When Ruset and Valentina Patrascu arrived home from Toledo, Valentina booted up the computer to search the Internet for information on Dr. Nemeh. There was plenty to be found: articles published in Northeastern Ohio newspapers; blogs; testimonials; and video footage of television coverage of Dr. Nemeh's most dramatic public appearances. Most important, Valentina read on the doctor's own Web site (www.drnemeh.com and www.pathtofaith.com) that there would be a public healing service on May 13, Mother's Day, at St. Bernadette's Church in Westlake, Ohio. She and Ruset decided that they would do whatever it took to attend that healing service.
The following day, Ruset and Valentina were taking a walk in Linden Park, a playground not far from their home. A certain look crossed over Valentina's face; Ruset had seen that look many times, and it always meant that she was up to something.
"Let's go see his office," Valentina said with a sparkle in her eyes. There was no question whose office she was referring to. Ruset smiled. She was up to something!
They turned North and walked four-tenths of a mile to Center Ridge Road. Here, they turned West and walked five-tenths of a mile to the Executive Club Office Building. Once inside, they studied the directory and learned that Dr. Nemeh's office suite is on the fourth floor. They pushed the button to the elevator and waited.
When the doors slid open, a man stepped out and headed for the exit. Valentina knew in a flash that the man was Dr. Nemeh himself. She and Ruset stepped into the elevator. When the doors closed, she said, "I think that man is Dr. Nemeh."
A few doors down the hall from the elevator, a nameplate on Suite 401 identified Dr. Nemeh's office. They went inside. The waiting room was uncharacteristically empty. After knocking on a closed door within the three-room suite, they were greeted by the scheduling secretary. Valentina explained that they had called the previous night for appointments, and asked if there had been any cancellations for openings sooner than July. The answer was no.
Discouraged, Valentina and Ruset trudged down the hall, pushed the button, and waited for the elevator car. When the doors opened, the same man they had seen before was inside. Once again, they all performed an elevator do-si-do. When the doors closed, Valentina repeated her hunch, saying, "He is the doctor. I think we should go back." They did.
Encountering the gentleman in the hall, Ruset asked, "Are you Dr. Nemeh?" He shook his head yes. Right there, Valentina and Ruset told Dr. Nemeh their whole story. "I'll take you right now," said Dr. Nemeh in response. And he did.
This apparent serendipity is a consistent theme running through the stories of physical, emotional, and spiritual healings that are recounted by his patients. But Dr. Nemeh's decisions about whom to pray over, what to pray for, and how long to pray are not serendipitous. They are inspired, he says, by the pull and influence of the action-oriented Holy Spirit. And, today, the Holy Spirit let him know that Ruset was meant to be prayed over and treated immediately.
Once Ruset was settled in the treatment chair and Dr. Nemeh began performing his initial measurements, Valentina and Ruset explained why they felt led by St. Ignatius of Loyola to this very office. This moment seemed to have stemmed from their exposure to a spiritual hospital in Brazil that had been founded by St. Ignatius's followers. Valentina noted that, right before her eyes, a blue icon of St. Ignatius hung on the wall. She smiled with happiness, for his was her favorite prayer. This place just felt right. She had sensed an enormous amount of Divine energy the minute the elevator doors opened, and now she knew the origin of that energy. It was the doctor's treatment room.
Ruset experienced immediate healing. Before their eyes, Ruset and Valentina watched as Ruset's atrophied leg muscles expanded. Ruset also felt growth in his bones. He was astonished. Valentina was not.
"I filter everything through my soul and heart, not my analytical mind," she explains. "And so I was not at all surprised."
The doctor treated Ruset for more than two hours. Like most of Dr. Nemeh's patients, Valentina and Ruset were not exactly sure of how long the session lasted, for they lost sense of the passage of time. When the session was completed, they stepped out into a waiting room filled to capacity.
As they headed for home, there was a distinct difference in Ruset's gait. Because of the physical healings his body had just undergone, he was emotionally and spiritually uplifted. Now, he was walking, as they say, on cloud nine.
* * * * * *
Ruset returned frequently for treatments throughout the next eighteen months. His arthritic condition improved each time, until he was eventually judged to be a candidate for his resurfacing, a much less extensive surgical alternative than total hip replacement.
His surgeon was astonished at how quickly Ruset recovered.
Meanwhile, Valentina also became Dr. Nemeh's patient. All of her health concerns either were improved or completely healed. She no longer has heart palpitations; the anemia and hot flashes disappeared; her metabolism returned to normal; muscle and join pain and almost all of the back pain vanished; her energy returned; and she could once again sleep well. It was no small thing that the unresolved hurt and unanswered suffering she had carried from Romania into her future also fell away. Finally, her mind, body, and soul were wrapped in peace as cozy as cashmere.
More precious than the healings, however, is the spiritual growth Valentina has undergone from the time of her first appointment and continuing until the present day.
"Dr. Nemeh has helped me so much," she enthuses. "Each session is like going to school, except that these are spiritual lessons. I consider him my mentor. I ask him questions about religion and spirituality and he answers me in ways that make me understand everything so clearly.
"From Dr. Nemeh, I came to understand that suffering is a blessing. To get an instant healing would be nice - a bonus - but I understand now that I am here for a higher purpose. I can take everything that happens to me so much more easily now because I understand that my soul is having a physical experience here on this earth. We are not here just for a miracle, or simply to receive a miraculous healing; we are here to serve humanity. And the spiritual journey makes everything we go through physically worth while."
Valentina's view of 'family' has been broadened since meeting Dr. Nemeh. "We have our physical family. But we also have our spiritual family, and these are our brothers and sisters in Christ. When people feel the same way about Christ, then they understand one another. They speak fewer words because they are talking the same language."
Today, Valentina finds fulfillment in spreading the word about God's healings and miracles as manifested through Dr. Nemeh, who has connected his faith with more than two hundred thousand people in his career as a praying physician. For Dr. Nemeh, it's all about that connection. He sees himself as one who connects the people God has delivered into his life with God Himself.
Two of those people were Valentina and Ruset Patrascu. Dr. Nemeh's unique faith-based relationship with God had the effect of changing their lives for the better. Pain and worry had clouded their mortal existence. That is no longer the case.
They have also benefitted intellectually, emotionally, socially, and spiritually from their association with Dr. Nemeh and his Path to Faith ministry. They attend all his public healing services, which have taken on the function of family events. They also find great satisfaction on carrying the photographs of people living overseas to healing services, because so many receive long distance miracles from Dr. Nemeh's prayers.
Faith establishes a world view that says nothing is accidental. If you believe in God, then you trust that even when you do not understand your journey, there is purpose and intention behind where you are being led. Looking back, then, Valentina can draw a straight line from today all the way back to the moment her parents named her Valentina Luminita. That she has been destined to soar in ever-expansive realms even more limitless than outer space is obvious. Meeting Dr. Nemeh has been a vitally signficant part of her life journey, and he has helped her to fulfill her own life's purpose of spiritual expansion. And then, still with the innocence and trusting heart of a child, she is doing what she can to shine the Light wherever she may go.