In early spring of the following year after I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, Joanne and I were ministering in the Netherlands, after our journey to Israel. We had planned to stay with John and Rene the last night before our departure and had looked forward with great anticipation to hearing from their own lips about the miracle they had experienced.

On the way to their home, while I was driving, Joanne dosed off. Suddenly she saw “a round face of a man” in a vision of the Lord. “Who is it, Lord? She asked, “and what are you trying to tell me?” No answer came at that time, but she interceded in her spirit language.

John and Rene had the welcome mat out like they had done all their lives. Soon we were sitting around the dining room table enjoying a cup of tea with Dutch cookies. Then it dawned on Joanne! Looking at John’s face, she knew it was his face she had seen in the vision! Before, his face had been thinner. Now, his face was fuller because he had gained weight since his retirement.

Then John began to share how Rene had become ill with Parkinson’s disease. She was in and out of the hospital several times but there was no cure! No medical hope! She was almost out of her mind at times. One time when she was in the hospital again, John came to visit her and found her tied down in a strait jacket. He was furious at the doctors and nurses. He untied her, helped her dress and took her home. There he cared for her day and night such was his love for Rene.

It is easy to say at the wedding altar, “For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part,” but when the rubber meets the road, then our faithfulness to the promises we made on our wedding day will show. Here was a man who had made up his mind! He cared for her, nursed her, cooked for her and watched over her! Oh, how John must have prayed for her in agony for her healing, for better medication, for a medical breakthrough and for a miracle! No doubt others in the family had also prayed.

One day he received a phone call that his sister had passed on to Glory. She lived in Friesland and was going to be buried there, about 100 miles northeast of where they lived. John decided to go and took Rene with him so that he could continue to look after her. It was already past midnight before they left to return. They had crossed the highway barrier and came close to the village of Wieringerwerf where they had lived before they had to flee during the flood.

“Suddenly,” John shared around the table, “while I was driving, Rene was thrown upward from her seat by an unseen force! Her head bounced against the roof! Her arms flew in the air! Her feet were propelled with force under the dashboard! Then she collapsed in her seat. I braked, pulled off the highway, stopped and looked at her. She was unconscious. Was she dying? There was foam around her mouth. I opened the door, got out, walked around to the other side of the car, opened the door and looked at her again. Lord, What shall I do? I thought, shall I go to Wieringerwerf, our former village nearby? Can I find a doctor there?

It was already one o’clock in the morning. Then I decided to go home. I lowered the car seat so Rene could lie down, but she was still unconscious. Halfway from that point to home, in the vicinity of Alkmaar, Rene started to move around. It was like she awoke from a deep sleep. She said, “John, why am I lying down in this seat?” I asked, “Do you want to sit up? Are you all right?”

“Yes, please.” I pulled off the highway again, walked around the car, opened the door and put the seat in the upright position. Then I looked very close at her. Her hands were not shaking any more, but were steady! Her blue eyes were clear like crystal! Her voice was normal! It was then that I realized a miracle had occurred. The nail-scared hand of the risen, living Son of God, Jesus Christ, had reached into that car and had healed Rene.

John drove home and when Rene took off her stockings, there was blood from her broken toenail in her shoe. That happened when her feet shot up and all the demons of sickness left her body. During the following days the medical doctors were perplexed after they examined Rene. All they could say was, “Mrs. Ploegstra, a miracle has happened to you!”

De Jong, Albert. Two Soldiers in God’s Victorious Army. 2002, p. 32-33.