Joel and Janie Taylor were heartbroken, when their 2-year-old boy was taken to hospital just days before Christmas in 2017 to treat a deadly disease. The helpless parents leaned on their community for support. Soon the couple realized the power of prayer and witnessed a miracle unfold before their eyes.
Jaxon, now 3-year-old was suffering from Hemolytic-uremic syndrome after contracting an E. coli infection that was attacking his tiny organs. As the syndrome began to threaten his life, he was airlifted to an Intensive Care Unit.
The parents relied on their faith and prayed over their son for weeks as the condition caused kidney failure, seizures and other symptoms. When Joel, the CEO of Bethel Music heard about Jaxon, he asked his friends to pray for a miracle.
“Hooked up to everything, they allowed to just hold him in my arms and you could just see the light still in his eyes,” Janie recalled the moment. “I remember just standing and declaring over him; He was going to raise up out of that grave and he was going to live.”
In such a difficult situation, Joel and Janie continued to pray over their son and believed that the Lord would do the impossible.
Eventually, Jaxon’s condition worsened, the doctors informed the parents that their little boy needed a risky surgery, without anesthesia.
The devastated couple texted some of their close friends to support them through prayers, as they thought it would be the last night with their son.
“I thought I’m losing my son,” Janie said. “Even if he makes it through this I don’t know if he’ll ever know me again. He was gone.”
When Jonathan David and Melissa Hesler, leaders of the 18-inch Journey, ministry school, received the heartbreaking text, Melissa collapsed into his arms as they took some time to process the heartbreaking news.
Thankfully, the North Carolina couple recovered from the shock and Hesler’s heart for worship encouraged Joel and Janie than they could’ve ever imagined.
“Those moments, even though they’re really hard, something within us rises that only moments of trauma and intensity can call actually forth,” Melissa said. “In those moments, for us, the only option is like… we just have to worship.”
Jonathan David recalled the moment, when he felt like he was standing at a crossroads in the face of unbelief that was telling him, “Your prayers don’t matter. All of these prayers don’t matter. The Lord’s not going to hear it. This is going to be like the other moments where you prayed with all your heart and then you buried your friend the next week.”
But then a song suddenly came through the uncertain darkness while he worshipped. “There was something inside of me of like, ‘No!’” he said. “And the melody just erupted out of my heart, ‘I raise a hallelujah in the presence of my enemies,’”
The other lyrics of the song was later titled as “Raise a Hallejuah,” include “My weapon is a melody” and “heaven comes to fight for me.”
Jonathan David recorded the gifted song with his community and sent it to Joel who then played it over his little boy again and again.
The weary dad was moved by the powerful lyrics of the song. He recalled the moment when he felt like he was in the middle of a battle for his son’s life.
“I didn’t have any prayers left to say, but I could feel and see and hear the prayers being said on my behalf,” Joel remembered. But God was working behind the scene.
Gradually, little Jaxon began to show significant improvements. He began speaking and his sweet personality shone through despite all of the tubes and IVs.
“God timed it all so perfectly,” Joel wrote on Instagram on Christmas Day. “Jaxon still needs full recovery but things are now going the right direction and God is in control.”
Although, Jaxon’s journey to a full recovery is not easy, as he has been in and out of the hospital for the past year, his family and those who heard his story can’t ignore the miracle that he has gone through.
Now, Jaxon is home and his incredible story is inspiring thousands of people.
The Bethel Music has planned to share the story behind “Raise a Hallejuah” during the “The Victory Tour” in 2019, to show how God can respond when we let Him fight our battles and to show the power of allowing our communities to pray on our behalf.
“I wasn’t alone. I had people who were literally making weapons, writing songs, and sending it to us,” Joel said. “It still humbles me and baffles me, the power of global prayer, the power of community, the power of believing together.”
We are sure God has an amazing plan on Jaxon’s life and this little boy’s life will be an inspiration to many, as his mother Janie says,
“The world will know that miracles happen.”