Praise God on the Mountain

A Miracle in this Century as though it Came off the Pages of the Bible

I want to share with you a story that happened in my life about the subject of healing. I have seen Jesus heal in different ways, but this was the most significant thing I have ever see Jesus do with me being involved in the midst of a person’s illness. Feel free to share it with your daughters and whomever you like. Perhaps it will uplift their hearts in some way. Perhaps your own. Forgive me for the length of the story but the details only magnify the truth of this story. Here it goes:

When I was working for a bank in the 1990’s called First Interstate Bank I had a secretary by the name of Darlene. Her father was Dick who was about 58 years of age and he had Parkinson’s disease.

When Kristi my wife and I got married we invited Darlene and her husband De to my wedding. We had been friends for years. As time passed and I went on to work for different banks, yet we stayed in touch for about once a year. I would call Darlene to see how she was doing as she was like a big sister to me.

I wish in retrospect we had stayed in touch more often but as life has it when you move from one city to another you lose touch with your friends as distance can make one forget the value of friends.

Needless to say, I went to work in the late 1990’s for a company called Sanwa Bank in Westwood California, which is not far from Beverly Hills, California. I called Darlene to see how she was doing. You know; that once-a-year call to check in. You see when we had her family over to our home a few months after we had gotten married. I had never met her father and mother but for the very first time at our home for dinner. I remember how nice a couple they were.

Dick told me that he was starting to have signs of Parkinson’s disease. As we shared our faith, he mentioned that he had given his life to Jesus Christ and trusted him for his future despite the illness. It would be a year later that I would see Dick. Well, I made that call to Darlene that one afternoon and to my surprises Darlene told me her dads health was doing terrible. She said he had to be checked into the Veterans hospital in Westwood California.

When I asked what happened she said that he was not only in the hospital because of the Parkinson’s disease which was taking a worse toll on his body, but that he had lost his mind. I asked her to explain that last comment. Somehow, she said he no longer had his sanity. He believed that the doctors and the nurses in the hospital were Germans and that it was World War II and that he was trying to escape from them trying to kill him. He no longer knew Darlene or her husband DE. His wife of 40 years he no longer knew. Darlene’s mother would sit at the hospital in front of his bed on a chair and she would sit there for hours each day hoping Dick would recognize her.

Dick became so violent and dangerous that the doctors and nurses at the Veterans Hospital took his body and tied his hands and feet to the bed so he would not escape.

For all intents and purposes, he was insane. They might as well have placed him in a strait jacket like they do to those insane at mental hospitals in the US. But in the United States, a man that serves in the army gets medical treatment for little cost when he or she goes to what is known as a Veterans Hospital. So, with that being said they don’t seem place men that are insane in a strait jacket. Instead, I learned quickly that they tie their bodies to their beds.

It broke Darlene’s heart to see that her father did not know who she was, nor did he know anyone else. She was devastated. I asked her what hospital he was in. She replied that he was in the Veterans hospital in Westwood. This hospital tuned out to be but 5 minutes from my office. She said that she wanted to warn me of what I would see.

Darlene said I would see a man tied to his bed bound by hands and feet. I would see the chair in front of her father’s bed where her mother would sit for months; and I do mean months of hoping that he would get his sanity back and be able to recognize her. She said he would not know me as he certainly did not know her or his own wife. Darlene says that all he talks about is the Nazis coming to take him away and he will beg you to undo the ropes so he could escape. Frightening to hear but I told her I would still visit him anyway.

When I went to the front desk of the hospital, they told me he was on the 7th floor, and they gave me his room number. I went there after work. As I opened the door of his hospital room, I saw ten hospital beds to the left side of the room. There was nothing to the right of the room but a long wall. In the middle of the room only one bed was occupied and that was occupied by Dick Martin.

As I slowly walked up to the bed it was like walking in slow motion. I saw the chair in front of his bed. I knew instantly that was the chair his wife sat in for months waiting, hoping to see him regain his sanity. As I got closer, I saw the ropes tied to his hands and his feet. I felt sort of scared. As I got closer to the bed, he turned his head and just like Darlene said he started to babble about Nazi’s, and he wanted to escape and asked me to unloose his ropes. I told him the doctors and nurses won’t let me do this.

He truly was insane.

As I got up closer to talk to him, I got to close to his bed because even though his hands and feet were tied to the bed, he was able to stretch his hand and grab my hand. Fear gripped me so hard because I could not get my hand lose from his. I told him to let me go and he would not unless I unloosened his ropes so the Nazis would not kill him. I then decided to not panic, and I started to pray asking the Lord Jesus what to do.

I remembered in my mind our dinner conversation that we had at our home the first night we had met him many years ago. I remembered how he told me that he had given his life to Jesus just a few years ago, I remembered how he told me how he trusted Jesus and no longer relied on religion but that he truly committed his heart and mind to Christ. That commitment of his heart and mind made me think quickly of a bible verse which says that if any man or women gives their life to Christ, he or she is a new person. I thought about that bible verse that says God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, of power and a sound mind.

I thought about that last part of the verse about a sound mind. As I looked at him, I told him I wanted to pray for him. He just stared at me and started to babble again. I said be quiet and listen to me as I am going to pray for you. Instantly he let go of my hand. My first inclination was to get away from his bed and just start running out that hospital door room of his.

But the fear somehow no longer gripped me. What gripped me was I could no longer bear to see him tormented in that bed. So I started to pray and even while I was praying, he was still talking crazy. I then opened my eyes and told him not to say one word. I told Dick to just look at me while I pray and to listen to me.

I remember saying to Jesus to please allow his mind to be restored and for his sanity to come back. I told Jesus that I truly believe that this man Dick Martin had committed his life and heart and mind to him many years ago and that he had the right to have his mind back in a sound state. As I prayed that prayer, I felt my prayer hitting the ceiling of his room. I wanted to have the boldness of faith, but my lack of faith was fighting my heart and mind because what I saw with my eyes was an insane man, a man that the doctors classified as mentally insane and that he was so dangerous in mind that he had to be tied to the bed like an animal.

As I opened my eyes slowly after I had prayed, he was quiet and looking at me. I then asked him again if he knew who I was. After I asked, he started to babble again about the Nazis, and he begged me to let him go. My heart was crushed with despair, and I should have expected nothing from my prayer because I truly did not trust Jesus that he would restore his sanity because the insanity of his mind seemed impossible to me to see overcome. I did not look at his insanity with the eyes of faith that Jesus could heal him. Translation: my prayer was more of a wish that Jesus would do what I asked more so than resting in the faith of what I had asked.

As Dick talked about crazy things again, I looked at him in despair and told him I had to go and that I was so sorry that I could nothing to help him. I then walked slowly out of the room. I heard no sound coming from his bed as I turned my back to leave. As I got to the door frame of his hospital bedroom, I heard a voice that said,

Bob please don’t leave.

To my total shock I turned around. All I saw was Dick in the room staring at me.

I said, “Dick was that you?”

He said, “Yes. Bob.”

I walked up to him slowly. I said do you know who I am? He said your Bob Gedeon; aren’t you my daughter’s old boss.

I said. “Yes.”

Then he said, “What is happening to me? Why and what has happened?”

I told Dick what had happened. I told him that the doctors did not know why he had lost his mind and that it had been at least a month if not more about the lost state of his mind. I told him I prayed and that within about one minute of me leaving his bedside his mind came back to him. I told him that the window of his mind may close again; so, I told him to promise me to believe that Jesus would keep his mind open and to trust him with all of his heart.

He said he would, and he just placed his head further back on his pillow and a peace seemed to control his entire being. I went back to the office and called Darlene. I told her what had happened. She said that is impossible. He doesn’t know any of us not his own wife of 40 years and she has been by his bedside for over a month. She shouted what did you do? I told her I just prayed and without much faith as my eyes could not grip faith, but my heart wanted to.

It was indeed a joyous time for her and her family. I called Darlene about a year later to check up on her dad. She mentioned that Parkinson’s eventually took his life about a year after I had seen him. I asked; why did you not invite Kristi and me to the funeral. She said her and her mother just wanted to keep the funeral with just family.

I asked Darlene what became of his mind after I had seen him. She said that the doctors and nurses had to untie him and loose him. He never lost his mind again. He knew all of us and she thanked me so much for having gone to pray for him and until he died, he knew them all and remembered everything about them as though his mind was young again.

Funny thing I never prayed for Jesus to heal his Parkinson’s disease; as I was so wrapped up with the fear of what I saw; a man totally insane. The Bible talks allot about miracles that Jesus did. I saw a miracle from the bible in front of my own eyes in the 21st century. I will never forget this for the rest of my life what Jesus did that day.

I don’t really know what you believe about Jesus. But this I do know. I believe he is alive from that grave and that he came to die that we might live with him forever. I grew up with religion, but I did not grow up knowing Jesus Christ until I was a teenager. I am now 57 years old and I asked him into my heart and life was when I was 13 years old. He doesn’t promise us a rose garden but he wept in a garden called Gethsemane before he was crucified for our sins so we could live by faith in knowing him. Death is not stronger than Him and neither is Cancer or Sanity or Parkinson’s disease or whatever a person has. Don’t let anything come in front of you and Jesus; not doubt, despair, hopelessness or life or death for that matter.

This story is true. It took place in 1998. I lived to see it and so did Darlene and her family. Feel free to share this with anyone you know that is sick or dying. I can only say that I wish I had trusted him more when I had prayed for Dick. What happens about Life and Death I leave to Jesus. But I will never stop praying and never stop believing for anyone anywhere.

He doesn’t tell me that he will heal or not heal someone. He tells me to pray about it and to ask him and I will ask him till he decides what he will do with the life of my Mom, Dad, son, daughter, family member and friend. Someone told me that FAITH is really spelled RISK.

Does he heal everyone; no and I wish he did, but he tells us that the people we love really belong to him. I know that to be true. But on the other hand, he tells me that I have a right to ask that he heal them. That will I do until He decides the outcome. Does God change his mind? I believe he does. I am like the kid that grabs a hold of the feet of Jesus, and I will not let go till I get what I want.

Faith is like that in a way I suppose. Jesus didn’t die so we would live forever on earth. Death does have to happen but until it does. I will NEVER stop asking him to heal the one I love and when death does happen, I will pray for the next person and the next because he tells me to pray for. And the outcome, I will leave to him. I can only tell you what I saw: A miracle in this Century as though it came off the pages of the Bible.

Sincerely

-Bob Gedeon

5 Comments

  1. iamredeemed 10/18/2011
  2. jowls 12/6/2012
  3. cheeryleesa 12/8/2012
    • Bob Gedeon 8/6/2016

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