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Christianity Today - March 1993

True Awakenings

The middle-aged woman who stood at John and Gail Wessells’s front door wore a fragile smile. She gripped the push-handles of a wheelchair bearing the strapped-in figure of another woman: limp, unable to speak or gesture, her eyes vacant, her hands unnaturally inward. This was Lisa, she said, her adult daughter who had been in a coma for 12 years.

John and Gail stole a familiar glance at each other. They had seen such hope in many others. John turned to the mother with a warm smile. “We have to tell you,” he began gently, “we don’t have a healing ministry.”

No? The mother was puzzled. “We believe Jesus can heal,” Gail explained, “But we believe Jesus wants to do something even deeper for your daughter.”

with you." he said .“You now how comforting it is when you know you’re in the Lord’s presence? Well that’s what God wants to do for Lisa. We’re simply going to minister to Jesus. And we’re going to trust Him to her, because He can reach her where we can’t.”

John began the chorus of a familiar praise song. Gail and the mother joined in. And for the next hour, they simply

sang, worshiped, prayed, and praised God quietly. Before they finished, Lisa’s mother was crying softly. She knew something significant was taking place. Her daughter’s low groans had turned into sighs of soothing. A peace had settled over the room.

The mother looked up with grateful tears. She said she had not met many people who had treated her daughter like a human being. Gail smiled, “I’d want someone to encourage me in the Lord.”

The mother had heard about the Wessells’ ministry to the comatose through a friend. Now, as she wheeled her daughter into John and Gail’s living room, she leaned down and whispered,” Isn’t this wonderful, Lisa? These people have a healing ministry.”

They talked for a while-about Lisa, the accident that crushed her once-vibrant life, and what her mother had endured as a single parent caring for her 12 long years. The Wessells’ listened intently. They understood the pain.

Finally, John brought out his 12-string guitar. "We're just going to worship

Reaching The Unreachable

The vast majority of people John and Gail Wessells meet through their ministry suffers deeply with no clear answers. The tragedy that continues day after day for someone in a coma and the pain felt by their families, a pain that often seems unbearable is something only the Love of Christ can touch.

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