I don’t know if you’ve ever personally experienced miraculous healing, but I have! It’s well documented at Santiam Hospital, Salem Hospital, and Salem CardioVascular Associates. My blood pressure had climbed seven weeks straight topping out at 203/143. After several days of extensive testing, it clearly showed damage in the front center and front lower right section of my heart.

My wife and I asked hundreds to pray. Then I went back to the hospital the next Thursday. Apparently, I lost consciousness shortly after meeting the five members of my cardiologist’s team. When I woke up in recovery, my cardiologist walked in looking stunned. “This never happens. Your heart looks great! I couldn’t find any damage anywhere. Not even plaque.” After he turned and left, I started to comprehend what he had just told me.

Yet, I couldn’t call it a miracle until I returned to Salem CardioVascular Associates. After explaining that I wasn’t sure of the accuracy of what I remembered, I recited what I recalled hearing in recovery.

“Stunned?” exclaimed one of the cardio experts. “It was the surprise of the year!” She paused. “Frankly, it left all of us here pretty rattled. The imaging is proof positive that you needed either stents or double bypass surgery. But the angiogram imaging a few days later proves that your heart has absolutely no damage anywhere. Not even a trace of plaque anywhere in or around your heart.” I had the heart of a teenager again.

The next Sunday, a friend of mine came up to me before church. I was talking with another member of our congregation when this friend approached me smiling from ear to ear. She radiated, “It was me!” I didn’t know what she meant, so I didn’t say a word.

She continued, “I was the one who prayed for the complete healing of your heart, and I’m the one who asked God to prove it was a miracle by removing any and all traces of plaque from your heart.” I thanked her profusely. Even better? I’ve learned how to pray God-sized prayers!

David Sanford, ​Corban University/Director of Institutional Marketing

Real People, Real Stories, Real God®