Our testimony is the story of what the Lord has done for us. It is like a book with many chapters. This week I’ve been sharing the chapter in my testimony about cancer and covid. Today I conclude with, How In The World Am I Still Here?
How did I make it out of this, when it seemed everything was against me? I have been told I was too strong to die. Not so. Covid had me whipped. I was as close to death as you can get without actually dying.
An experience I had, probably early in my stay in the hospital, will reveal how strong I was. I don’t know if this was a dream or a vision, only that it was very real. I was lying on a bed in a dark room. There were nurses and doctors working on me. The bed was slowly moving to the right, toward a wall that was covered with a black curtain. I knew that if the bed passed through the curtain it would be bad. I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t stop the movement of the bed, I was too weak to even pray, and I was getting ever closer to that curtain. I remembered a friend telling me, “If you’re too weak to pray, just call on the Lord.” So I cried out, “Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus!” As soon as I finished, it was like brakes had been applied, the bed stopped moving to the right and began to slowly move to the left. I knew that this was because of the prayers of all the people praying for me.
How did I make it? The Lord! I don’t know why I caught Covid, nor why I was raised up when so many other people were not. And I’m not aware of some special mission or assignment I now have, except to declare the works of the LORD. I regularly offer thanks and praise to Him for saving me and speak or write often of His mercy and grace. He is mighty to save!
It was the Lord who raised me up. He used Kettering Hospital to do it. And Mary. She saved my life! She was there every day, advocated continuously for me, and when the social workers listed me as “actively dying” she fought tooth and nail to keep me in the hospital and not shuffled off to some nursing home. I would have wasted away in a long-term care facility. Instead, I remained in the hospital until I came home and walked my way out of the deep, dark woods.
Anne came by every morning as long as she could. She sat with me, sang to me, prayed for me. All my girls came to see me and help their mom, multiple times!
I am so thankful for all the people and churches who prayed for me, for Mary, for the family: Church of the Resurrection in Rock Hill, SC; Bible Covenant Community Church in York, SC; Centerville Community Church in Centerville, OH, and others. I know of one sister who prayed for me day and night. And many others too many to mention, even if I knew all their names. I’m convinced that my being raised up was through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ!
I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.
Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low:
deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name:
the righteous shall compass me about;
for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.
Psalm 142:5-7
I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
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