Unification News for August 2001

The Making of A Miracle

Sarah Witt
Barrytown, NY
August 2001

How do miracles happen? I don't think anyone really knows exactly how each individual miracle comes to pass. However, I'd like to share with you one miracle that I, myself, participated in on Friday, August 3, 2001.

The cast of individuals were: God, Our Heavenly Father, Heavenly Angels, a Junior UTS student from Cameroon, Africa, his pregnant wife and almost 2-year-old daughter; the wife of a 2001 UTS graduate, and myself, a Health Center file clerk and UTS Seminary mother figure. And, finally, a new baby!

I don't know exactly when the pregnant wife (seven months pregnant, expecting, in the last week in September) received her plane ticket to NY, USA. However, I was told that when she and her little girl were waiting at the airport in Cameroon a plane was about to leave with only one seat vacant. But that seat was in the First Class section of the plane, requiring an additional $300 which our sister did not have. However, just before the plane took off, someone in authority decided that since no one claimed that first class empty seat, our dear pregnant sister should be allowed to occupy it.

Because of that generous gesture of the airline employee the student's wife arrived at JFK Airport in New York on Thursday, August 2, 2001.

Later that afternoon, I met her upon her arrival at UTS That same evening, our own Dr. Jaekil Park examined her during our Clinic hours of 7:30-9:30 p.m. in the Health Center at UTS The next day, I was informed early in the afternoon that the pregnant wife was having pains. Dr. Park came to the Seminary and examined her. He advised the student that if she continued to have pains later on, he should take her to the hospital.

That same evening at about 9 p.m., she began having a sharp pain. The student came down to the 2nd floor, on which both the Health Center and my own room are located, and told me he had to take his wife to the hospital. I offered to go with them, in spite of my infirmity which requires my use of a walker to get around.

However, when the wife of the UTS Graduate, who occupies a room in the Health Center, close to my own roan, informed me that she was going to accompany the student and his pregnant wife, I said that I would not come, since I would not be of much help anyway, given my infirmity.

What I could and did do was to pray for God and Heavenly Angels to guide them safely and quickly to the closest hospital, which happens to be the Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck.

I began to pray desperately, from the time they left until I instinctively felt they should have arrived at their destination, about 15 minutes from UTS. So I interrupted my prayer and called and spoke to someone in the emergency room at Northern Dutchess Hospital, who informed me that they had arrived and that the baby had been born in the back seat of the car. They were taking care of the mother and new baby and didn't have time to give me details.

I was grateful and shocked all at once. The important thing was that both mother and baby were fine! Later that night, when the student's wife who had accompanied the prospective parents to the hospital returned, after 12:30 a.m., she and I sat down in the hall outside of our rooms and talked until much later. We were both so excited and amazed at what had happened. She shared with me about her experience delivering the baby, which turned out to be a breech baby. With absolutely no knowledge or experience as a mid-wife, this wonderful sister told me how she finally was able to deliver this baby.

The first part of the baby showing was the buttock, which she was able to pull out, then the legs, and then the shoulders. However, at this point, she could not get the head to come out. She became desperate, calling out to the father, who was driving, "I don’t know what to do. The head will not come out, and your wife has no more strength to push! What shall I do?" The desperate father cried out, "My baby will die!"

The poor, exhausted mother knew that only one of them could survive and prayed, "Dear God, please take my life and let my baby live!"

And now, for the miracle!

At this point, the would-be mid-wife had a sudden thought: she again took hold of the baby's shoulders and turned them slightly, at which point the head slid out of the mother's body, completing the baby's birth.

She called to the driver, "The baby is born!" He called back, "I don’t hear it cry. It must cry!"

She then grabbed a towel, which she wrapped around the baby, shook the baby, and the baby cried!

She modestly told me that the doctors and nurses at the hospital congratulated her on a job well done. By the way it was a little girl. I am writing this to let that little girl know, when she grows up, about her exciting and unusual entry into this world.

Also, following the Unification Church tradition of praying for a new baby before its birth, using special Birth Candles, I was able to find and prepare the Birth Candles used for their previous child, and pray for the new baby after she had already been born. This is an acceptable offering in the Unification Church Tradition.

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