Please do not misunderstand me. I do believe with all my heart that God is still miraculously healing people today of physical diseases in a way that defies natural explanation.

Probably the best recently documented case I could find of such a miracle was one showcased on Oprah Winfrey's Good Friday show in 2002. A premature infant, Iyanna, was born not breathing and without a heartbeat. Despite the doctor's best attempts, she could not be revived, and the doctors left the dead infant in the mother's arms. For 35 minutes the mother cradled her lifeless baby. Then suddenly, after more than 65 minutes without a heartbeat, little Iyanna began to breathe on her own! On day 15, Iyanna left the hospital being hailed by everyone as the Miracle Baby. Two years later a smiling Iyanna walked out on Oprah's stage a perfectly normal little girl. Dr. Clemons, the physician who had tried to revive the limp infant in the very beginning, said this on national television: "This has to be in the works and acts of God. I really believe there's no other explanation for it."

God is definitely at work healing people today! If there's one thing I've learned in my journey as a physician, it's that God's ways are indeed higher than our own (Isa. 55:9). Still, we must take seriously the apostle Paul's advice to "examine everything carefully," especially as it relates to the "false teachers" among us who are looking to prey on the faith of innocent and unassuming believers.

When you next hear the word "miracle," I encourage you to keep these points in mind. Could the astonishing healing be hearsay? Could the human body have healed itself—temporarily or permanently—from a cyclical or self-limiting disease? Did the doctor truly believe that natural forces could not explain the healing in any way? Is the layperson's information surrounding the "miracle" medically accurate?

The amount of medical confusion and misinformation in church services, the media, and on the Internet is staggering. If you or a loved one is eagerly awaiting a miracle of healing from God, remember that His answers to our prayers for divine intervention may indeed come in the form of a miraculous healing. However, they might also come through natural forces that God has already set in place. And sometimes, they may not come at all—or at least not in a way that we can immediately recognize. In whatever form the answer comes, though, we must continue to trust God and rest in His perfect love for us.