A Missouri family is praising God after their three-year-old daughter miraculously recovered from what could have been a fatal drowning accident.
KFVS reports that on July 29, Alise Nipper was found unresponsive in a backyard pool in Cape Girardeau during an end-of-the-summer swimming party.
"Something took over me. I remember jumping across the pool, coming up and shouting, 'Dial 911,'" her mother, Jamie Nipper, told the news outlet. "I was praying while I grabbed her that she would start coughing as if she'd just fallen in, but when I brought her up from the water, it was evident she was without life. She was blue."
Frantic, Jamie and a close family friend performed CPR while others cried out in prayer.
"All I knew was to pray," said said family friend Natika Rowles, who explained that the little girl had "no color" and "no pulse."
"Fear kicks in, but the Word says speak those things not as they were and there was not life," said Rowles. "We wanted life so we spoke life, because that's what God tells us to do."
After 12 agonizing minutes, Alise woke up in her mother's arms, and her heart slowy started to beat again. After the ambulance arrived, the little girl was rushed to the hospital, alive, but in critical condition.
"Her body and her brain were hurt," said Doctor Jeremy Garrett, explaining that he was unable to give the Nipper parents much hope. "Her lungs took on severe injury which continued to be a problem."
Instantly, the Nipper family and hundreds of friends rallied in prayer. One friend even set up a Facebook page, asking for everyone to Boldly Pray for Alise.
After spending days in the hospital, Alise steadily began to improve: "When they decreased sedation and she woke up and was talking, it was absolutely amazing," said Heather Kyle, a family friend.
Because the little girl's condition improved so quickly, doctors were able to remove the ventilator, allowing Alise to not only talk, but sing.
"She woke up and said, 'Jesus is my daddy!'" the family wrote in a Facebook update.
Within two weeks, Alise was able to go home: "His [God's] hand was in it the entire time because there is no earthly, physical, rational way that little girl is running around and talking less than two weeks later," Rowles told the news outlet.
Today, Alise is a happy, healthy, and fully functioning 3-year-old, leaving doctors scratching their heads.
"For her brain to come through this and be as functional as possible is astounding," said Dr. Garrett. "Prayer and luck and divine intervention were the key factors."
However, the Nipper family and their friends know exactly who was responsible for the little girl's miraculous recovery: "We are so very humbled. Alise's tragic accident was turned into a miracle by the grace of God!" the family wrote. "Our journey of faith has been such a blessing... to witness God's work and the power of unified prayer up close and so personal in our lives. Our prayers to bring life to our daughter and for her to receive a full recovery included a promise to tell everyone what He had done. Praise God for his mercy, grace, and love!!
The Nipper family say they want to share their daughter's story to both spread the Gospel and prompt parents to realize how important it is to undergo CPR training.
"We give acknowledgement to the importance of immediate and effective CPR. If you haven't gotten CPR certified yet, do it now," the family wrote in a recent Facebook update. "We are so grateful for all of our faithful friends and family who boldly prayed. We watched every prayer answered. We are humbled by God's grace, mercy, and love."
