It was a week before my daughter was born that I began to feel pain in my womb, and I also noticed that I was not able to feel my baby’s heartbeat. I was in so much pain that I had to be taken to the hospital. After a period of waiting and anxiety, the doctors came in to inform me that my little girl had heart arrhythmia. They could not figure out why my baby’s heart would accelerate, lose strength, and then completely stop for a few seconds. They didn’t say much after, but I could tell that they were worried. Still, they told me to go home until they figured out what to do, especially since there was still a month before her due date. The only instruction I received after that was to return to the hospital if the pain persevered or increased.
Needless to say I was heartbroken. I begged my parents to take me to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Durango, Mexico where I resided. Without knowing really how to pray, I asked the Virgencita to save my daughter. I asked her to help us find a good doctor who would be able to figure out what was wrong and guide us in making the best decision. I couldn’t stop crying and with great sorrow in my heart, kneeling before her I cried out, “you can help save her. Listen to my plea and I promise to one day take her to the basilica where you live.”
The most beautiful miracle of my life occurred. We found an amazing doctor who discovered via an ultrasound that the umbilical cord had become wrapped around my daughter and she and was fighting to live. She couldn’t breath and was slowly suffocating. This was the reason for her heart arrhythmia. The doctor informed us that a C-section was necessary, but that it would be costly. We did not have much, but we gathered what we could and proceeded with the surgery. My daughter was finally born at 8 months old, with heart arrhythmia. After she had been born, the doctors informed us that recovery would be difficult, but that she was alive and fighting to survive. Slowly, but surely her heart arrhythmia began to heal. It completely disappeared when she turned 18. I remember thinking, one day Mother Mary I will take my daughter to the place where you live and keep my promise to you.
A second miracle occurred in my life. On November 4, 2016 the Lord provided me the opportunity, with my husband’s support, and the initiative of my own daughter, to go the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. As I passed by the image of the Virgencita, I asked my daughter to come stand next to me so I could consecrate her and present her before Our Lady. In silence I prayed: Dearest Mother, here is our little girl, now a grown woman. Today I fulfill the promise I made to you so many years ago. I thank you because the Lord has done great things in us. You have given me the opportunity to visit you, to see that you live, and that you are with me and with all those who invoke you. Mother of our Lord and Savior and our Mother, I wonder how you asked your son to grant you a favor on my behalf, perhaps the way you did at the Wedding at Canna.
I see now that nothing is impossible for God, even that which is incomprehensible and supernatural. In this way I await for his coming this Advent; patiently growing in faith and conversion each day, trying to be a good example to my daughters, teaching them to live in awe and wonder of God. Amidst many difficulties, I can still lift my face unto the Lord and say, thank you Lord because my daughter has faith and loves you. Blessed Miracle of God; thank you Mother Mary, thank you Jesus, thank you Father for your word is fulfilled, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Ask with faith and a miracle of love will be granted to you.
Maria Hortensia Lopez is a parishioner of Our Lady of the Valley Parish in Hemet.