Greg came running into the house shouting, “Mum, come quickly! Something is wrong with Daisy. She is lying on the ground and can’t get up.”
Daisy was a big black-and-white cow, one of the 25 cows on the farm owned by Greg’s father. Greg had gone to round them up for the evening milking and had discovered that Daisy couldn’t move. Mum hurried to the cow paddock, and sure enough, Daisy couldn’t get up.
When Dad came home he phoned the veterinary surgeon, who came and looked at Daisy. He said, “She appears to be paralysed.” He did what he could, ordering some medicine, suggesting treatment, and then went away.
A few days went by and the cow was just the same. With help, Dad turned her from side to side each day and he carried food and water to her. He managed to get her near a log lying on the ground and then put up some hessian to shield her from the sun. Mum and the children went down to her several times each day to make sure she was all right.
Dad called the vet again, but he said: “I don’t know what is wrong with her, and I don’t know what to do for her. If she doesn’t improve soon, you will have to shoot her.”
“Don’t shoot her,” Mum said. “Give her a chance to recover.” So for six weeks the family tried everything they could think of to help her.
For some years the family had been going on a holiday for two weeks. They had made all arrangements to do so again, and they would need to go in a week’s time. Whenever they went away their neighbours looked after their farm and their animals.
“I will have to shoot Daisy when I come home from work tonight,” Dad told Mum one day, “because we can’t ask the neighbours to care for her while we are away.”
All day long Mum worried about the cow. Then she and Greg went to the paddock and shifted the hessian as the sun had moved around.
“What can we do to help Daisy?” Mum asked.
“We could pray and ask God to make her better,” Greg answered.
So as they stood beside her, Greg and then Mother prayed for her healing.
When Dad came home that evening Mum said, “Don’t shoot her yet. Let us try once more to get her on to her feet.” They had tried several times before, but without success. Dad didn’t feel inclined to try any more, but to please Mum he agreed.
So down to the paddock they went. Mum caught hold of her big horns and tried to lift her head. Dad took hold of her tail and tried to raise her body. And this time they succeeded. The cow remained standing for 20 minutes, then sank to the ground again. That night all the family prayed much for the cow.
The next day they tried again, and she remained standing for three-quarters of an hour. The next day they got her to her feet again and she appeared to be better. The family went for their holiday, and when they returned home Daisy was as well as she had ever been.
In due course she became the mother of a healthy calf, and the next year another calf arrived. Later Dad decided to sell some of his cows, but the children said, “You won’t sell our prayer cow, will you, Dad?”
From the time God healed her in answer to the family’s prayers, the children always called her their prayer cow, and they loved to show her to visitors and tell them her story.
