Faith As A Mustard Seed for Damar Hamlin's Miraculous Recovery: An Unwavering Visualization, Belief, Trust and Expansion of Our Faith as Together, We Look Up to One God, Expecting a Miracle
Through virtually every severe obstacle in life, I am reminded that Jesus taught us about "faith as a mustard seed" that could cast a mountain into the sea. How do we HAVE this kind of faith?
We open the day with a miraculous recovery for Damar Hamil, who is neurologically intact, opening his eyes and squeezing his hand to command! Now, after two cardiac arrests (not “heart attacks” that would require an emergency stent or bypass surgery), he is weaning off the ventilator and trying to breathe on his own!
That means Damar still has a bit of a way to go:
Spontaneous breathing should be regular and deep.
Neurologic function should be intact, i.e., he follows simple commands.
Weaning Ventilation - Number of Breaths. The assistance of the ventilator will gradually decrease. Instead of having the ventilator automatically take every breath for him (say, 12 breaths per minute), the ventilator setting is changed so it kicks in with each spontaneous breath and gradually decreases to 10, 8, 6, 4, then 0 breaths/minute and he is then 100% breathing on his own, still on the vent.
Weaning Ventilation - Pressure Support. Ventilator support is gradually decreased so that with each breath, it “pushes” in less and less forcefully, i.e., with less “assistance”. A “high” pressure support can be up to 20 cm H20, weaning down to just 5 cm H2O. Of course, it is hard for any one to breathe out of a straw, so we don’t expect perfection.
Weaning Oxygen. With each spontaneous breath, the ventilator still delivers oxygen that is more than that found in room air (21%). The last I saw a few days ago, he was still on 50% oxygen but doctors always rapidly decrease that as fast as possible, down to that found in room air.
All patients have to be close to 21% before taking the breathing tube out, so they don’t need a lot of extra oxygen. Nevertheless, no one goes from a ventilator to room air; everyone gets those nasal prongs and supplemental oxygen. One can start at 5 or 6 liters/minute (which is high) and go down to 2 liters per minute before taking the oxygen completely off and breathing on room air, again 21%.
Respiratory Rate. Even if the ventilator is on the lowest settings of oxygen and assisted support, the breathing rate must be between 8-16 breaths per minute, rather normal. If the patient is breathing too rapidly, 20 - 30 times per minute, they will likely “fail” extubation and that breathing tube will have to be put back in. And the ventilator will have to be reattached. Not a good occurrence, as we all want someone to “fly” off the ventilator.
Intact Airway Reflexes. Even if the ventilator is on the lowest settings and the breathing rate is slow, that tube cannot come out without “intact airway reflexes” and a good neurologic status as shown by “following commands”.
A lack of airway reflexes causes people to aspirate acidic stomach contents, which “burns” the lungs and can lead to aspiration pneumonia and death. If airway reflexes are not intact, no one will take out the tube and a tracheostomy (a breathing hole in the neck/throat area) will be considered.
Intact Neurologic Status. A lack of following commands means the brain is not recovered enough to take out the breathing tube. If persistent, a tracheostomy is also considered in this case.
Everyone, including me, should expect a 100% recovery. Why?
Because everyone has been praying, and our God is a God of miracles! Because prayer works!
There is nothing like the power of prayer. | Photo by Cason Asher on Unsplash
Faith As A Mustard Seed
Do you remember the first time you read in the Bible about the mustard seed? How Christ said we could talk to a mountain and order it to be cast into the sea? Think about it for just a few seconds - how would you pray a prayer for that? What would your prayer look like? Would you stand? Kneel? Whisper? Shout?
Look up and visualize yourself. See yourself commanding the mountain to go into the sea…
And know how small a mustard seed it.
As a child, I recall visualizing a random seed, because I had never seen a “mustard seed”. Imagining all my faith being bound tight by that seed’s hard covering, I filled it with a mighty dose of faith, scrunching my eyes shut. Standing, I looked at a mountain that surrounded my presence and I lifted my little arms.
Did you know that mustard seeds are tiny. Tiny, tiny!
Mustard seeds are only 1 to 2 mm (0.039 to 0.079 inches) in diameter! What does this mean? What do you think? Look up before reading the next line… It means …
Such LITTLE faith is needed to cause a miracle!
To my left was a most majestic mountain, boasting its own glory and strength, as well as the creative power of God. To my right was the calm sea, dashing waves that frolicked as if to tease the world that nothing else was important. The sea had no idea what was about to happen, but it would be happy to absorb the extra energy.
How Does A Mountain Get Cast to the Sea?
An extreme and picturesque example of moving the earth, this can only occur by faith, because even in the natural world, we would only need to create a road or a tunnel to get to the other side. Blasting the whole thing into the sea may be an overreaction, but if it had to be done, it would probably be an emergency of some kind and our mind would be totally overwhelmed with the power of faith.
I could see myself closing my eyes, holding my breath, and speaking into the situation with the most gigantic of gigantic voices, while waving my hands toward the mountain and then toward the sea as I spoke to that great mountain in the same words that Christ said to use:
“Move from here to there!”
Such a simple command! Why didn’t he use more force?
“I COMMAND YOU to be CAST into the sea!” Screaming! Bold!
“Be thou cast into the sea!” Solid! Serious!
No, instead it was,
“Move from here to there.”
The mountain needed no addressing, no subject - no “You” or “Thou” - the mountain knew it was the subject, it knew it was being spoken to, commanded!
That would definitely NOT have been my choice of words, and there would have been an exclamation point after that sentence, not a simple period.
What does that tell us? It tells us that the power does not come from us. We don’t influence the command with our spoken word.
We influence the command with the faith that is behind the words.
We don’t have to “pray hard” or “be loud”.
We just have to “believe”.
God knows our hearts, and he knows what we believe, AND he knows EXACTLY HOW MUCH we believe.
You give God a millimeter, and he gives you a mountain into the sea!
Context
We all like a bit of context. First, let us look at what Christ said in the book of Matthew, Chapter 17 and Verse 20. He replied to his disciples,
“Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Reading more of the same scripture in the New International Version, we see that first Christ had undergone his transfiguration, being filled with light. Then he and his disciples were approached by a man whose son suffered severe seizures, and Christ cast a demon out of him (the disciples had previously been unable to cast the demon out). Jesus goes on to predict his death, astounding them with yet more revelations that they probably could not completely comprehend. Then he gets practical about paying the temple tax, and performs a little-spoken about miracle of the coin.
From Matthew, Chapter 17, Verses 1 - 27:
The Transfiguration
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
10 The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”
11 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy
14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Jesus Predicts His Death a Second Time
22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.
The Temple Tax
24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”
25 “Yes, he does,” he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”
26 “From others,” Peter answered.
“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
That is the whole Chapter, which gives us lots of food for thought and contemplation. Christ was in God’s presence, he got frustrated with the disciples’ lack of faith, and then he showed us how to pray for a miracle.
I always say that if Christ could make a blind man see, he can heal ANYTHING.
And if Jesus could break bread and fish to feed 5,000, he can multiply ANYTHING we need for survival, including our heart muscles and lung alveoli.
All we have to do is believe one millimeter - and we receive the ABSOLUTELY impossible AND MIRACULOUS!
All we have to do is REALLY BELIEVE!
THANK YOU, GOD,
for the miraculous recovery of Damar Hamlin! Together, we believe in his full recovery, removal of the ventilator, and his walking out of that hospital in record time! Bless his family, friends and fans! Help us all to have stronger faith in you, and to not be afraid or embarrassed to talk about prayer, to pray before meals in restaurants, to talk to you in front of others, and to put our knees on the ground and our faces on the floor, if needed to plead with you and go to you, our loving Father.
WHAT I REALLY THINK
On the one hand, many physicians offered various diagnoses (and blame) for
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