The Texas mother of a baby born four months early credits God for her daughter’s good health. Kimberly Selby was only 25 weeks into her pregnancy when she gave birth to her daughter Davee. Human gestation is 40 weeks, which means tiny Davee was born an astounding four months early. She weighed just two pounds! Against all odds, Davee thrived and finally went home with no health complications.
“There was absolutely nothing I could do to change her situation, except love her and pray for her,” Selby told NBCDFW. Davee’s story is just the tip of the iceberg, according to Millicent Albert, hospital chaplain at Dallas’ Baylor Scott and White hospital. “I’ve seen so many miracles come out of the neonatal intensive care that my faith has been increased, and I will never be the same,” she said.
She says she’s witnessed how prayer improves health by giving people a way to better cope with stress. “Their medical well-being, their psychological well-being, their social being, of course, their spiritual well-being is improved because of the power of prayer.” she said.
As it turns out, science proves that prayer helps people heal better. Dr. Harold Koenig, Director of Duke University’s Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health told CBN News that over one-thousand medical studies indicate people who are more religious and who pray have better mental and physical health than those without faith.
Koenig, author of The Healing Power of Faith, says overwhelming scientific evidence shows people with strong religious beliefs get sick less and heal faster than people with no religious convictions. Among other things, people of faith have lower blood pressure and stronger immune systems that people with no faith.
“The benefits of devout religious practice, particularly involvement in a faith community and religious commitment, are that people cope better,” he said. “In general, they cope with stress better, they experience greater well-being because they have more hope, they’re more optimistic, they experience less depression, less anxiety, and they commit suicide less often.”