There are moments when everything we trust is put to the test. For me, it came when I fell critically ill. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I was facing death. Doctors gave me treatment to ease my suffering but they didn’t work. But in that darkness, God’s plan began to unfold in just a few short days. He was teaching me to trust Him beyond what I could see or feel, and through this ordeal, His healing power would become my testimony. I’m Richie, and this is my story.
Chapter One: The Assault
It all started three weeks after I gave my life to God. I was suddenly struck with a bad cough that worsened over the next several weeks. I went to the nearest hospital where the doctors sent me home with a prescription. Dutifully taking the meds did not help. I ended up not being able to get out of bed. My condition rapidly deteriorated. It took too long before I realized that something was seriously wrong.
My wife Susie took me to a different hospital. I was admitted on a Sunday night. I was diagnosed with double-viral pneumonia. Quite different than bacterial pneumonia which can be treated with antibiotics. Viral pneumonia comes from a virus. All the staff could do was make me “comfortable”.
My Mom had contacted our church office first thing Monday morning and asked to send someone over to pray with me. No one came Monday. That evening, a priest popped into my room. He introduced himself and said that he noticed on my chart that I was a christian and came in to sit with me. Through small talk, he shared with me that he was making his rounds on the terminally ill floor. Was that where I was? When he discovered that I was “one of those born-again” Christians, he got up and said, “I can’t talk to you” and left. My friends, relatives and co-workers would come by to try and cheer me up. We waited all day for our church visitor but no one came.
Chapter Two: Human Efforts
My church preached not only salvation but healing through His blood. As a “baby” christian, I soaked in everything that was preached to me. I read the words of the bible and they became real to me. My faith level was at 100%. But as I lay in the hospital bed, I also put my trust in the doctors, staff and the treatments they prescribed. After all, that’s what society tells us to do, right? We’re taught to trust medical professionals, to rely on hospitals and their technology to cure us. Since it was a virus, I may be contagious. Now I know why I was on the floor I was on. Through my faith in Jesus and his promises, I believed that I would survive. The doctors tried their best, giving me breathing treatments which helped very little. I worsened, finding it harder to breathe.
By Tuesday evening, my body was getting weaker. Every time I took a breath, my body would try to cough out the fluid in my lungs, very fatiguing. Knowing what I know now, my oxygen levels were bottoming out. The fluid eventually turned to heavy green mucus. After hours and hours of this, it is very wearing on you psychically. Looking back, with no cure, I believe the doctor didn’t expect me to live. I just needed to breathe. The very basic thing we do. Something so natural to us, we do it and are not aware that we do…
Chapter Three: The Consequences
The day started with talking and laughing that ended in whispering short sentences, panting to get in air, coughing. Hard coughing to loosen and expel the mucus. Physically, I was deteriorating. Both lungs were filled with fluid and infected mucus. Every breath I tried to take became more difficult. I could barely speak, and my body felt like it was shutting down. My oxygen levels were bottoming out.
Chapter Four: Discovering and Applying God’s Truth
On the second night, my wife, brother, sister-in-law and my mom were trying to talk to me but all I could do was cough uncontrollably. My breathing was getting more shallow to keep from coughing. Pretty soon, I would take no more breaths and no one seemed to notice but me. This is when I motioned everyone to leave my room so I could rest. I could not talk much less breathe. Both of my lungs were not only filled with fluid but also the heavy green infected mucus. They closed the door behind them, leaving a small crack so the light of the hospital hallway gleaned in like a laser light. I shut off the bed lamp above me. I closed my eyes. I lifted up my hands, and like it says in Psalm 30:2 (ESV), I said a little prayer in my head. “God, heal me.” My very next breath was a full one. I had completely filled my lungs with a huge intake of wonderful, glorious air as I had not one ounce of fluid in them. In between breaths, in less than an atomic second I WAS HEALED!
I cried uncontrollably as the reality of what had just happened washed over me. I had been healed by God. My body was restored in an instant, and the pain that had once gripped me was gone. I was experiencing a miracle—something that defied all logic, all medical understanding.
Just then, my nurse entered the room, curious as to why it was dark in my room. Through my tears and crying I told her, “I’ve just been healed by God!” She shouted, “Hallelujah! Praise God!” Her excitement made it clear that she, too, recognized the miraculous nature of what had just occurred.
Family standing in the hall heard the commotion. They were stunned! They couldn’t believe what they were witnessing, but they were overjoyed that I was no longer struggling for air. Even my father and his girlfriend, who had just arrived, couldn’t grasp what had just happened, but they too were relieved to see me okay. At that moment, the miraculous healing I had experienced became a testimony, not just to me but to everyone who was present.
Now talk about God’s timing! It was at that exact moment that a man from the church walked into the room. It was the brother of a friend from my childhood. Months later when sharing my testimony with him, he shared to me why he was “late” and that he was praying for me in the elevator on his way to see me. I realized this was no coincidence. He was praying FOR me at the exact time I asked God to heal me! God had orchestrated this moment perfectly. It was a reminder to me of the truth in Matthew 18:19-20—when two or more are gathered in His name, He is there among them.
Chapter Five: The Results
I was healed instantly. It’s been 40 years since that day, and the memory of that moment remains as vivid as it was in that hospital room. God’s healing power is real, and I am living proof of it. Jesus is alive, and He still performs miracles today. I am no different from anyone else. God healed me not because I was special but because I trusted Him. In that moment of surrender, I simply had faith that God would heal me.
Since then, I’ve shared my testimony with others, reminding them of verses like Isaiah 53:5 (ESV), Mark 11:24 (NIV), Matthew 7:7 (ESV), and Psalm 103:2-3 (NKJV). I’ve seen many lives impacted by the story of what God did for me. Healing isn’t just a thing of the past—it’s happening today, and I believe it can happen for you too. I’m not special, but I serve a God who is. A God who loves us, who heals us, and who hears our prayers.
So, to anyone reading this, remember: God is real. He is alive. He made you, and He can heal you. Seek Him. Everyone, including you, has a reason to. I’m Richie. This is my story, His glory.
