prayers That Avail Much. She has written scriptural prayers for the family. Read your Bible, pray and attend church where you can soak up the love and faith of God. You will receive emotional healing, experience spiritual growth and become more intimately acquainted with your Heavenly Father, and your relationships will grow stronger.