Around six months after our son Todd's death, our younger son Brandon (then almost three) began stuttering①stutter英 ['stʌtə] 美 ['stʌtɚ]vi. 结结巴巴地说话n. 口吃,结巴. Brandon and I went for a walk each night, and about this time we saw a dead, decaying②decaying美 [dɪ'ke] adj. 衰减的;腐烂的;消散的bird lying on the side of the road. Brandon referred to③refer to参考;指的是;适用于the bird as being "dead, just like Todd." He spoke of Todd often, and many people suggested that he needed professional help to deal with Todd's death.
As I prayed about Brandon's problem, it seemed that the Lord was telling me to bury the bird. But I argued against④argue against反对this. I did not even want to touch this one!
Finally, I gave in. We scooped⑤scoop英 [skuːp] 美 [skup] vt. 掘;舀取n. 勺;铲子;up the bird in a bucket and brought it home. I told Brandon to shake the bird and call it; I did the same. I then told him that only Jesus could wake the little bird. I quoted⑥quote英 [kwəʊt] 美 [kwot]vt. 报价;引述;举证vi. 报价;引用;引证the Bible and told him that one day Jesus would come back and call with a loud voice, and all who loved Him would come alive again. I said we would see Todd the minute Jesus woke him.
The next morning when Brandon woke up, he did not stutter, and he has not stuttered since that date. A miracle? Yes, I believe it was, and even though the idea to bury the bird seemed ridiculous⑦ridiculous 英 [rɪ'dɪkjʊləs] 美 [rɪ'dɪkjələs]adj. 可笑的;荒谬的to me it had been the answer to my prayers.
Never stop believing because miracles happen everyday!
我们的儿子托德死后大约6个月,我们的小儿子布兰登(那时大约3岁)开始口吃。我和布兰登每天晚上都出去散步,那次我们看见了一只死了的腐烂的鸟躺在路边。布兰登说:“这只鸟死了,像托德一样。”他总是提到托德,很多人都说他需要专业帮助帮他面对托德的死亡。
之前我曾经为了布兰登的问题向上帝祈祷,而现在好像上帝正指引我要把这只鸟埋起来。但我却不想那样做,我甚至都不想碰这只鸟!
最终我屈服了,我们把鸟铲进桶里带回了家。我让布兰登摇一摇那只小鸟并叫叫它,我也那样做了,然后我告诉他只有耶稣能把小鸟弄醒。我引用了《圣经》里的故事,告诉他有一天耶稣会复活,然后大喊一声,所有爱他的人都会重生,我说等耶稣叫醒托德我们就能看到他了。
第二天早上布兰登醒来就不结巴了,而且从那天起再没口吃过。这是奇迹吗?是的,我相信这是奇迹,即使埋葬鸟的想法对我来说很荒谬,但这是对我的祈祷的回应。
永远不要停止“相信”,因为奇迹每天都会发生!