Betsie - Ann Browning - MTC2514

SPEAKER 1 It's all too often said that there are no miracles performed these days. Well, I'd like to challenge this idea with my story of Betsie. Welcome to miracles in the 21st century. I'm Ann Browning. When I was a young girl, we used to live in Honiara in the Solomon Islands. My dad was the president of the area. And he had a very large territory. He had a mission ship. And he used to go from place to place to visit people. But when he was home, every Sabbath, he used to take us kids and go and visit every patient in the hospital. So we'd go from bed to bed to visit the patients, and he'd pray with those who were willing for him to pray with, and he'd encourage them. And we'd just go from bed to bed. That was our Sabbath afternoon activities. As a result, my dad was asked by the hospital board would he chair the hospital board. So whenever he was home, he was able to go and be involved with the hospital program. It was the government hospital, so that was an interesting appointment. Often my dad would go down during the week and visit the patients as well. And one day, as he was walking through the hospital, he came across a child laying on a bed. And this child was so enlarged and swollen. He said it was like looking at a watermelon on the bed with a couple of slits for the eyes. Her eyes were closed, actually. At that time, dad didn't know if it was a little boy or a little girl. And the mother was sitting by the bear, sobbing by the bed, sobbing her eyes out, wondering just what was going to happen. And my dad went into the room and he said to the mother of this child, he said, tell me what's happening. And this mother said to my dad, the hospital have. The staff have just come in to tell me that my little girl is not going to live much longer. Her kidneys have failed, and she's dying, and they don't expect her to live the night. And this lady, we could tell, was a person from a very primitive area of the island of Malaita. So my dad said to her, he said, would you let me pray for your little girl? And this lady was desperate, I guess, and she said, yes, please. So my dad prayed for this little girl, found out her name was Betsie. And he said, I will see you later. So at that point, dad went over to the matron and he said, tell me about Betsie. What's happening there? She's had. Her organs are all shutting down. She won't last very much longer at all. She'll be passed away before the end of the day. She's only a little girl, but there's nothing more we can do for this little girl. My dad said, okay, thank you for that. And. And he got in his car and he went racing back to the mission station. So he called all the mission staff together. All of us were gathered together, and we all had this very earnest season of prayer for little Betsie. Nobody expected her to live, but we knew that we had a great big God that could do something. And so after that prayer meeting, everybody went about the rest of their day's duties. But they were all praying for Betsie throughout the day. And then in the evening, dad called everybody back to have prayer season for Betsie again. And in the morning, everybody was called to pray for Betsie. And so in the morning, when dad had finished the prayer meeting, I could see that he was very excited because he wanted to go to the hospital to see just what had happened with Betsie overnight. So off he went to the hospital, and we were all still back at the mission station praying and asking God to take care of Betsie. So dad arrives at the hospital, and he met the matron coming down the hall. And he said to the matron, matron, how is Betsie? And she didn't give anything away. She just looked very solemn and. And she said, come and look at Betsie for yourself. Come and see. Well, that was a miracle that she was still living at that point in time. So dad and the maiden walked down the hall, and they turned into the room where Betsie was a patient. And there was Betsie sitting up in bed, playing with toys. The swelling had gone. She was like a normal child. The mother was just so grateful. And the matron said to Dad, I knew you were going back to pray. She said, this is absolutely a miracle. This child wouldn't have lasted even the night. So she said, all we can do is say this child has lived because of a miracle. So dad thanked the matron, and then he got to chatting with the mother. And he said to the mother, this is a miracle of the great big God in heaven. He cares about you, he cares about Betsie, and he's made her well. And the mother said to my dad, she said, I would like to give you Betsie, but she's too little. I would love to give you one of my children to go to your mission school so that you can teach her about this great big God and that that message will be able to come back to us. Because this is an amazing God that can do things like that. She said, I can't give you, Betsie, but I will give you my next big girl. And when, when you come over to our area again, we would like you to take her in your mission boat, bring her back to your school, and teach her about the great big God who's the God of miracles. So my dad agreed to that, and they eventually went over to Ireland, they brought her daughter back, and she became a pupil at our mission school at Batticarma. And she was the beginning of sharing the gospel of Jesus to this part of Malaita. So we have an amazing God who cares for people and little girls like Betsie. God bless.