AMAZING STORY
A Deadly Fall, A Vision, and a Remarkable Recovery
By Brandice Hudson
The 700 Club
CBN.com - In September 1996, Hurricane Fran slammed into the Carolinas. In the storm’s aftermath, Georgia Power worker, Rick Moncrief, was assigned to clear downed power lines in North Carolina. He was on a rooftop trying to pull a line from under a fallen tree, when the line snapped. He fell backwards and landed head first on the concrete driveway. He was flown to Duke Medical Center.
His wife Donna was told to prepare for her husband’s funeral. “I felt a lot of fear. And I felt concern. And I had every scenario going through my brain. ‘How am I going to raise three daughters by myself?’ ‘I’m too young to be a widow.’ You name it. Those thoughts went through my head.”
Rick had several broken ribs and his brain was hemorrhaging. Ten minutes after he arrived at the hospital, he slipped into a coma. “He was hooked up to the breathing machine and all kinds of machines. And so I just—I just looked at him. You know, I was in shock, I think. I couldn’t believe that he was lying there. And the doctors were just saying that it was a wait and see game. They didn’t know. I believed in prayer and I knew that Jesus was the Healer. In my own strength, at that moment, I didn’t have that strength in myself to pray. So I had believers and friends who were praying for me, as well as for Rick, that we would be able to come through this.”
The prayers continued. And by day five, Rick was still unresponsive; at least it appeared that way. Rick explains, “I was taken into the throne room of God. It was more real than you are. It was so real. And everything was just so white, whiter than white. I was on my belly, on my face before the Lord and I saw His feet as fine burned brass. I didn’t see His face. But He asked me, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I kept hearing the Scripture over and over, ‘Whose report will you believe? Will you believe the report of the Lord or believe the report of the doctors?’ And I said, ‘I want to live. I want to live and declare the Word of the Lord.’ And He stood up and He clapped his hands, and He said ‘That’s enough.’ And when He said, ‘That’s enough,’ I began immediately to come out of the coma.”
His doctor said Rick would never be the same again. Rick and Donna believed differently. “She said, ‘Well, you’re the luckiest person in the world now that you ever came out of this coma. And you’ll recovered from this fall a little bit. It’ll be 60 months minimum, which is 5 years, before you will ever be 40% back.’ And I told her, ‘No ma’am.’ I said, ‘I don’t mean any disrespect at all to you, but’ I said, ‘it’s not going to take that long. The Lord is going to do a quick work.’”
During rehab, Rick says he read Psalms in the Bible. He and Donna joined their friends and family in prayer. “I was believing for the healing. And my friends were believing for the healing. We believe by His stripes we are healed.”
Each day his health improved. After just 27 days of rehab, Rick had a 95% recovery. “When I came back to work in the power company in the early part of 1997, I came back to work full duty,” said Rick.
“The faithfulness of God comes to my mind. Our God, at the immediate cry of our heart, will hear us and He listens. And He’s faithful,” said Donna.
“The great doctors at these two great hospitals did all they could do, but it was the Father’s love. It was His grace, His compassion on me to allow me to live today and live these 18 years since this has happened,” said Rick.
Rick later retired from the power company and became a pastor. He cherishes every moment he has with his wife and family. He says he doesn’t let a day go by without giving thanks to God for his miraculous healing.
“Every day is an incredible day. Every day there’s always a lot to be thankful for. I’m just thankful that I feel better today than I did yesterday. I’m thankful today that I’m able to stand up. I’m thankful today I don’t have a massive headache this morning. I’m thankful today that I’m able to breathe by myself without a machine. I’m just thankful.”
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