Are miraculous healings real?

Someone asked today about miraculous healings. She grew up in a church were prayer was used as a primary "therapy" for any and all diseases but has grown skeptical as she has seen people from her own faith tradition suffer and even die in spite of their beleif in the power of prayer. This was my response:

My concern with dramatic "faith" cures is the depression and regret that result when the magic doesn't work for someone. Still, I believe in prayer. I also believe in medicine (which doesn't always seem to work either). I believe in the body's wisdom and resiliency. I believe that complementary therapies often help. Attitude, environment, genes, diet...so much goes into our experience of health. 

I have seen people recover when no one thought they could; and I've seen people who should have had a fighting chance not make it. I've expereinced blessings of recovered health for which I was very grateful...and other times, conditions remained or returned. 

Life is complex. We do what we can to be happy and vibrant and productive...medicine, diet, prayer, lucky charms...whatever we can hold onto in a moment. Lots of things help, and nothing seems to work 100% of the time; but isn't that life? Prayer helps us feel connected to God, and when we feel connected to God we have less anxiety, more peace, more hope, and that all can contribute to an improved experience. 

I just met someone who swears that after only a couple of visits to a mystical healer he has experienced dramatic remission of disease in his own body. Who am I to doubt it? He feels better so I rejoice for and with him. But even Mary Baker Eddy (who built an entire movement around healing prayer) said, "We've all known the disappointment of unanswered prayer." 

It works when it works, and even when it doesn't, there may be other blessings or other experiences of healing that took place. I wouldn't give up on any practice that gives you hope or encouragement, but I wouldn't think of it as a zero sum game. The all or nothing, it's 100% or it's BS mindset seems to do more harm than good. 

I say try whatever seems worth the effort, rejoice if it works, look for how it helped even if it didn't work the way you wanted, and know that life is full of ambiguities and unanswered questions. We do, after all, live by "faith" (trust) and not by "sight" (proofs, guarantees, etc.).