Article April 11, 2005 Issue

A healing of the body—and so much more

By Suzanne Smedley

"I can stay up until midnight without a problem now," says Kathy Bird with a girlish giggle. For a woman who was accustomed to running 11 miles a day and suddenly found herself too weak to make a simple phone call, this is a major victory. She is clearly grateful for this convincing sign last year that she had made a complete recovery from the alarming symptoms of disease she first experienced in Japan, where the Birds live, six years ago.

Kathy would never have imagined that on the cold January afternoon she boarded a Tokyo-bound train for a shopping trip, it would be the beginning of a much longer and different journey for her—a journey that even in the darkest, most difficult moments would be filled with beautiful views of God's care and healing power, sweet lessons in patience, persistence, and trust. A journey on which her husband and one of her daughters were unexpected and supportive companions.

Kathy was feeling just fine when she caught the train near her apartment in Yokohama. But soon it appeared that things were heading seriously off-track. "I was standing on the crowded train when I suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness," she recalls. "When I awoke, I remember a Japanese couple standing over me, and somehow I was able to get up and get to a seat with their help. Immediately, I began to pray for God's support. All I could manage to think at that moment was, 'God is with me.' "

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