Not Your Typical Orthodontist Appointment

December 02, 2014 | By Chuck

Within the last few months our daughter Faith was able to have her braces removed. As you can imagine this was a very joyous occasion after having them for two years. Thinking braces were behind us for good only to recently learn that our youngest daughter, Ashlynn, will be blessed with them. This will once again mean regular trips to the orthodontist for check-ups. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy being the parent who takes them to their orthodontist appointments. I realize that sounds silly but I really think highly of our orthodontist. We usually spend a few minutes talking about the Razorbacks and even church and spiritual matters. This Doctor is a very spiritually minded and godly man. Before our last appointment I received a call from the Orthodontist's office asking if we could reschedule our appointment because the Doctor's daughter was hospitalized. I of course agreed to a new appointment and the receptionist asked me to please be praying for the Doctor's daughter. I assured her I would and I did. A few weeks later we are in his office and in walks my favorite Orthodontist who typically shakes my hand, makes some small talk about the Hogs or what I'm reading and then proceeds to work with my daughter, his patient. This day would prove differently, at least at first. The Dr. walks in, shakes my hand and immediately takes out his phone, which he never does, while taking a seat next to me. I ask about his daughter who had been hospitalized and he says I want to show you something. Flipping through some pictures on his phone he stops at a few different unattractive images of the inside of his daughter's stomach. Remember, I'm not a doctor so I'm not real excited about seeing these images, once I figure out what I'm looking at. The images showed a black stomach because of a severely bleeding ulcer. He said, this is what her stomach looked like when they admitted her in the hospital. Then he shows me another stomach picture that was clear with no black coloring at all and says this was her stomach the next day or so just before they were to do a procedure. They didn't do any kind of surgery on his daughter because the surgeon said the bleeding had stopped and the ulcer was gone. The surgeon couldn't explain this miraculous change but my orthodontist and I could explain it quiet easily. It was God! Many people had been praying for his little girl and God responded with a big YES. God can do whatever He wants and He wanted to heal that little girl so He did. He still heals, even today. I'm reminded of the woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. No doctor was able to help her but when she touched Jesus He touched her and the bleeding immediately stopped and she was healed.(Lk.8:43-48) Jesus said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."(Lk.8:48) What a miracle, what a God! I will continue to have these visits with my favorite Orthodontist until Ashlynn has no more need for braces. I'm hoping, since I'm in my early forties, that I won't have to have braces but if I do, I know exactly where to go. This story should reaffirm what I hope we already know: God is in control, God heals and God answers prayer. "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt."(Jas.1:6)