When I was a young boy, around 7 years old, I went out to eat at a restaurant with my family as we tended to do on Friday nights. My parents had just found the Gospel a few years prior, so we took extra time and pride in joining hands and saying our dinner prayers in our booth. Little did we know what would soon follow. 

Our food came, and I began unconsciously shoveling in my meal as many little boys my age would, when all of a sudden I felt this piercing pain in my throat. It took my breath away, and I froze for a second, frantically looking around at everyone engaged in the dinner conversation. I tried to swallow again, only increasing the pain as I started to choke. I had swallowed a bone that had not only lodged itself but was actually piercing into my throat.

By this time, my parents were fully aware of my distress, and I remember my mother letting out a gasp that alerted those at nearby tables that something was wrong. Several people got out of their chairs and tried to help. I was given the Heimlich maneuver, but the bone did not come out. Thankfully, I could breathe very shallow breaths as long as I didn’t swallow. 

The ambulance came, and I was rushed to the emergency room. I remember doctor after doctor trying to reach down my throat to retrieve the bone but to no avail. My parents were informed the only way would be through surgery and that the complications and risks included the high possibility I would suffer severe vocal cord damage. 

While the hospital called in their surgical specialist, my parents called in the ministry of The Church of Jesus Christ to come and anoint me. The ministry came and prayed for God’s healing upon me. I remember feeling a great deal of peace. 

Shortly after, we were still waiting for the surgeon to arrive, when all of the sudden my mother saw me swallowing. She ran over to me in astonishment. Up to that point, I had not consciously realized what I was doing. So, at my mother’s prompting, I tried, and to my own amazement, not only could I swallow but I didn’t have any pain!

My parents flagged down the doctors, and I was quickly taken for more X-rays. Afterwards, my family and I were brought into a room with the doctor. There was an X-ray on the wall of my throat with this large, unmistakable bone protruding into my neck. Then, slowly the doctor put the new X-ray beside it … the bone had vanished. 

The doctor informed my parents that he had taken X-rays of my abdomen for fear that the bone may have dislodged or broken up and entered my stomach. But there was nothing. It was completely gone. I had been healed. 

I remember seeing the bewilderment on the doctor’s face contrasted by the gratitude to the Lord that rested upon my parents. Tears of joy ran down their faces as the doctor said, “I can’t explain it. I don’t know what happened.” 

My parents assured the doctor they knew. And as they turned to me, I simply said, “Jesus took it.” 

Praise God!

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.