When the Prayers Went Up the Smoke Went Down

We worship the God of possible.

I recently attended a weekend conference for my job. I went prepared to meet lots of people, eat lots of food and to participate in light chit chat for a couple of days, which I did. What I wasn’t prepared for was a beautiful testimony of God at work.

On my second night there, I met a woman who has a son at the University of Georgia. She shared with me a fun story about how his summer internship took him to the maker of the Heisman trophy and he actually was able to hold one. They even gifted him with a big gold bulldog. We laughed about how she told him it needed to come back to her house and not go to his fraternity house.

Dinner was announced a short time later and we ended up in line together and I asked her to share her story with my co-worker. We all shared a laugh and ended up at the same table for dinner.

During dinner, she made a comment about having a keen sense of smell before her accident. My co-worker asked her what happened. She casually told us that she had been hit in the head by a fork-life and showed us the indention in her head that she still carried.

Then she told us her story. She told us about being in the hospital for a month and not knowing who her  children and husband were. She told us about a long recovery and as she did, she leaned over and put her hand on my arm and looked me in the eyes with tears in hers and said, “Don’t let anyone tell you that God is not still in the miracle business.”

She said that it all happened in 2007, when much of South Georgia was on fire. When the paramedics arrived they knew immediately that she need to be life flighted to Florida, but the helicopter pilot told them there was way too much smoke to fly.

She said, “but as the prayers went up, the smoke went down.”

She arrived safely in Florida, but they didn’t hold out a lot of hope with her head injury. When she went back to the hospital many months later, her care team was astonished to see her fully functioning. Her surgeon told her he had no explanation for her recovery.

But, she knew and fifteen years later, she was still sharing her story of God’s mercy and glory with complete strangers.

I learned a lot at that conference, but I’ve no doubt that the story of faith and grace shared by a complete stranger will remain with me always, along with her words, “when the prayers went up, the smoke went down.” They serve as a simple, but powerful reminder that nothing is impossible with God. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 😊