With the stressors of daily life bearing down, it can be easy to forget — God has the power to help anyone with any problem.
That's why employees at Tillamook County General Hospital are making a conscious effort to create a culture of prayer, not just professionally, but also personally.
The steps they have taken to make this a reality include a week of spiritual emphasis, a weekly prayer meeting and a service to anoint the hands of the hospital workers. Another program they have found to be especially powerful is what they call Prayer Alert.
When a hospital employee has a burden they want coworkers to pray about, Danny Parada, hospital chaplain, sends out a Prayer Alert. Signs are posted all over the hospital with a time and date to meet in the chapel to pray. Parada has seen God do some miraculous things through Prayer Alert, but one particular story sticks out in his mind.
One day, when Parada was doing his rounds he saw Bambi Poblador, a nurse, trying to set up equipment for a patient. She wiped tears away with her shoulder as she worked.
"Are you alright?" Parada asked.
"I'm sick and tired of trying to get pregnant," Poblador blurted out. Patients in other rooms craned their necks to see who was crying. Doctors and nurses added words of comfort, and Parada stood speechless, wondering what to do.
"We can pray for you," Parada finally said. "If you believe, God can give you a baby."
Poblador agreed it was a good idea, and Parada sent out a Prayer Alert. More than 20 staff members came to pray for her. They gathered around, anointed her and prayed for her.
"That moment was very emotional for some of us, including Bambi," Parada says.
Three months passed. Parada had heard nothing—that is until he bumped into Poblador during his rounds. "Her face radiated happiness like a million dollar lottery winner," Parada says.
Still, he did not know God had answered their prayers until Poblador said, "I was waiting for you. I have good news... I'm pregnant!"
Today Poblador praises God every day for her wonderful baby boy, and she proudly tells her patients what God did for her.
"Bambi is a great witness of the love of God not only in her department but also to her family and friends," Parada says. Her remarkable story shows how God changes lives through the power of prayer.
Baby Boake was Bambi's answer to prayer.
