I have an operator that missed work on due to an emergency with his wife. Without going into detail, he informed me that the night before, something happened to his wife’s back/spine and that she was currently without use of her legs or “paralyzed” from the waist down.

I received a text from him at 4:45 that afternoon that read: “Looks like she’s going to have to stay at the hospital tonight. She still can’t move her legs. A surgeon is coming in to talk to us later.”

I prayed a faithless prayer that night and went to bed thinking that I wouldn’t be seeing the operator at work the next day, as he would be with his wife.

The next morning I came to work and to my surprise, the operator was there. Casually I asked if he was ok, and why he wasn’t with his wife. He was visibly upset and told me that she was so doped up on pain medicine that if she wasn’t sleeping, she was belligerent, and he felt that going to work would help keep his mind from wandering. The last information he had received from the doctors was that they didn’t know if she would be able to walk again, and that surgery was likely.

Later that morning I crossed paths with him again and we began to speak. I asked him if I could pray for him. Without hesitation he said yes. We asked for healing and restoration and for an understanding that through this mess, God still loves his family even when we as people fail to love him in return. He was very emotional at this point and told me that if we weren’t so visible (out on the shop floor) that he would hug me. I laughed and shook his hand. I told him it would be ok to leave for the remainder of the day to go be with his wife. He left at 11:00.

At 12:29 I received a text message with a picture attachment of a gal standing up behind a walker, with the caption reading “Thank you and God bless!” It took me a minute to realize what I was looking at. A second text message arrived as I was trying to think of a way to respond that said “She said she felt a weight lifting off her back around 10:00 a.m. I would say that’s the power of prayer!”

I talked to the operator today and he said that the doctor’s aren’t seeing anything different, and they don’t know why she is currently able to walk or use her legs without pain. Boom…