Inside Story: Columbia ~ Trusting God or Science
Trusting God or Science
By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission
The physician showed the 3D ultrasound images to Dr. Hernando Díaz.
“You’re a physician,” he said. “Here is the evidence. End the pregnancy.”
Image © Pacific Press
Hernando’s pregnant wife, Erica, wept. The images showed that their baby had Potter’s Syndrome, a rare condition associated with kidney failure, abnormal limbs, and an unusual facial appearance, including widely separated eyes.
As a physician, Hernando understood that the physician was right. But as a Christian, he wondered what to do. The baby wouldn’t live if the 32-week pregnancy were ended, but there might be hope if they waited. Should he trust science or God? “God will have the last word,” he said.
Complications beset the pregnancy, and the physician recommended a C-section to save Erica’s life. Hernando and Erica prayed. Their church prayed. Family and hospital staff rebuked Erica for not ending the pregnancy.
Two days before the C-section, a 3D ultrasound showed that nothing had changed. That night, Erica had a dream. She saw a baby boy playing in a basket and heard a voice telling her husband, “Take your son. He is a gift from God. You shall name him Samuel David. Raise him according to God’s Word.”
Erica and Hernando took the dream as a sign that the baby might survive. They bought diapers and other baby supplies for the first time. The next day, however, they braced for the worst. The physician explained that he would do the C-section, cut the umbilical cord, and the baby would die within minutes.
C-sections usually take 20 to 30 minutes. Hernando waited in the waiting room for 30 minutes! 40 minutes! 50 minutes! His anxiety grew as 60 minutes passed. Suddenly he heard screams. It wasn’t his wife. It wasn’t their baby. It was the sound of the physician and nurses screaming in surprise. They had expected a deformed baby but instead found a perfect baby boy.
“It is impossible!” the physician exclaimed. “This is a miracle!”
The parents determined to raise Samuel David according to God’s Word, and today they credit him for leading them and many others to Jesus. While seeking medical treatment for the boy’s subsequent kidney problems, they learned about and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Today, Hernando works as a physician at the Adventist Medical Center on the campus of Colombia Adventist University in Medellin, Colombia. Samuel is a healthy 8-year-old boy. “We decided to trust in God even though almost everyone was against us,” said Hernando, 60. “God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Many people have come to the feet of Jesus after hearing Samuel’s story.”
This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help open a missionary training center at Colombia Adventist University.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
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Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in ALL your ways acknowledge HIM and He shall direct your paths.
This indeed is a miracle. Praise Master Jesus
That was a very interesting story about the working of Jesus. He is still a miracle working Savior. But what, when and if he does not work miracles for all pregnant women who have problems, do we still trust in his words and on his guiding?
'This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help open a missionary training center at Colombia Adventist University.'
Help me out-I thought this offering went to the division at focus for the quarter (this quarter is the Inter-American), then the monies were divided for the different projects at hand. We have 13 projects at focus for this quarter known as Better Living Centers of Influence. If someone/a church gave to those at thirteen sabbath, how can the monies be distributed evenly to all?
Praise God! The boy lives and his survival is a miracle story.
But it is unfortunate that the editors put up the heading "Trusting God or Science". This is a false view that feeds anti-science attitudes. Science and medicine are gifts of God that prolong life and bring hope to millions. Even the father, Dr Hernando, is a trained scientist and physician, who understands diagnosis and treatment.
The truth is that the parents were presented with an ETHICAL choice and chose to pray for the boy's survival. Such a wonderful result is rare but not impossible.
Trust and Obey for thereis no way to be happy in Jesus but trust and obey.
Glory and honour be to our working Almighty God for Samuel David's life.
It is my prayer that one day i will testify of God's providence in this life. My journey as a Christian has been marked with way too many scars. I believe God will heal and double my fortune like Job's. I need your prayers fellow believers. Just that God enlarges my territory.