In May 2005, I collapsed while visiting my 92 year old father who at that time was in a rehabilitation centre. My sister, Robyn, was present and immediately called for assistance. Detecting no heart beat, the centre’s staff shocked my heart with an automatic defibrillator and eventually the heart started beating again.
I was rushed to hospital. At the Cardiac Care Unit, after a series of tests, I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a serious disease in which the heart muscle doesn't work as well as it should. My heart function was measured at 19% (less than a third of what it should be). The heart specialists recommended and installed an ICD Defibrillator (implanted under the skin with wires down to the heart - like a pacemaker). The ICD continually monitors my heart and can apply an appropriate shock to the muscle if it detects an adverse condition.
I was told that there is no recovery from this disease. All the education programs I was advised to attend were aimed at management of heart failure – in other words, how to live with the condition. There was no discussion about or even a hint of the possibility of ever recovering.
While in hospital, I had already turned to God for healing. But realising there was no medical cure for this condition, the intensity of my search increased. I had already witnessed miracles, some of them were healings. I knew God heals and that I had to change my thinking. The Bible says …renew your mind”. My search caused me to challenge many beliefs that I had previously held, and more importantly, I recognized that I needed to put into practice the things I had learnt, not just pass them off with phrases like “yeah, I know that”. Most important to me was saying aloud God’s word. “Faith comes by hearing,”- not by having heard. This was an important lesson for me. I also was inspired by Jesus’ words from Mark 11:23 “…..You can have what you say.”
Well, my several months of earnest searching were not in vain. God is good and He does heal, even me. On a visit to the heart specialist in November 2005, she commented on the 𠇌onsiderable improvement in my heart function”. When I asked her how much improvement was “considerable”, she cautiously replied that it was now showing normal.
Hallelujah – praise God. This is a miracle. As I have found out since, normal people just don’t recover from cardiomyopathy. But then I’m not normal. I have a covenant with the living God who responded when I needed help. His desire is that I am healthy and free from any sickness. While on earth Jesus performed many miracle healings, and He is still doing so today. This miracle required me to stand against what the medical specialists were telling me and rely on God and His ways. Just because there isn’t a medical cure for this condition, there is a miraculous one, just as there is for every medically incurable disease.
Each visit since then, to the surprise of those in the heart clinic, the heart specialist has reported that the heart function is still normal. The implanted defibrillator lies dormant and I expect it to remain so for the rest of my life.
Thank you to all who prayed for me while I was in hospital. Your prayers have been answered.
I love you lots
Len Miller.
April 2008, Revised, January 2011
