Miracle?!? (woman, believe, ritual, prayers)

[bimfi122]

My wife is a Filipina that was born in the Philippines. She was raised by her mother and father who were tenant farmers in the province of Cavite, Philippines. This is the story she related to me, many years ago, of what happened to her legs when she was very young.

At that time, in the late 1950’s when she was about 4 years old, the family lived and worked around the area that is now part of Eagle Ridge Golf & Country Club in General Trias, Cavite, Philippines. She said they called the place “Bermudas”.

It was possibly named after the owner of the land that they lived on at the time. Back then, she said, there was no paved roads close by. There were only beaten pathways from where the local farmers, families and neighbors walked to catch some other kind of transportation, or to go to school. For the most part, they walked to most of their destinations. She reminisced about how idyllic the place was. Hardly any crime, hardly any folks close by.

She related this story a few times to me years ago. When she was about 4 years old she had gotten bitten on the legs by some small insect or bug. Eventually the bites had gotten infected and she had puss filled lesions that would never heal. The lesions would ooze and would then spread to other parts of her legs. Itchy and painful, these lesions would gradually eat away at her leg muscles. There was no medicine that they could find that would end her misery. Her mother and father had brought her to a doctor a couple of towns away, near Silang, Cavite.

The doctor tried different types of salves and ointments to end her pain and suffering. Unfortunately, it did little to help. This problem went on for almost a year.

One day, after many nights of itch and pain, her mother and father decided to take her back to the doctor at the hospital in Silang. They got up real early in the morning, before sunrise and caught a jeepney to the hospital. Because it was early morning, the jeepney was nearly empty. There was the driver and a passenger in the front seat, then an older woman seated in the back, up close to the driver.

The little girl was bundled in white sheets and held by her mother. Her father was seated across from her on the other bench. As they rode along, a person on the road flagged down the jeepney to get a ride.
As he entered the jeepney, they noticed that he was kind of dirty, with worn and dirty clothes. Sort of like a farmer who just finished working. He sat down next to the little girl’s father. The old man asked her parents where they were going, so early in the morning. They said they were going to the hospital. He asked what the problem was.

They related the story of her legs and the lesions and the puss and the itching and pain. The old man asked if he could look at the problem with her legs. He lifted the white sheet and quickly inspected her legs, turning them slightly to get a better look. He then patted her father on the back and said that the doctors can’t do anything for her. Her parents then asked what they could do to help her.

The old man told them to go back home. They were to go to an address that he gave them. They had to go on a certain day, maybe a Wednesday, I believe. They were told to go before sunrise to meet another man who would help them.

So, they traveled on that particular day before the sun arose. They arrived at the place, which was way out in the boondocks. There was a very small “bahay kubo”, a small hut. No one else was around in that small house. There, they met with a man who asked them their problem. He then brought the little girl inside of the small hut and had her stand on a bamboo bench. He then blew air from his mouth onto her legs.

The old man then said to her parents that they should come back every week at the same time and day. The first night after they left the old man, her legs did not itch and the pain was subsiding. With each visit he performed the same ritual of blowing onto her legs. This was done three weeks in a row. Soon the lesions dried up and the scabs eventually fell off. Gradually her legs healed and the muscles grew stronger. No payment was ever asked from this man and nothing was given to him other than thanks and gratitude.

Months after, they went back to thank the old man but could not find any trace of him. They asked the folks living around the area, but no one knew who they were talking about. People who lived in that area all of their lives had never heard of him. The little girl’s father would travel back and forth along the route where they first met the farmer, to see if he could shed some light on what had happened. There was also no trace of the farmer either.

As she grew up, she married a US service man and moved to the United States. She always thought about this old man and how her legs were healed. She wondered about him, but she knew nothing more about him and could not get any answers.

Every time she would relate this story to me, she would ask me what I thought about it. I am not a very religious person, and am very skeptical about these sorts of stories. But she has no other motive by telling this story only to say what happened to her and how she was healed.

In my own opinion, I believe her story did happen. I believe her legs were healed. I believe that for some unknown reason, maybe through faith in what the farmer and the old man said to her and her family provided a way for her body to be healed. Maybe there is a more subtle possibility that an intervention was made possible. Or, maybe the old farmer that rode with them, and the old man that blew on her legs, could have been one in the same person. Some might even call it an angel. I don’t know, but I do think it was some sort of miracle.

[Oakback]

I do believe in miracles.

They are for me, unexplained phenomenon.
Which may, or may not eventually be explained.

I don't believe they are somehow contrary to the laws of science. Afterall, our good Lord created the laws of science. We just don't know them all.

Yet.

[Thoreau424]

I also believe in miracles. Have seen too many (countless) in my lifetime of nearly six decades to write off as anything else. Mine have been fairly minor perhaps compared to the above, but that doesn't lessen them any way. And it doesn't matter if anyone else agrees with me. I show appreciation, and leave the door open, which provides a fertile field for them. No grandstanding or shouting; it's all quiet and humble thanks.

[hljc]

The old man or farmer probably has gifts of Jesus Holy Spirit where God would heal every healing prayer they pray by the Words God gives them Glory to God ........... Still there would be some prayers which they would not have gifts for, as God would limit all His Children