GLOBAL PRAYER NETWORK: How the believing prayers of an Egyptian-born mother changed the life of Jessica

Senin, 11 Januari 2016

How the believing prayers of an Egyptian-born mother changed the life of Jessica

She was the daughter of an American mother, who almost died from complications due to drug abuse

By Dan Wooding, Founder of the ASSIST News Service

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS – January 9, 2016) – To many, the life of Bonnie Brown, a former hippie from Southern California, was incredibly successful, but a closer look would reveal that she was going through a nightmare. Her story can be found in a book called “Giigle”.

But then came the silver lining - she went to work for Google in Silicon Valley as a masseuse and was partly paid part in stock options and when the company went public on August 19, 2004, she became a multi-millionaire overnight.

Shortly afterwards, she began a private Foundation, through which she has helped to fund Christian ministries. Even with this good fortune, Bonnie was not immune to suffering. One of her daughters was battling drug addiction and causing her much heartbreak.

Last year, came another blow when her daughter, Jessica, went into a coma after contracting MRSA, and that’s where a caring Egyptian-born mother, Mona Estefanos, herself battling cancer, and the wife of Samuel Estefanos, founder of Alkarma TV, an Arabic Christian Channel that is sharing the Good News to the Arabic-speaking world, came onto the scene.

Bonnie had helped to support this unique channel based in Southern California, and she explained what had occurred.

“On September 22 of last year, Mona called me and asked if we could get together,” said Bonnie. “She had just returned from Egypt and wanted to give me an update on her life. We missed each other at the meeting place, and I got cold and hungry and left. But then she called me and said that we ‘HAD to connect’ and she wanted to come to my house. I gave her the address and she came over right away.

“When she walked in she had a gift in her hand and handed me the gift bag and put her hand on my head and said, ‘God has told me to come to you and bring you this gift in your daughter's place. She will not be at your birthday, but she will recover; she will speak for God; and she will come to you.’ Mona had never met Jessica, but knew of her struggles with addiction and she said that she had been praying for her for a year. I thought, ‘Well, that is weird.’ I had no idea where Jessica was and I hadn't talked to her in almost a year and never expected her to come to my birthday. I smiled at Mona and said thanks and then we caught up on her life.”

Four days later was Bonnie’s 60th birthday and some of her family had a party for her. Jessica was not there.

“Then two days later, on Monday, September 28, 2015, I got a phone call from Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, California,” said Bonnie. “They said Jessica was in the Neuro Surgical ICU and had just had surgery on her neck. I went to the hospital and saw her. She was awake and hooked up to numerous machines. She had tears in her eyes.

“I gowned up to enter the room because she was in isolation with MRSA [Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an infection caused by a type of staph bacteria that's become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections] throughout her body. She wore a neck brace and had a tube down her throat. She couldn't speak and I learned that her bones were infected with MSRA and had been removed from her spine and she also had other abscesses throughout her body. They did not give her much hope to survive.

“I was scheduled to leave town the next morning for a week. I held her hand and smiled and told her she would be alright. I prayed for her and left and went on my trip with all faith that God would restore her. He doesn't play jokes on us. He had sent Mona to tell me all of that because He intended to intervene in Jessica's life. He did.”

Bonnie went on to say that Jessica fell into a coma for the whole time she was gone.

“I was away from the doctors and family and friends who were all waiting for her to die,” she said. “I received faith from God to entrust her into His hands and did not listen to the voices that told me she was going to die. Mona even went to the ICU [Intensive Care Unit) to pray for her, but then the staff made her leave, so she went around to the back of the building, stood by Jessica's window and prayed for three hours until she felt the enemy release my daughter and felt God's peace.

“Jessica had been in the hospital since September 26, my birthday. She was admitted when a maid found her in a hotel room and called an ambulance. She probably would have died on my birthday, but God intervened and told Mona to tell me and He has fulfilled His words. She has continued to heal and now is studying the Bible. She speaks to those that visit her about the Lord. The neuro surgeon that treated her neck said it was a miracle that she lived.”

Bonnie then said, “Jessica knows that God saved her and she now wants to serve Him. We are all very grateful. Many people around the world were praying for her and her testimony has already gone to very many places.”

She concluded by asking for prayer for Mona Estefanos, who she explained is “suffering through her second bout of cancer. She is on chemo right now and in a lot of pain.”

So for Bonnie Brown, and Jessica, the prayers of Mona brought about a real miracle in both of their lives, and now Bonnie is praying for a miracle for Mona, that she too will be healed. Will you join her?

Photo captions: 1) Bonnie Brown’s daughter, Jessica, in the hospital. 2) Mona visiting Jessica in the hospital. 3) Jessica after her miraculous recovery. 4) Bonnie Brown in Capernaum, Israel. She has been to Israel every few months for the last couple years working with BASE Institute on the Temple location book and also a new book coming out soon about the location of the crucifixion. Bonnie has also been working on a film with Bob Cornuke on the same subject. 5) Dan Wooding recording his radio show. (Photo: Orange County Register).

About the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning author, broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for more than 52 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the author of some 45 books and has two TV programs, “Windows on the World,” and “Inside Hollywood with Dan Wooding,” which are aired on the Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network (http://hsbn.tv) and one radio show – “Front Page Radio” -- on the KWVE Radio Network (www.kwve.com), and has reported widely for ANS from all over the world.