What would you do if you found your child unresponsive?
When Courtney Smallbone laid her infant son down for a nap, she never imagined the day would end with a miracle that would mark her life, and her son’s, forever.
“He’s my third boy,” she said on the Heaven Meets Earth podcast. “When he was 8 weeks old, I had put him down for a nap… finally got all three down, which was like a miracle in and of itself.”
It was a quiet afternoon, and she stepped outside with a cup of coffee and a book in hand.
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But what was supposed to be a moment of rest quickly turned into the unthinkable.
“I was reading this book, and it’s like my vision kept blurring—I couldn’t focus. And it was actually on the anniversary of when I was healed and raised to life from this rare disease,” she recalled. “I had journaled, ‘Lord, what are You going to do today?’ I just had anticipation.”
Then came the voice.
“I hear this voice say, ‘Go check on Leo and don’t believe what you’re going to see,’” she said. Rushing into the room, she found her baby blue and gray, with blood on his face and no signs of life. “It’s very out of body… You’re looking at death. Your biggest fear is right in front of your face.”
As her husband, Luke, called 911, she fell to the ground with Leo and tried CPR.
Nothing worked.
“I just started praying in tongues,” she said. “I felt wind around us. I was laying hands, praying… and I literally am just on the ground with him. And I say very quietly, ‘Only You can do this.’”
At that moment, everything changed.
“Literally in that moment, his chest expands, he starts crying, he turns pink… it’s like a switch—on, off. That’s all I can describe. He starts breathing, and I’m just screaming.”
Paramedics arrived to find a living, breathing baby. At the hospital, doctors diagnosed Leo with craniosynostosis—a rare skull deformity that would require surgery. But even in the face of that, she was calm. “After that I’m just like, I think we’re going to be all right. God has His hand on his life.”
Now eight years old, Leo is a vibrant child with a deep love for God. “He actually gave a sermon at church a few months ago… He remembers sitting on Jesus’s lap. He said, ‘Papa told me I had to go back… I’ll see you at the end of the world when the dead are raised.’”
Smallbone says her son’s spiritual sensitivity is striking. “We were at a concert… he started crying and said, ‘There’s people out there that don’t know Jesus and they will die eternally if they don’t know Him.’”
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Every day with Leo is a reminder of God’s mercy. “I am so aware that life is a gift. Children are a gift. He didn’t have to—but He did,” she said. “When you see the glory of God… nothing’s impossible.”
This miraculous moment redefined everything for Smallbone—what began as a mother’s worst nightmare became a holy encounter that shattered fear and awakened unshakable faith. It wasn’t just the return of breath to her baby’s lungs; it was the unmistakable touch of God in the darkest hour.
This testimony is a reminder that no situation is beyond hope, no prayer too small and no heart too far for heaven to reach.
Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
