When House Republican Whip Steve Scalise returned to the House on Thursday, he was greeted to a thunderous, bipartisan ovation — and the incredible moment is proof that the power of prayer is incredible.
Scalise walked into the room and was greeted by hugs and a roaring applause from his colleagues more than three months after an alt-left radical attempted to assassinate him at a baseball practice, an attack that left him on the brink of death.
Since then, he’s been in the regular prayers of Christians across the world — and he’s made a miraculous recovery.
“You have no idea how great this feels to be back here at work in the people’s House,” the 51-year old Louisianan said to a chamber packed with lawmakers, including senators who welcome him back.
“I prayed for very specific things — and I’ll tell you, pretty much everyone of those prayers were answers, ” an emotional Scalise said. “They were some pretty challenging prayers I was putting in God’s hands… but he really did deliver for me and my family.”
Scalise hobbled into the chamber on crutches, smiling broadly and blowing kisses in his first public appearance since the June 14 shooting. In an extraordinary gesture, House Speaker Paul Ryan presided and ordered members to sit in their chairs to listen to Scalise’s remarks.
“Our prayers have been answered,” Ryan said to applause.
The moment marked a departure from the bitter divisions that have dominated Congress this year between the two parties locked in fierce combat over President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Scalise thanked the two wounded Capitol Hill police officers who returned fire and helped kill the would-be alt-left assassin, James Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois. One of them, David Bailey, was in the chamber Thursday.
“David, you are my hero,” Scalise said.
Scalise and four others were injured when a radical gunman opened fire on a Republican baseball practice in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. U.S. Capitol Police and other officers returned fire and killed the gunman.
The rifle-wielding attacker had declared him a member of the alt-left terror group Antifa and had regularly aired grievances against President Donald Trump and the GOP on social media.
Scalise was struck in the hip, and the bullet tore into blood vessels, bones and internal organs.
He was rushed to the hospital “at the eminent risk of death”, but thanks to the thoughts and prayers of his countrymen — and the steady hand of an elite team of doctors and nurses — Scalise has largely recovered.
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The Associated Press contributed to this article.