“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.”  Romans 8:28

It is during the toughest times in life that we have to hold onto God the tightest, trusting that He will carry us through the storm. This is the story of the miraculous healing of a girl from one of the outstation churches in Cagayan de Oro City.

It all began in the outstation church of Barangay Indahag; a village that is probably one of the most isolated areas within city-limits. This outstation church is faithfully handled by three volunteer churchplanters, Bro. Bobby, Bro. Ramil, and his wife, Sis. Elvira. Little did they know that God would use their outstation work as the center of a miraculous healing.

The 23^rd of January was just like every other Sunday for young 6 year-old Varvi Mayake. Despite being feverish for almost a week she still managed to gather all the young people for Bible-study, as she always does, and even sang with her usual fervor during the praise and worship, as if she wasn’t ill at all.

The next day, she could no longer stand up and had to be rushed to the hospital by Tuesday. At the government-run “City Hospital”, she was summarily diagnosed with Tuberculous Meningitis, a life-threatening infection of the central nervous system, without any formal tests having been done on her. Due to the lack of financial resources, no medicine was administered, which led to the deterioration of Varvi’s health with every passing hour. By Wednesday, her family was able to pull together what little they had so that medicine could be administered to her. But these drugs did little to improve her state and by this time, the paralysis had ascended to her chest that the members of her family and the members of EFC present at her bedside had to take turns manually resuscitating her with an Ambu bag, essentially “breathing” for her.

That evening, the pastors, along with a contingent of Evangelites came to visit Varvi and found her in a coma; her body was so stiff that they reportedly saw ants starting to crawl on her body. It certainly appeared as if she was at death’s door and without any chance of recovery. Pastor Rowena led in prayer, pleading for Divine intervention, knowing that only the Lord could save this girl from the hands of death.

On Thursday morning, the doctor came in with news that Varvi had to get a CT scan as soon as possible so that an effective means of therapy could be found for her illness. However, the hospital she was admitted into did not have the adequate facilities and the bureaucracy involved in transferring her to another government-run hospital that had the facilities posed a great hurdle that the scan never got underway. Her physician made a negative (and rather hasty) prognosis that he presented Varvi’s parents with a 20-30% percent chance of survival. Her mother was positively distraught hearing the news and soon took on a pessimism similar to that of the doctor’s.

The next day, the family decided to bring Varvi home to Indahag to let God’s will be done. However, the process of discharging a patient in such grave situation involves a lot of paperwork that while they were getting them done, the church members were able to make one more visit to the hospital in hopes of providing comfort and counsel to the family.

After the church members prayed, Bro. Enteng, Varvi’s father, sought advice concerning the dilemma. Unequivocally, the Church made its position clear, that Varvi should stay at the hospital no matter what the prognosis; that she should not be denied the chance to fight for her life.

Having received such Godly advice, Bro. Enteng chose to override his wife’s previous decision and resolved to keep his daughter in-hospital. As they sang and prayed to rejoice that decision, Varvi broke out in sweat while tears rolled down her eyes. Such a blessing were these signs because not only did they manifest her will to live but, more importantly, they confirmed God’s plan for the little angel’s eventual healing. And so all who saw and heard of this were encouraged to persevere in their efforts to help Varvi out of her situation; those at her bedside “breathed” for her day-in and day-out without heeding their own fatigue, and those who were only with her in spirit appealed to the Lord with redoubled passion. 

         The weekend seemed to pass like an eternity as the family, with the aid of Pastor Robert and the rest of the outstation volunteers, tirelessly tried to secure transport for Varvi to the Provincial Hospital so that a CT scan could be done and, hopefully, a proper diagnosis could be given. However, those efforts were to no avail, as, at that time, Varvi was already considered too frail for transport. The church continued praying for her and the outstation workers faithfully attended to her at her bedside, keeping her alive as they “breathed” for her.

          Just as the Lord told Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah in 2 Kings 20:5 “...I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.” So did the Lord answer the church’s prayers; for, in the wee hours of Monday morning (Jan 31), an agent of God came to see Varvi in her room. His name was Bro. Thomas, a young Swiss missionary who oversaw the operations of a Baptist Foundation focused on caring for children who worked at the local landfill. He, accompanied by local volunteers from his foundation, was at the hospital visiting one of their landfill workers who had just given birth. Jasmine, one of the volunteers, happened to be an acquaintance of Bro. Enteng from 10 years back, so when they saw each other along one of the hospital’s gloomy corridors, she immediately asked him how he was and what he was doing there. 

           Having seen poor Varvi’s state and the hugely inadequate care she was getting, Bro. Thomas immediately arranged for her to be transferred to the best private hospital in the city. There she was admitted into intensive care and provided with a proper diagnosis, appropriate medication and mechanical life support. What her hasty doctor from the previous hospital diagnosed as Tubercular Meningitis was actually Guillain–Barré syndrome, a disorder of the peripheral nervous system and regarded one of the leading causes of acute non-trauma-related paralysis in the world. Considering her helpless state, the drugs they mistakenly gave her could have caused serious liver damage and other life-threatening side-effects.

On the day following Varvi’s transfer to the ICU, Pastor Rowena and Pastor Robert were allowed to visit and sing hymns of Praise by her side. By this time she was beginning to recover from her symptoms, able to move her neck and momentarily open her eyes. Pastor Andrew, meanwhile, spoke with Bro. Thomas and his companions and expressed the church’s thanks at the timely intervention provided by Philippine Island Kids Foundation and together they praised God for the fortuitous meeting of Jasmine and Bro. Enteng that Monday morning.

By Sunday (February 6), Varvi’s recovery was the talk of the entire village. She was a living testimony of God’s grace and faithfulness; indeed, many souls were won over to Christ through the miracle of her story and the work of the church volunteers throughout the period of crisis.

After she was discharged from the hospital on Febrary 17 (the quarter-million-peso bill paid for by the PIK Foundation), Varvi became an even more devoted servant. Young as she was, she realized that it was the grace of God that saved her, and that with her new lease on life, she has been gifted with yet more opportunities to glorify our Lord.

Truly did James the brother of Jesus say that “… The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”(Jas 5:16) To God be all the glory!