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