NFL player Demario Davis testified about the goodness of God on Sunday after his daughter survived “the worst seizure” she ever experienced, encouraging fans facing hard times to “lay it before the Lord and trust.”
The New Orleans Saints linebacker preached a mini sermon during a press conference, taking time to share with the fans and the media about the importance of having a relationship with Jesus Christ.
“We play this game on Sundays and it’s really the Lord’s day. And the day we should be worshipping the Lord, a lot of times, players are getting worshipped…Since so many of us didn’t get to go to church today, I have a word I want to share.”
After the Saints defeated the Tennessee Titans in Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season, Davis read Revelation 3:20 during the post-game media event.
The scripture reads, “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (CSB).
“I want to tell you about a knock I heard this week,” Davis continued.
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The 34-year-old explained how his four-year-old daughter suffered a seizure last week, after being seizure-free for almost two years.
“She started to foam at the mouth and it was her worst seizure. For 30 minutes she seized. She wouldn’t come and we had to call the paramedics,” he recalled.
As CBN News reported, Demario’s daughter, Carly-Faith was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare form of cancer, in 2020.
“When I really heard the doctors tell us that it was cancer and what our journey was going to look like, from that moment on there was just this weakening and it went from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet and almost as if I was going to pass out,” Tamela Davis told CBN News.
The news also hit Demario like a ton of bricks, but he said he clung to his Bible and God reminded him of a particular scripture passage.
“It’s a lot like the man who built his house on the rock versus building his house on the sand. When the storms come, the man that built his house on the rock, the house stood,” he explained. “But the one that built his house on sand, it collapsed. And that storm is reflective of the trials that will come in life. It’s not IF trials are going to come, it’s WHEN trials are going to come, and so it’s important to build a foundation and build it on rock. And I believe you build that in the Word and through a relationship with God.”
Carly-Faith has been cancer-free for two years, but the recent seizure caught the family by surprise.
“You can imagine all the thoughts that raise through your mind,” Davis told the crowd Sunday. “The last sight you see of your daughter is that she is totally out of it. We got to the hospital and my wife told me that our daughter stopped breathing in the [ambulance] twice.”
Davis said he cried out to God in prayer.
He said he felt led to pray against the seizures affecting her brain function, especially her development and her speech.
“I had prayed for her. I said, ‘God, let this just be an attack from the enemy that’s just trying to be a distraction. Let him have overplayed his hand and my daughter come back stronger than before.”
At 3 a.m. that morning, Davis heard a knock at his door at the hospital. It was his daughter, Carly-Faith.
“When I heard my daughter talked in the middle of the night…and my daughter doesn’t have any developmental issues. Praise God. She doesn’t have any slurred speech prior to this…She woke up talking clearer than she was before,” he recounted.
“Anyone who deals with epilepsy knows it takes a few days for them to come back. They can usually get back to normal wherever they were, but it takes a couple of days,” Davis continued. “She was talking clearer than before. We let her talk for about 20 minutes and then we said, ‘Hey baby, it’s nighttime. Time to go to sleep.'”
Davis told the media that he began to praise God for what He did. He said the next morning, his daughter’s condition was even better.
“She was sharp. She was able to carry on a clear conversation with me and her mom. No stuttering,” he explained. “And if any of you had had a conversation with my daughter you wouldn’t have known anything had ever happened.”
Carly-Faith was released from the hospital, just one day after having the seizure.
“The next day, she is back out there playing with the kids,” he shared.
Davis added that his family is following protocol to keep his daughter healthy, well, and safe.
But he took the following minutes in that press conference to share that the Lord used the entire situation to draw him closer to God.
“When I tell you that I got a chance to hear a knock from God and what I want to share is we get to play this game and it is great…but when we leave this game, we go back to being regular people,” he said. “Regular people are living life. And regular people are waiting for a knock.”
He continued, “And the word says who Jesus is and He is knocking at the door. All you got to do is get up. On the way (to the hospital) I’m nervous, but I’m praying. And I’m trusting. And I’m believing. And I’m not asking for my daughter to make it though. I’m asking that she is better than before.”
“And God gave me just what I asked for and plus some. I was blown away,” Davis shared.
He encouraged his fans to establish a relationship with Jesus Christ.
“I just want people to know that if you’ve got stuff in your life, lay it before the Lord. Lay it before the Lord and trust. And be expectant of a knock because the Word says what you have to do is get up and open the door. He’s not going to open the door for you, but He is going to knock. You have to be listening and waiting for the knock…Your blessing, it will be there.”
He closed his message by wishing people a happy Sunday.
“Praise God,” he said before walking off stage.
Davis first made headlines for his faith several years ago after he was fined by the NFL for wearing a headband that said, “Man of God.”
MORE ‘Man of God’ Movement Explodes After NFL Player’s Headband Fine: ‘Just Shows You the Power of God’
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