Back to Life

Our God, the One whom we serve, who has provided salvation for us through His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus, is the One True God, and Psalm 85 states:
8 Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; Nor are there any works like Your works.
9 All nations whom You have made Shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And shall glorify Your name.
10 For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.

I'm reminded of Psalm 20, which says in verse 7: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God."

So we can consider this - in whom do we put our trust?  Are we trusting in human strength or ingenuity or placing our trust in what we idolize, which cannot save.  We can be reminded to call upon the Lord in Jesus' name whenever we face danger or tragedy, uncertainty or indecision. When we need healing - physical, emotional, or spiritual, we can call upon the One who makes us whole, who, because He loves us, makes His power available to us. 

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In a prayer at the end of Ephesians chapter 3, Paul reminds us of the matchless power of God - he prays for the readers, that they:
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Last August, the Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, Ryan Marlow, was hospitalized with a listeria infection, which led to an injury of his brain, according to a story at The Christian Post, which recalled that his wife, Megan, released a Facebook Live video on Aug. 31 and said, “The doctor came out [of husband’s hospital room] with about 20 other people as my witness and said your husband has clinically passed. He is clinically deceased. He has passed away. He has suffered neurological death..."

But two days later, she received a call from the doctor saying that he was not brain dead, after all, but he was in a coma and that he would not be able to live without life support.  The next day, his organs were due to be harvested, but the article says:

Meghan Marlow said when she arrived at the hospital her niece, who was in the room with her husband that Tuesday, saw Pastor Marlow moved his feet while she played videos of his three children singing.

Meghan Marlow was so confused at the news, she said she went to her husband’s room and asked everyone to leave.

And then, as she relates: “I told Ryan all the things that I wanted to tell him. That I loved him, people were taking care of me, that God was gonna make sure our babies were taken care of and it was gonna be alright. And at the very end I tell him, ‘If you’re inside of there and you can hear me, I need you to fight. I need you to fight like crazy. Because I’m about to stop this process of organ donating and we’re gonna get some tests done because I don’t know what’s going on...Long story short, he’s not brain dead my friends. The doctor would not even do the brain death test because they said that there is brain activity.”

Just a few weeks ago, Ryan Marlow returned home, greeting hundreds of well-wishers. Megan, posting on a Facebook page called Ryan’s Recovery, stated:

“Ryan was just shocked at all the love that was shown. For the last six months, I’ve been able to see all the messages and the comments and the support and the prayers. But he has seen just glimpses here and there which is what made yesterday that much more amazing. For three hours Ryan waved, smiled and interacted with hundreds of people. I’m so proud of him, I know he was exhausted..."

Last Thursday, Megan posted on Facebook: "This morning he signed to us that he needs us for everything. And then shook his head in agreement that it made him feel bad...I told him we were all happy to be there and we were just thankful we had him to take care of. But that it won’t be like this forever and to use that as motivation to work on getting stronger. He firmly nodded his head and signed he’s ready to work!!

The Christian Post article noted:

In celebration of National Brain Injury Awareness month in March, Meghan Marlow called her husband her “hero.”

It quoted from the Facebook page: "He was living a beautiful and healthy life and then something as innocent as eating supper turned his world upside down with an Acquired Brain Injury from listeria...He is a fighter. He is the strongest man I know. He is my hero.”

This is certainly an inspiring story, and can remind us of the power and faithfulness of God. Pastor Ryan Marlow was declared to be brain dead, within hours of having his organs harvested - but God intervened!  Now, people are praying for his recovery, because there is a still a long road back. 

This story can help us to remember to pray when we are facing seemingly impossible situations.  The devastating medical diagnosis, the financial misfortune, the broken relationships - no matter what may seem impossible, we know that we serve the God of the possible - who is able to do, as the Scriptures say, exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can ask or think. 

God has brought us out of death to life, and He is more than capable of bringing what is dead to life - He is the God of resurrection; Jesus said that He is the "resurrection and the life."  So, for whatever may seem dead or hopeless in our lives, we can call upon the one who brings abundant life.