Tamara Spears, Lafayette, LA

September 25 to October 1, 2016 was one of the worst weeks of my life. It was also the week in which our family experienced God’s healing power as never before. Just a few weeks before her fourth birthday, our daughter Madelyn suffered mysterious burns all over her body—and we had no idea what caused them.

11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 25: Small red marks began appearing on Madelyn’s face near her mouth and eyes.

8:45 a.m. Monday, Sept. 26: The red spots grew and spread across Madelyn’s face and neck and it was obvious she felt very uncomfortable. We took her to the doctor, who thought she suffered an allergic reaction. He gave her two shots and sent her home.

6:04 p.m. Monday: We left for the emergency room. Madelyn had three small burns on her torso and back where the skin had peeled away; we didn’t know it until we took her shirt off in the car.

3:49 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27: Madelyn was in terrible pain as her skin continued to burn. Her back, neck, ears, underarms and the back of her knees were 100 percent burned; her scalp was 30 percent and her stomach was about 20 percent burned.

4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday: Doctors informed us that Madelyn’s internal organs were burning. She had her first-ever fever of 104 degrees, developed a staph infection and started having heart trouble. Our friends and family prayed without ceasing. “If she doesn’t get better very soon, we have to send you to the children’s hospital in Houston,” doctors told us. 10 p.m. Tuesday: I felt God speak to me and say, “You’re not going to Houston. I have already taken care of Madelyn.”

8 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28: A stranger who heard our story called me and encouraged us to instead take Madelyn to a children’s hospital in Galveston, which was slightly further away than Houston but specialized in pediatric burn care. I again felt God speak, this time saying, “This is the promise I made to you last night.”

My flesh was telling me we should stay put. It didn’t help that our daughter was upset and didn’t want to go. However, in part because I had read members’ testimonies in CHM’s monthly newsletter, my faith had grown and I knew we needed to heed God’s voice and obey Him. It was time to move Madelyn.

The doctors at the local hospital disagreed with our decision because they thought it was too early to transfer her. For that reason, we were responsible to arrange her medical transportation. Through a series of events too numerous to count, we were able to make the right connections with help from God, our community and the Galveston hospital.

8 p.m. Wednesday: We arrived in Galveston and the medical staff told us Madelyn’s condition was worse than they’d thought; the extent of her internal burns was even greater. “She’ll be here for at least a month,” one doctor said. They wouldn’t let her drink anything because they believed she’d need surgery in the morning. At this point we learned that if we’d waited another 24 hours to bring her in, she would have been in critical condition and might not have survived.

The tide turned as soon as they began treating Madelyn and her condition improved drastically during the night.

Thursday morning, Sept. 29: Madelyn was healing at a miraculous rate. She was so much better that doctors ruled out surgery and she was able to eat for the first time since Sunday—four days earlier.

Friday morning, Sept. 30: Madelyn was released to outpatient care.

Saturday morning, Oct. 1: She was 90 percent better. The only parts of her body that needed to be wrapped were her arms, fingers and feet.

Monday, Oct. 3: Madelyn was discharged and came home—completely healed!

After she returned home, Madelyn asked if she could see her fairy godmother again. Puzzled, my husband and I questioned her. She told us that her fairy godmother came and sat by her bed while she was in the local hospital.

We realized she had seen an angel in her room.

Today Madelyn is a healthy 4-year-old and hasn’t had any further symptoms. I can’t thank our family, friends, and fellow Christian Healthcare Ministries members enough for your prayers. Our daughter would not be alive today if the Body of Christ had not come together before God’s throne on her behalf.

We’re very grateful, too, that the children’s hospital wrote off their charges and that we obtained an 86 percent discount on our local hospital’s bill.

We still don’t know the cause of Madelyn’s condition. Doctors initially said it was Stevens-Johnson syndrome—a rare skin and mucous membrane disorder usually caused by infection or medication reaction—but ruled that out due to her rapid recovery. The official diagnosis was staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS). However, since she had symptoms for over 48 hours before showing any signs of infection that Tuesday night, we believe she did have Stevens-Johnson syndrome and that God healed her. We praise Him!