On March 11, 2014, Renee’s stepfather, Joe, was admitted into the hospital for chest pain and severe coughing, which quickly developed into pneumonia. The doctors advised that, if Joe’s breathing did not get better, they would have to incubate him, and, as days passed, Joe tried hard to maintain his breathing but was struggling. On March 14th, it was determined that he needed to be on a respirator, and he was induced into sleep. Joe’s breathing continued to be extremely labored, though, and this news sent Renee into a panic.
On her drive to the hospital, she called a close friend who encouraged her to pray for healing. She had never prayed for healing, but the subject of prayer and healing had just recently come up in her small group, which she was admittedly skeptical about. However, when Renee got to the hospital and found her stepdad fully incubated, she began to pray. She prayed over his body. She prayed for new lungs, for new air to be breathed into him, and for his health to be fully restored. The following day, Joe began to open his eyes. The next day he was fully awake, and, by the end of that day, he was sitting up in a chair. Two days later the respirator was removed as doctors marveled at Joe’s remarkable and speedy recovery. On March 20th, he was discharged.
A month later during his 1st follow up with his doctor, Joe’s doctor told him that he couldn’t explain how someone so grave could be sitting there with him in better shape than he had been in the last 10 years. Joe had been on oxygen for over 10 years, his machine running all day, every day. Today, he is only using the oxygen when he is active, and, even then, he requires far less than he used to. His lungs, his health, and his life have been restored.