Contributed by Becky Badilla

When Therese was eighteen months old, she got it. It clicked in her heart one day that Jesus was God. We had been in the ICU waiting room of a Catholic hospital, visiting my aunt who was extremely ill, and Therese looked up at one of the crosses and said “Jesus Is God!” She went around telling everyone in the room her discovery, and she also blessed all of them. She had picked up a habit of taking whatever drink or liquid was around, putting her finger in it and blessing people. When there wasn’t any, she would just stick her finger in her mouth to moisten it, and people were blessed with her saliva. We know she learned this from the blessing fonts when we would walk into church, (we were born and raised Catholic), but she had picked up this habit on her own a few months earlier. She had such a close and pure relationship with Jesus from such a small age, that Eddie and I have always felt that God has big plans for her.

“But when she was three years old, we thought she might have already finished her time of sharing His Love with others.”

It started out on the weekend with a stomach ache and her refusing to eat, a high fever and a few trips to the bathroom with diarrhea. Monday we called the doctor who assured us there was a lot of stomach viruses going around and just to keep her hydrated. By Wednesday morning we all looked like zombies because we were sleeping in the bathroom with our three year old daughter who could not get off of the toilet. Her diarrhea was massive and constant and she still had a high fever and wasn’t eating. We called the doctor again who agreed to see her, but ended up telling us the same thing. I was so mad at him, he wouldn’t do anything for her, not even give her any medicine. When I called back the next day, I asked about the hospital and he told me the only way they could help further was if there was blood in her stool. He assured me that it was a virus and would go away soon. By that night Therese looked like a lifeless noodle sitting on that toilet. As her mother, I could literally feel the life draining out of her body. I was sure she was leaving us, and nobody would do anything. We were praying that week like we had never prayed before, and so were all of our friends and family, but she wasn’t getting any better. I kept asking God to let the doctors see what was wrong with her so they could fix her, please God, please show them before it was too late.

Saturday morning it finally happened, she was going nothing but pure blood. As horrible as it sounds, I was terrified, but also relieved. We finally had cause for the hospital to look at her now. We went straight over and were there all day. There was no bathroom in her room, so we would get up, walk her to the toilet, stay in there forever, walk back down the hall to our room, just to turn right back around and do it again. Eddie’s mom came to help take turns with me getting her to the bathroom because physically and emotionally I was falling apart. By the end of a very long day, they still didn’t have any answers for us. They took some blood work and stool samples, but said they wouldn’t have answers for us until Monday. I lost it. I was literally on my knees crying and begging the doctor to give her something. I normally worry way too much about what people think, but that day I didn’t care, I made a huge scene. I followed that doctor out of the room just begging her, all down the hall crying my eyes out. Everyone was staring, but no one would help. A twenty minute ride home took almost two hours because we had to keep stopping and using various bathrooms along the way.

That night I finally realized that nobody was going to do anything to help her, and I was sure she was going to die.

We said our prayers through a lot of tears that night, but when we were done, Therese smiled up at us and told us that Jesus said he was going to heal her. Honestly, I really, desperately, wanted to believe her, but my faith was mixed with the reality of what I could see. What I saw was our daughter getting ready to go home, but I was not ready to give up. As I kept post in the bathroom that night I finally prayed the way I should have been all along. I cried and pleaded with God for HIM to help her. Jesus, if you said you were going to heal her, then you heal her, not our doctor, not the hospital doctor, but God, I finally realized that HE was the one, HE was our Healer. I spent all night praying and crying, and feeling so guilty for not having come to Him the right way to begin with. I had put my hopes in the doctors, I wanted God to enable them to help her, and I didn’t see that they were an unnecessary part of the equation. God could heal her without help from any man. But it took me being at the end of the line, knowing that doctors couldn’t help, and seeing the faith of my child, to finally really seek GOD’S Healing.

The next morning we got a call from the ER doctor. Therese had E Coli poisoning, and there really was not anything that they could do. So now we knew what was going on, but still could not do anything about it. But God already had. Therese went from being a bloody mess, to having no fever, asking for food, and the diarrhea started clearing up. In the days that followed we found out about the Baby Spinach E Coli outbreak, and through testing found out that this was what made her so very ill. Unfortunately, some of the children that were infected at this time came out with not such a happy ending. A couple of them went home to be with their Savior, and many of them will live short and painful lives because of chronic kidney problems due to their TREATMENT. We were told that the children that were not so fortunate had taken antibiotics and that combination with the e coli somehow is what causes the kidney failure. My begging and pleading for somebody to give her something very well could have killed her, or made her life very painful and short. I had been convinced that it was the night after the hospital that God had healed her, but we found out that He had been protecting her all along.

That experience taught us so much, it showed us God’s love and mercy in “unanswered” prayers…

and also showed us how to pray, just directly for God. I finally saw that God didn’t need me to figure out how He would help her, but just needed me to trust in Him that He would. I was trying to control the uncontrollable, and it wasn’t until I realized I had no control that I let go completely and allowed God to handle it. It was the most terrifying, and also, the most glorious experience we have been through. I try to remember this time when I slip back into the habit of praying for how I think God should fix things. I can now step back, give thanks, and have faith that the Lord is in control. It truly is amazing, and humbling, having a God that can handle things all on His own.

About the author: Becky Badilla is a wife, mom, teacher and friend. You might run into her serving in the Tykes class on Sundays at the Vineyard, or at the Farrand LifeGroup on Wednesday nights.

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