Modern Day Miracles and Faith

For most of us, Christian or otherwise, that concept is one that goes against our carnal thinking...but, none the less, I have decided to embark on a journey of faith. In this journey, I have decided to surrender all area's of my life completely over to God and to the scriptures. This is a journey that has taken me out of the "secular" world and thrust me into the spiritual unknown, if you will.

I have decided that I will live by the scriptures. I believe that this is a call on my life. This includes believing God for my income, which includes all of my bills being paid, all of my needs and the needs of my family being met. For that the scripture I am standing on , "My God meets all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:19 I am believing that God is my source and because I am a tither I can expect that abundance is mine. I stand on daily "Prosperity" confessions and have made the decision to not speak any words of lack, but only of faith in all area's of my life.

I believe that prosperity is health, happiness, wealth and overall well being..So, basically, I am believing for ALL area's of my life and my family's to come into alignment with the word of God and I choose to only believe and say such things. When doubt and fear attack my mind, I have made the decision to continually renew my mind with what God has said about any given area I may be freaking out about,(remember,faith is the substance of things no seen) and replace it with scripture that applies to the promise.

My mind must constantly be renewed daily, by reading the bible, books, testimonies and miracles. I listen to tapes and watch online services and teachings, and this has become my daily job in life. As the bible says, that as soon as you start walking the faith walk, the devil will do all he can to try and fill your mind with fear and break your mind down and put pressure on you to start speaking fear and doubt and ultimately stop your faith walk. Therefore, never overcoming and getting to the place of victory that you are heading towards.

So, as you can imagine, I have had my moments. I am a single mom, no back up support. I have just finished my shopping list and have laid it on my kitchen table and said to the Lord that it's time to go shopping. I have pondered my mental health, am I crazy to believe such things, especially, when things are n't exactly as I think they should be, am I just a gullible, sad creature who is somewhat pathetic in actually pursuing life by what is not seen and believing that God has my back, if you will.? Maybe, I have just become so fundamentalist, that I have finally lost all good sense ..Oh yeah, I have been there...but, suddenly God will show up on the scene and remind me that is he there, and I am on the right path and in different ways he will reveal truth to me.

With that said, I was reminded of a story I had read a few years back about a remarkable modern day miracle. Last week as I had that sense that my spirit was sinking, God reminded me of the story and I want to share it with those who may need a pick me up in their walk as well.

This is a story of a woman by the name of Marlene Klepees. She was born prematurely, her birth weight of just 2 pounds, and with cerebral palsy. At the age of two, she also lost both of her parents to a motorcycle accident. She was initially left to live with her great-grandparents and then ultimately with foster parents.

Her IQ was not an issue, but her body could only respond in spastic jerks. Her only involvement with the other children running, skipping and playing was simply ,and sadly, watching them from the sidelines. And miracles were the farthest thing from her mind.

When she was about 12 years old or so, some kids took her to a local Christian youth rally and she gave her life to the Lord. Despite her born again spirit and the joy she found in that, she decided to accept the fact that God must have made her the way she was.

As she got into her teenage years, unfortunately, her cerebral palsy had became progressively worse. At times, her spastic attacks were so violent ,that she actually broke the bones of one of her physical therapist who was working with her, and then after another severe attack, she was nearly paralyzed.

Finally in 1980, Marlene was taken from her home in Missouri to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. At that point she was diagnosed as a spastic quadriplegic and dependent on others for her needs. She was also in a wheelchair and at time had to be strapped to it as her spasms would have her jerking wildly. She also had lost most of her eyesight and her lips and tongue so swollen, she drooled. Her speech was slurred and unintelligible and had little control over her head or neck. Unfortunately, even the staff at the Mayo Clinic didn't see much hope for her recovery with her rapid deterioration.

Throughout her many trials and tribulations, she had not given up hope. But, finally one day, all of her disappointments and hopes came crashing down and she became deeply discouraged. At that moment she yelled at God and told him to "get out of her life"! With that, she sensed God surrounding her and she was given a vision that she had never seen before.

Her vision was very specific. It included stained glass windows of a sanctuary, church doors and details of the brass door pulls. She saw a man, probably a minister, wearing a pinstriped suit. She even saw herself riding a bicycle near green grass, and she saw herself completely healed. Along with that, she saw the date, March 29, in bold letters. That was just 3 weeks away and this was the day God was going to heal her.

On March 28, she was still in Minnesota and she had assumed that her healing would happen in Missouri. Realizing that the date for her healing was the next day, she took it upon herself to take a step, a giant step of faith. With sign language and some feeble attempts of speech, she was able to communicate with her nurse that she needed the yellow pages. She eventually got the word 'churches" out to the nurse. After getting to the Rochester, Minnesota area church listings, suddenly the name of one church began to glow, and with her limited eyesight the words Open Bible Church, Scott Emerson, jumped out at her.

Marlene asked the nurse to call the church. When the pastor, Scott Emerson, answered the phone, he initially thought it was a a drunk with slurred speech on the line. Marlene asked if the Church believed in healing, did they pray for the sick, and had he ever seen a miracle? After answering her questions, Marlene said, "Now you can come and see me".

No sure what to think, Marlene's nurse spoke with Pastor Scott Emerson and let him know that the caller was sincere and in need of healing. Putting on his pinstriped suit, and drove over to Mayo Clinic.

Once in Marlene's hospital room, she told Scott more about her vision and it had to be God. She had described his church, having never seen it before, even down to the smallest details. So, Scott arranged to have her brought to his church on March 29 for prayer. He had never seen a miracle in his church, although he did believe that God still preformed miracles.

Marlene was wheeled into the church strapped to her wheelchair, because of the uncontrollable jerking from her spasms. Her head was also flailing back and forth and she was drooling.

Once in the sanctuary, Pastor Emerson and members of the church gathered around Marlene and layed hands on her. He prayed that God would heal Marlene from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. Just a simple prayer and thanksgiving.

At that point, Pastor Emerson leaned down and asked Marlene is she would like to stand up in faith. She agreed and the straps holding her legs to the wheelchair were unbuckled. Scoot lifted the footrests and she touched the floor with her feet. Struggling to get herself in an upright position, she took a step, then another. Each one of her steps became stronger and her pigeon toed feet became straighter. Within moments she was in a jog around the sanctuary. She also felt a warm sensation over her eyes and God healed her eyes at that moment , giving her 20-20 vision. there was no need for those thick lensed glasses any longer.

One last request as she was leaving the church that night. She had never been able to hold and eat an ice cream cone. and requested a stop at the ice cream parlor on her way back to the Mayo Clinic. Arriving at the ice cream parlor, her physical therapist from Mayo Clinic was there, Nancy White. Astounded and surprise, she simply could not believe what she was seeing!!

As can be imagined, arriving back at the Mayo Clinic some 2 hours later was more than amazing! When she left, she was strapped into her wheelchair, when she arrived back she was walking. This was quite a sight to behold. The specialist at the clinic were left with nothing more to do, then to set her up for discharge, and send her back home to Missouri.

Since that time she attended Missouri Wesleyan College, travels world wide to minister to others to share her testimony and owns a floral shop, where she arranges flowers with the very same hands that were useless for so many years.

Needless, to say, I thanked God for the testimony and for his constant reminders that he is alive and well and I can depend on him for all things.

For more information on Marlene Klepees or for contact information:
http://www.heavensscentflowers.com/marlene.htm