August 2, 2004 - Jane Yarbourgh
We have a 3-year-old adopted daughter Claire. She came to us
underweight and seemingly healthy, but we knew there were drugs and
alcohol through the first six months of pregnancy. At her 1 year
doctor's appointment the pediatrician seemed more than a bit concerned.
He referred us to the county for some extra help with her and also to a
developmental specialist. All in all, at 14 months of age she tested
6-9 months developmentally delayed, particularly in gross motor and
language. At 14 months, Claire never rolled over except by accident,
never developed an organized crawl. She moved across the room by moving
both arms simultaneously and dragging her body and legs behind her. She
was fully strong enough to crawl, but couldn’t seem to put it all
together.
We asked Derk Stevenson to pray for Claire's development.
He had prayed for Claire before, and she was comfortable with him, but
about halfway into the prayer she started nestling into his shoulder
and pressing into him. I have not really seen her do that to anyone but
us, her parents. When he finished and put her down, she was tentative
on all fours. He was preparing to leave and was heading down the stairs
toward the door. He turned back up the stairs as he had felt a strong
prompting by the Holy Spirit, and obeyed it by “commanding” Claire to
crawl in the name of Jesus. This was not typical of Derk, but it got a
result! For the first time she crawled a few feet. The new movement so
startled her that she cried. We were elated at what had just taken
place. The name of Jesus is powerful!
Within a month, she was motoring along at great speed,
pulling up on everything, and even starting to climb the stairs. There
is no doubt in our minds but that a miracle happened that day in our
Claire's brain and development. It touches our hearts to know that God
cares about everything and desired to heal our daughter.
As Claire just turned 3, she was released from the county
program she was in. Her exit tests showed her to be completely
developmentally caught up, and a year ahead in language. The supervisor
informed me that only 5 to 10% of children in the program graduate at
age 3. They had no “natural” explanation for her extreme success. We
give all the glory to God for her healing. |
