Tales of the Numinous

It's tempting to think that Ben didn't get his miracle.  Even at the end, I prayed for healing.  Actually, I locked the ER bathroom, raised my hands and said "God, this is it.  I know you can completely heal Ben, and it would be so amazing and undoubtedly miraculous if you did.  And, please take this cup from me."  My Bible reading lately in Exodus was something of an inspiration because I've seen that God is not afraid to dramatically escalate a situation for his own purposes before turning things around.  Also, sometimes Jesus did wait until the last minute to heal people.

On Thursday morning, my best friend from middle school emailed me to say that she woke up in the middle of the night and felt compelled to pray, but wasn't sure about the specifics.  She asked God to cover the need that pulled her awake.  Later when she saw my Facebook post she told me that then she knew that she had been praying for me.  I felt loved by my friend and touched, but not overly surprised.

Then on Friday, I received two more messages.  One was from a good friend and colleague of Ben's at OC International.  The night Ben died, he dreamed of Ben for the first time (though he has known him for several years).  When he woke up, he realized that in his dream Ben was standing up, and looked "whole and healthy and reminded me of when I had first met him."  

The other message came from a woman who we've known (though not well) for years, but Ben has close ties with her brother.  I want to quote a little more of what she said:
"The Lord kept me up last night. Through prayers, dreams, and thoughts he kept me alert for you. And I'm sure He's doing the same for many, many others! The wonderful thing was that no matter what tears I shed or what tears I saw you shedding in my dreams, there was this glorious hope that covered everything. Like God was holding you all the whole time and looking forward to seeing the rest of His plan unfold..."

Two others have told me that they also woke up and prayed for Ben and I that night.  Oh, what love God has for me in this!  We cried out to him that night, and He woke others to join us.  He showed Ben's colleague that Ben is "whole and healthy" now.  He is healed!

I did pray for a lot of other things that night. That God would wrap his arms around Ben and give him supernatural peace was a reoccurring theme.  These dreams of others reassure me that God did answer that prayer.  

*Numinous
is an English adjective, taken from the Latin Numen, and used to describe the power or presence of a divinity. The word was popularised in the early twentieth century by the German theologian Rudolf Otto in his influential book Das Heilige (1917; translated into English as The Idea of the Holy, 1923). According to Otto, the numinous experience has in addition to the tremendum, which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling, a quality of fascinans, the tendency to attract, fascinate and compel. The numinous experience also has a personal quality, in that the person feels to be in communion with a wholly other.