Chain Linked Prayer

(By R A Beeman )   As I gaze through the fog that is drifting over the prison where I work, I can't help but not to notice how the fog glitters on the steel chain linked fence that encompasses the institution. The powerful lights unmask the thick rolling fog by piercing the night to allow those glittering steel links to be seen. There is power in those steel links. Power to thwart an inmate from attempting an escape and yet there is power to keep them secure. It is the security of those interwoven steel links that brings me back to a time when I realized just how powerful the links of a prayer chain are.
     My daughter was born on September 11, 1985 in Germany. We lived in a little town outside of Karlsruhe. We were two young parents blessed with a wonderful gift from God. My wife and I promised each other to raise her in church and to give her the tools she would need to succeed in this world. She received all of our time and devotion. Her world was our world and since we had no family with us, we had to rely on each other and our church. With Christmas just around the corner, we were looking forward to bring our little girl home for all to see.
     Our little world we lived in shattered one dreary night much like tonight's dreariness. As was our routine, I would get the baby during the night if she woke and bring her to her mother. She woke and my wife knew she needed a diaper change. As I lay half asleep, my heart leaped from my chest as I heard the sickening sound of flesh striking the hard, cold floor. As I struggled to put my thoughts in order, I only heard the cries of my wife. Our daughter lay on the floor not moving nor crying. I just couldn't even fathom the thought that my baby may be dead. My wife, instinctively, tried to pick her up. Her little body moved and I breathed a sigh of relief. As my wife gave comfort to the baby, I noticed a shock of fear running rampant through the room. The only words that she could say was, " my baby is hurt! " As I looked at our daughter, I could see that the back of her little head was swollen with a knot the size of a baseball. Panic and fear swept through me. I managed to call my best friend and he came to take us downtown to the children's hospital.
     My worst fears were realized when her x-rays showed a large fracture of her skull. The German pediatric doctor on duty explained in his best English the extent of our daughter's injury. We were both totally devastated. My wife refused to leave the baby's side. I had to make some very difficult phone calls home to let them all know what had happened. As I called my in-laws, the tears rolled down my cheeks. I could only think that they may never get to hold their only grandchild. After the shock wore off, I told them to pray and pray hard for my baby. My mother-in-law activated the church's prayer chain. I then called my parents and they too, fell before God by interceding on behalf of my daughter. My parents activated another prayer chain and within a few hours perhaps a hundred or more, men, woman and children of God held my little girl up in prayer. Three different prayer chains poured out their hearts for a child that two churches had never saw.
     As I arrived at the hospital the next morning, another doctor pulled me aside and he also confirmed that the baby had a skull fracture. However, a strange peace had come over my wife and I. For the first time in my life, I believed that all those people praying in unison for this little girl would not have their prayers be in vain. Members of our local church came to pray with us in the hospital that day. My pastor laid his hand on the baby's little arm and prayed for her recovery and for the Lord to have his way in her life. As the day progressed, Satan tried to deceive my wife and I into thinking that God would not honor our praying efforts. He wanted me to blame her for allowing the baby to fall in the first place, but she was already blaming herself for the accident. Since my wife was nursing the baby, she decided that she would stay for the day. I clearly remember going home and falling on my face asking God not to allow me to find fault with anyone over this. As I prayed, I received several phone calls from the states and once again; I heard my mother say, " Son, just trust in the Lord. "
     She was right of course and a little while later my in-laws called and told me that the church was praying for the baby to get better. I told my father-in-law what the doctors had told me and that in the morning they were going to have a specialist come and take a look at her. I promised I would call as soon as I heard anything.
     The next day, the specialist examined the scans and x-rays of the baby that were taken the day before. I found it odd that they wanted to do them all over again. As the baby was taken back to radiology, I sensed something wasn't right. My wife and I prayed silently that God would place His healing hand on our daughter. As the doctors came back down the hallway, I noticed a look of bewilderment on their faces. As they reviewed the x-rays, the fracture line that was there yesterday was no longer present. They took several more scans just to make sure. I will never forget the next few minutes as the doctors looked over my daughter. As I was trying to sort out what he was saying, he just pointed to the sky and smiled. As I watched him go down the hall, I knew that those links of prayer connected to God and he provided the healing to my baby.
     As we traveled home for our daughter's first Christmas, my mother-in-law pushed her way to the front of our welcoming party and grabbed the baby and held her tight. In that moment I realized just how important prayer is for the human spirit. I was blessed that week to be in two churches that were not afraid to link prayers for a little one that they had never saw. My father held up my daughter in church and let them know that if it wasn't for powerful Christians praying to an even more powerful God, this little girl may not be here today.