Trust in God: Stories of Faith That Bring Miracles and Healing

A man who was gravely ill once came to Rabbi Mordechai of Neshchiz, who was known for his blessings, and asked for healing.

The Rebbe told him, “I’m not sure you will recover.”
The man asked, “Why not?”
The Rebbe replied, “I’ll tell you a story.”

A couple once came to Rabbi of Kozhnitz and told him they had lost a sack of money, asking him to decree that they would find it. The Rebbe refused. The husband said, “I’ll give the Rebbe a gold coin if you decree it.” The Rebbe replied, “I will only decree it if you give one hundred gold coins.”

The husband and wife looked at each other, and then the wife said, “Forget it, why should we pay so much? We’ll trust in God, and He will help even without a hundred gold coins.” The Rebbe then said, “Now I can bless you to find the sack, because you’ve returned to placing your faith in God.”

Rabbi Mordechai of Neshchiz then told the sick man: “You came to me because you heard there is a Rebbe who decrees healings and salvations, but you forgot about God! Only if you place your trust in Him, the true source of salvation, can I bless you.”

Trust in God helps a person endure any situation and emerge from any difficulty. It frees one from negative emotions and draws down Divine providence and salvation.

I once heard the story of a deep-sea diver who later became a rabbi of a well-known community. He shared how during a dive, he experienced a life-threatening malfunction, that if not resolved within minutes, could result in death or paralysis. At that time he was still secular, but he realized he had no escape other than to cry out to his Father in Heaven. He felt a deep, unshakable faith that God would save him, and miraculously, he managed to rise back to the surface. To this day, no one understands how he survived.

Following that event, he returned to religious observance. Later in life, one of his sons fell gravely ill, in a seemingly hopeless condition. That same deep point of faith awoke in him again, as it had years before. He worked to strengthen and anchor his trust in God’s salvation, praying and holding firm, and indeed, faith triumphed over nature, and his son recovered.