This is the assurance we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14, 15, NIV.

In the early 1970s I was working on the morning shift as a nurse at the orthopedic surgery unit at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

Many of the patients there were older women who had broken their hips. After menopause a woman's bones demineralize and weaken. Since the hip is a major weight-bearing joint, often their hips would break and they would fall, rather than falling first and breaking their hips from the blow. The treatment, then, rather than months in a plaster cast, was surgery in which a metal nail would be used to stabilize the fracture.

This story is about one such woman. The relationship she had with her grown sons caught everyone's attention. They were loving and kind. One or both would come every day to sit with her while she ate and to help her.

Her wound, however, instead of healing, became infected. Despite our best efforts, she got worse and worse.

My heart ached for her. I wanted to help her, so I turned to God. I felt so unworthy to ask for a miracle healing. While I had no doubt in my mind that God could heal her, would He? I knew it had to be her faith, as well as mine, so I went to her bedside and asked her if she believed in God. "Oh, yes," she said, so I asked God to heal her, if it was His will, and then we thanked Him for answering our prayer.

The next day I hesitantly went into her room. She looked up at me and smiled one of the most beautiful smiles I had ever seen. I noticed her cheeks were rosy! Trembling, I removed the dressing from her hip wound. I could not believe my eyes. It looked as if two full weeks of healing had taken place overnight. We praised God. She fully recovered and went home to her family.

I believe God healed her to help her, but also so that this story could be told to strengthen my faith and that of others.

God is a God of miracles. Approach Him with the words of Psalm 150: "Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness!" (NKJV).

Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.