Several years ago when Rob Yeske was about 18 years old, he was diagnosed with a case of mononucleosis and told to rest and stay home from school for at least a week. Rob was very ill, as it turned out—“a couple of days after being diagnosed, I was waking in a pool of my own perspiration each morning and having to change the sheets,” he says.

“Some days I was so weak that I couldn’t do it.”

Finally, after several days, Rob specifically asked for a healing. “I prayed in Jesus’ name that I would be able to have a ’normal’ morning the next day,” he says. The following morning he awakened feeling almost completely healthy. A few days later, he was back in class.

But the story does not end here: About three years later Rob went to the doctor for a stomach ailment. For some reason, the physician seemed to think Rob was exaggerating his symptoms, but finally decided to take some tests. Soon he returned with a puzzled and apologetic look on his face. He pointed to a chair. “Rob, please sit down.”

Rob did, a bit perplexed. All of a sudden, the doctor was looking concerned.

“Rob,” the doctor asked, “have you ever been in a coma or had a near-death experience?”

“What?” Rob was startled. “Never. At least…not that I can remember.” The doctor explained that Rob had a urinary tract infection, which could be treated. But the x-rays had shown something else too—Rob’s spleen was three-quarters scar-tissue from a previous undiagnosed infection. “The infection obviously healed,” the doctor explained, “but that would have been impossible because of the extent of the damage.”

Rob was thinking hard. “What about mono?” he asked. “I had a bad bout with it about three years ago.”

The doctor looked at the x-rays again. The answer was clear. The mono had penetrated Rob’s spleen. ”You shouldn’t be sitting in my office right now,” the doctor said. “You should be dead.”

Through the following years, Rob had a number of such experiences, gifts from God which many of his friends considered “intuition” or “good luck.” But Rob knows better. “I have the Lord and His angels watching over me,” he says, “and am very appreciative of His love and grace, and I serve Him and others each day to the best of my ability.” And remember that the Archangel Raphael is known as a “healer angel”.

So during this time of year, hold tightly to his hand and ask him to heal us in all the ways we need.

Joan Anderson

Copyrighted by Joan Wester Anderson, used with permission. Originally appeared on the Where Angels Walk website.