Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Autumn 2013 | Page 34
returns and completes the healing, he tells his disciples that certain
miracles demand prayer (Mark 9:29). The practice of prayer puts
us into relationship with God and, in so doing, helps us realize our
dependence on him. From that stature, not only can we recognize
his miraculous work in all things, but we are also prepared for him
to work through us in miraculous ways. Through the cleansing and
relational power of prayer, we are ready to be his agents. Certainly,
God has chosen to impart to some the gifts of miracles in specific
and readily apparent ways (1 Cor. 12:10, 28), but through the power
of prayer, we are all equipped to observe, respond to, and even be a
conduit for God’s miracles.
Thomas and Susanna Smoak have six children, including
Isaac ’14. Thomas is regional coordinator for Latin
America and the Caribbean with Action International
Ministries, and the couple has served in São Paulo, Brazil,
since 1995. Thomas says, “When Jesus said, ‘Greater
things than these will you do,’ we believe he was talking
about the transformation of the human heart.”
Sidney’s story began in a
favela, a slum or shantytown like
this one in São Paulo, Brazil.
32 A U T U M N 2 0 1 3
Sidney
Among the thousands of street children in Brazil, Sidney is just
one of many kids in crisis through whom missionaries Thomas
Galphin Smoak III ’86, M.A. ’03 and his wife, Susanna ’88, have
witnessed God at work.
by Susanna Spradley Smoak ’88
S
idney