Clara has always been a fainter. She passes out at the sight of blood. Once she fainted when she bumped her head on a door.
Due to her habit of fainting, Clara is not much help in an emergency. When she was a teenager she worked for her Uncle Matt and Aunt Marge. One day Matt broke his leg. Marge was away, so Matt shouted for Clara to call for help. Clara rushed to see what happened, and fainted. Matt had to crawl to the phone.
Years later, Clara and her family were camping at high altitude on Grand Mesa near Grand Junction, CO. Her son, Dean, had a heart murmur and in the middle of the night and gasped for breath.
Clara’s husband awakened her and said, “We’re going to have to take Dean off this mountain. He can’t breathe.”
She sat up, looked at Dean, and then lay back again. “I think I’m going to faint.”
Her husband laughed. “Don’t be silly. You can’t faint lying down.”
But she did.
Doctors say Clara’s fainting was the result of a depression in the action of the heart. This can be caused by cold, heat, hunger, mental shock, weakness, pain, or fright.
Not many people suffer physical fainting as often as Clara did, but in the church there are many spiritual “fainters.” The Bible reproves those who faint when the going gets rough. “If you faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small,” we’re told in Proverbs 24:10.
Another scripture addresses those in the Lord’s work. “Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galations 6:9).
“Spiritual fainting” is not necessary. As long as God lives and answers prayer, there is a way to recover strength, according to Isaiah 40:31, which says “if we wait upon the Lord, we can run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.” Luke 18:1 has further guidance: “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”
Don’t faint. Don’t give up in your well doing. Pray instead, and God will strengthen you.
Note: Clara Miracle was one of Ada Brownell’s older sisters. A similar version to this story appeared in The Pentecostal Evangel years ago.
MEET ADA BROWNELL
Ada Brownell blogs and writes with Stick-to-Your-Soul Encouragement. She is the author of six books, about 300 stories and articles in Christian publications, and she spent a large chunk of her life as a reporter, mostly for The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado. A Bible student since her teens and a youth educator, she also taught on the Bible and science; courses from Josh McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict; and other faith-building courses. She now lives in Missouri, a beautiful state except for tornadoes and chiggers.
Among her books: The Lady Fugitive, an historical romance; Imagine the Future You, a youth/parent Bible study;.Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult, a novel for middle grade up; Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, includes evidence we’re more than a body; Facts, Faith and Propaganda, a book that unmasks propaganda as well as reveals amazing truth; and Confessions of a Pentecostal, out of print but released in 2012 for Kindle; Most books are available in paper or for Kindle. Imagine the Future You audiobook is available at www.Audible.com Free book with new Audible membership.
Amazon Ada Brownell author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell
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Copyright © 2015 Ada B. Brownell
