The life-changing power of praying for help

One day in my early 30s, I woke up with a heartbeat that wasn’t normal. Throughout that day, I was out of breath and felt tired, but I couldn’t go to sleep because my heart was beating funny. Finally, at the urging of my mother, who works as a nurse, I went to the emergency room.

There, I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, the most common form of an arrhythmia, a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat. Lying in that hospital bed and knowing that I was that close to dying, I decided to change my life.

After that incident, I started taking the stairs more and eating healthier, and I removed or limited the toxic people in my life. Most importantly, I found a church home. I prayed not only for others but for myself. I called on God to heal my body. I could manage the exercise and healthy eating, and while I was faithful at taking my medication, I didn’t want to be reliant on pills for the rest of my life.

I decided that I would have an ablation, a procedure that was supposed to stop the irregular heart rhythm. Before the procedure, my doctor told me to stop taking the medicine. He wanted my heart to start beating irregularly so they would know exactly where the problem was and fix it. I told the members of the church that I was going to go through with the procedure, and they prayed for me. When the procedure was over, groggy from the anesthesia, I asked my mom if it was successful. She said that they didn’t do it!

During the procedure, my doctor tried for an hour to get my heart to go into aFib, but it never did. And to this day, it hasn’t done it again.

—Jackie Williams, 38, medical secretary, Florida

Robert,
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