Larry Colbert
Assistant Director
Independent Study and Distance Education
You've no doubt heard several of those "Lord-help-me-and-I'll-live-right" kind of stories, or been the mojor player in one yourself.
How many lives have been changed because of such vows is a mystery. I personally do know one case in which God heard, helped, and changed a life and, therefore, a destiny. My own. This is the story.
Some years ago my son became desperately ill. A normal rollicking boy of four, he became despondent, listless, and his temperature rose dangerously high, scaring his mother and I something terrible. We rushed him to Norman Regional, where several physicians checked him until midnight without determining what ailment he was suffering before admitting him.
At 2 a.m., now in the children's ward, his condition had not changed. I watched him lying in bed for some time, the fear of what could happen to him pounding me ever minute.
As I later drove to Oklahoma City, I asked the Lord to heal my son, with a promise that if He would, then I would change my lifestyle to reflect Him. When I returned to Norman Regional at 10 that morning, my son was out of bed and playing in a nearby room. The doctor attending and several nurses mentioned that he had had a rapid, miraculous recovery, one none of them understood.
He showed absolutely no signs of the illness of the night before, his appetite was excellent, and his vital signs all appeared normal.
Elated, I promptly forgot my vow.
However, God did not.
Three weeks later as I drove down a street in Norman, I felt his gentle prompting deep inside me, in my knower. I've since discovered that the knower is that place where you know something so absolutely that nobody can take it away from you. Scripture calls it your spirit.
Basically, He said: "You said you would come back to Me if I healed him."
Swallowing, I silently concurred. This event of healing which resulted in my decision to follow Jesus has directed me to live a quality of life richer thatn I ever could have imagined.
If you have any questions or comments you can E-Mail me at LCOLBERT@CCE.OU.EDU