Many people turn to prayer and faith during hard times.

In fact, a study by the American Psychological Association found that the number of Americans praying about health issues increased by 36% in the past three decades.  

Chauncey Crandall, M.D., the New York Times bestselling author and director of preventive medicine at the Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic in Florida has seen the power of prayer at work in his practice.

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Dr. Crandall says that early on in his training at Yale University and continuing through his 30 years of practice that he has seen that people of faith fare better than patients who don’t have faith.

“As patients were prayed for they seemed to heal faster than other people,” Crandall tells Newsline.

“We even saw miraculous healings in front of our eyes because of prayer. Some people that were brain dead, that came back to life. Other people had incurable cancers that were prayed for and they survived cancer and they are alive today,” recounts Crandall.

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In his book “Touching Heaven: A Cardiologist’s Encounters With Death and Living Proof of an Afterlife,” Dr. Crandall weaves together stories of his divine encounters as a doctor, husband, father and believer in God. He shares the time a middle-aged man was declared dead after being shocked 10 times with a defibrillator in the ER. Crandall felt God calling him to pray over the man and after he did, the man miraculously came back to life.

“So there’s great evidence out there that God is at work. He is available to us if we call on his name,” stresses Crandall.

Medical research has also found that prayer and faith boost health. An analysis of 1,500 medical studies published in the current Handbook of Religion and Health concluded that people who are more religious and engage in regular spiritual practice have better health. In particular, 57% of the studies found that religious people have significantly lower blood pressure and 63% of the studies found that more religious people have less coronary artery disease, compared to those who are less religious.

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Crandall says that even those who have strayed from God and lost their faith due to hard times or suffering can find their faith again.

“If they turn back to their faith and call on God, he will come,” explains Crandall.

“He will heal us,” urges Crandall.