It was just God

Administrator of Greenwood Christian says recovery was miracle, not medical

August 21, 2005
By JACKIE R. BROACH
Index-Journal staff writer

John Davis knows firsthand what it feels like to experience a miracle.

He went on a mission trip to Honduras this summer, arriving there in a wheelchair. By the time he left, he didn’t need it anymore.

Davis, administrator at Greenwood Christian School, said he was healed on the trip after having a pastor in Honduras pray for him.

“The first thing he said to me was ‘God will do a miracle in your life today,’” Davis said of the pastor, known to the missionaries as Pastor Juan.

According to Davis’ account of the trip, Pastor Juan spoke with him and other missionaries for an hour or two and then went into prayer.

“My faith just grew as he prayed and, by the time he was done, I had almost all the strength back in my legs,” Davis said. “By that night, I had it all back.”

Four years ago, Davis was diagnosed with relapsing, remitting multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system and can damage the nerve fiber in the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. As the disease progresses, the patient’s symptoms worsen for a period, then go into remission before further worsening. The remission is not a full recovery, but a lessening of symptoms.

The disease dealt its first severe blow to Davis three years ago, leaving him in a wheelchair much of the time. Though he was able to walk on his own during remissions, the act was difficult and accompanied by a defined limp.

Since that night in Honduras, Davis’ movements are no longer visibly affected by the disease and he said walking is no longer a painful and difficult process. That’s not a normal recovery for someone at Davis’ stage of the disease, said Dr. Randy Cain, an emergency room physician at Self Regional Healthcare.

Cain also went on the mission trip, though he was working in a different part of the country and didn’t witness the healing.

He did, however, see Davis before and after.

“He almost backed out of this trip because he was having so much trouble getting around and knew he would have to be in a wheelchair,” Cain recalled. “He didn’t want to burden the other people,” he explained.

The next time Cain saw Davis, when the group was heading back home, “he was walking very well, better than I’ve seen in at least a couple of years.” It was a surprise, Cain said.

“MS (multiple sclerosis) isn’t a specialty of mine, but what I know is that it’s a waxing and waning neurological disease and over time it tends to gradually get worse,” Cain said. “A patient may have months to weeks of remission, but there’s a tendency over time for the disease to get worse after each remission.”

Cain explained that each time patients with MS regain their strength, it’s usually less than what it was the last time.

“The thing about John is that he is now walking and getting around better than he has been in years,” Cain said. “There are medications that can be of service to these patients, but most of them are expensive and John has not been able to afford them. He’s had to live with the ebb and flow of the disease.

“All I can attest to,” Cain said, “is going down on the plane and seeing him doing not so well. Then at end of week, he had dramatically regained his strength to point of walking almost normally. It was a pretty dramatic recovery and not what you would expect to see from someone with MS, even with the waxing and waning.”

Davis said his doctor hasn’t diagnosed him since getting back from the trip.

“I’m not going to go back,” he said. “I no longer have a need for treatment.”

Davis said he would contact his doctor to let him know about his miraculous recovery. And it was miraculous, according to Delores Peace, who participated in the healing prayer.

“It was pretty amazing to witness – it just knocked me out of my socks,” said Peace, a chemistry teacher at Greenwood Christian who also went on the mission trip. “I’d never seen an actual healing before.”

Peace admitted she had been somewhat skeptical about such healings because of “all the hoopla” surrounding televangelists. Now that she’s seen the miracle God performed on Davis, however, she said she’s not skeptical anymore. Peace said that after the prayer that healed Davis, she saw him make a fairly long trip up a very rocky, difficult hill. She said the trip was something he would have been unable to do only hours before.

Madison Peace, a 10th-grader who witnessed the healing, said, “Mr. Davis was dragging his leg along on the way down the hill, like he’s done for a while now. When we started walking back up, his daughter Danielle pointed out that he was picking up his foot a little bit.”

A couple of hours later, when the group made it back to the children’s home where they were staying, Davis was “running around the house and doing jumping jacks,” Madison said. That was confirmed by others on the trip.

“I didn’t see him until the next day, but it was just like ‘wow,’” said Joy Cain, a senior on the trip. “It was a miracle. It wasn’t medicine or anything that healed him. It was just God.”

“I think it was a reminder that God is who He says He is,” Delores said of Davis’ healing. “He hasn’t changed since the Old Testament and he’s still working miracles.”

Her reaction is typical of those Davis has seen since his healing, he said. Though some have been skeptical, most people have been Davis has come into contact with have been amazed and excited at seeing what God can do, he said.

Davis has not a single doubt that he experienced a miracle.

For those skeptics who suggest his healing was medical rather than miracle, he points out that he never took medication for his disease, because his insurance wouldn’t cover the cost.

“There is no other reasonable cause to look,” he said.

Not only is Davis walking, he’s running and “just enjoying being able to move without limping, scooting or crawling.” In addition to the healing of his legs, he said other symptoms of his disease, including the fatigue that constantly plagued him, have vanished.

“People have been praying for this for a long time,” Davis said. “We don’t always understand God’s healing, but He knows what He’s doing. God has used this disease and the last three-and-a-half years to draw me closer to Him and to have me be a witness to the kids at this school. They asked me how I could stay positive and happy while going through that, but if you’re a Christian, you have joy all the time. They needed to see that.”

Since his healing, Davis has been witnessing and sharing his story with area groups and individuals, trying to show them the power of God, he said.

“This has changed my life and I think its proof to people that prayer really does work,” Davis said. “God is listening and he’s still working miracles. I just hope He gives me more opportunities to share what He’s done in my life.”


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