Today is the 15th birthday of a young man named Canaan Rogers. This birthday was not supposed to happen.

When Canaan, my nephew, was seven months old, he nearly died because of a doctor’s misdiagnosis of a serious illness. By the time the doctors figured out what was really going on, it was too late. Canaan was all but gone.I remember walking into his hospital room and seeing his tiny body with ten machines attached to it and two respirators down his throat. The situation looked hopeless, and according to the doctors, it was.

After five days in the pediatric intensive care unit, Canaan’s doctor took my brother aside and told him that he and my sister-in-law were going to have make some “difficult decisions” soon. We knew what that meant, but we also knew that God is a God of miracles. So we started asking for one.

Two days later, on decision day, Canaan’s little body suddenly started fighting back and he began to make a turnaround that the doctors couldn’t explain. Something — or rather Someone — jumpstarted his little body, and he began coming back to life.

In the years since that miraculous day, Canaan has, by the grace of God, fought through every surgery, every infection, every obstacle, and every disability that has challenged him. Today he is a thriving young man who is funny, smart, loving, and an award-winning Special Olympian.

What is the “Canaan” you’re fighting for today? What situation seems hopeless? What set of circumstances seems impossible? Nothing is truly hopeless or impossible with God, and I believe that we move His heart when, in the face of the worst odds, we declare His goodness and believe He can turn things around.

Take a good, hard look at the picture of that 15-year-old boy and be encouraged. Go out on a limb and ask God for something big. Ask Him to do something impossible. He’s more willing than we realize.

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