Luke Smallbone’s son almost didn’t reach toddlerhood.
Eight years ago, the for KING + COUNTRY singer’s wife, Courtney, had put their eight-week-old son, Leo, down for a nap. A while later, she felt the Holy Spirit telling her to check on him. When she found him, he was no longer breathing.
“And it was actually on the anniversary of when I was healed and raised to life from this rare disease. And I knew that. I kind of woke up that day, and I think I journaled, ‘Lord, what are You going to do today?’ And I think I just had anticipation of like, ‘Thank You, Lord, for life.’ Like, ‘You gave me a longer life, and You didn’t have to do that. I could have died at 18,’” Courtney told CBN.
When Courtney was 18, she was diagnosed with a rare disease called Lemierre’s syndrome. It’s an infection that can shut down the body’s organs. After multiple operations and hospital stays, God healed her.
When Courtney found Leo lifeless, she rushed outside, screaming. Luke called 911. Courtney performed CPR and was praying, even praying in tongues.
“I felt like wind around us. I felt just not…it was just an interesting thing. And so I, I was laying hands, I was praying,” she continued. “Luke’s on the phone and he’s like, ‘Hey, they’re on their way. They’re like a few minutes away.’ And you can tell on the other side of the phone, like they’re coming to pick up a dead baby…And he’s just looking at me like they’re coming, but like, you know.”
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Then Courtney took her hands off of Leo and whispered to God that only He has the power to save them. Suddenly, life came back to Leo’s body. His eyes, which were foggy, became clear, and he was taking breaths and crying.
When Luke told the 911 caller that his son was breathing, they were in disbelief.
“It’s when heaven and earth touch. It’s like, this is who Jesus is, but I didn’t expect to see him this way,” Courtney said. “Right. In my deepest, darkest fear that he would touch my baby, in front of me. And so he, he comes alive.”
At the hospital, they found out that Leo had a skull deformity called craniosynostosis, which led to the incident. He had to have skull reconstruction surgery. Now, Leo is 8 years old and is outspoken in his love for Jesus.
He said that he remembers going to heaven and seeing his grandfather, who died before he was born.
“He sat on Jesus’s lap…,” Courtney said. “And he said, ‘Oh yeah, Papaw told me I had to go back, but he said I’ll see you at the end of the world when the dead are raised.’ And I said, ‘Who told you that?’ It’s in the Bible, but he’s like, ‘Well, Papaw did.'”
Luke wrote a song about Leo’s death experience, with lyrics that came to him while they rode in the ambulance. The song is called “Need You More,” on the album, Burn the Ships.
Praise God for His miraculous work in Leo’s life.
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