One of the "symptoms" that my friend had was that he would have these "prophetic" events were he would have an intuition of something happening just before it happened but at times, it was rather confusing as to which actually happened first. At other times, it was quite convincing. Even so, he has since given up on these kinds of "signs and wonders" because, of course, that has issues of its own for theological reasons. There were many reasons to believe in such occurrences. One specific example was when he was putting a nickel on end on a counter that had a relatively rough surface. As other people began observing, he just grabbed the nickel and abruptly placed it down on the rough surface and let go while the nickel stayed on end. Sure, it could have been a coincidence but incidents such as that were quite frequent. Other people then tried to make the nickel stand on end but they were not able to do it. It was like his belief was so strong that he just made it happen. It was things similar to this that irritated his immediate boss so much that he refused to work with him any longer and actually fired him at one point even though his job performance was excellent. The owner invited him back but he just quit. It was shortly after that, he had a massive attack of sz where he was not able to sleep or eat for three days straight. It is a good story considering that he was able to make a complete recovery all on his own.


It is common, Daleri, for people with sz to think they have special powers, or to ascribe major and minor coincidences or events to these "special powers." That is what a delusion is. Is your friend on medication for schizophrenia? His ability to keep a job may depend on being med-compliant. The most special power we have as humans is not balancing a coin on edge but is empathy, compassion, love, generosity, self-control, joy, patience, kindness, etc.
Carolyn
Hi Carolyn,
Your point is well taken. The important "miracle" is a transformed life (for the better). He no longer does those things. He no longer has any of those symptoms. He never took any medication. Even "miracles" get boring after a while anyway and the real miracle is to be able to do all of the right things all of the time. That is what grace is.