Claiming verses and singing songs. God wants to hear you sing....when despair is all you see.... Helping to remember who is in control and already knows the end.
Reminds me of, "Rejoice in The Lord. He makes no mistakes. He knoweth the end of each path that I take. For when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold...." Ron Hamilton
My husband had had pain issues for the past 10+ years. In February, it finally reached the point where he could stand it no longer. After trying chiropractic, natural and very strong doses of pain meds, muscle relaxers, and more, it was discovered that the bone spurs growing into his spine (C3-C4 area) were going to have to be removed, or the wrong move could paralyze him or worse.
He was out of work from February on as he could no longer stand the pain enough to do his job. His surgery was scheduled for May 20th. We were told that it was a standard procedure. They do them multiple times per day, etc etc etc. He was supposed to be back up walking within 4 hours, and home the next day. The surgery was to take about 30 minutes.
On the day of surgery, I prayed and waited, and waited, and waited. We arrived by7am, the surgery didn’t start until almost 1pm. I sat in the waiting room expecting that phone call to say they were done. Listening to everyone else complain about how their lives were going, and I thought to myself “Well, I’m glad I’m so calm” (even though it had by that point been 3 hours). At four hours, my prayers really started picking up, but I still hadn’t panicked yet. At 5pm, they told me the surgery was successful, even though they had to modify what they had initially planned to do because of his difficult anatomy, but that they were still waiting for him to “wake up”. A little after 8pm, they came to tell me they were moving him over into Surgical ICU (SICU) and that I could stay with him while they waited for the anesthesia to wear off. He did not wake up.
By the next morning, I started getting worried. This was one situation where everything was out of my control. I moved his arms and legs (cause you can’t just lay there) and I had to have something to do, but again… the hours seemed endless. I definitely prayed more in those first few days then I’ve ever prayed in such a short period of time. By the fourth day, they’d done an MRI and CT and told me about his brain damage (Anoxic Brain Injury) to both sides of his brain, but worse on the right and that he potentially might not ever wake up, or could be mentally impaired, lying in a bed for the rest of his life, etc. They couldn’t give any predictions. As the days passed, and he didn’t wake up, they had less hope to give, and started talking about moving him to a long term care nursing home. The story is long, so I won’t take the time to go through everything again. Shortest story, coma for 18 days, then woke - not able to speak, move anything other than eyes, or even swallow.
Currently, we’re in the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA doing intensive rehab. The hope is that eventually he will be ready to come home and continue his therapy as an outpatient. He is still fed through a tube in his stomach. Lacks control of many of the normal bodily functions that we take for granted every day. The doctors don’t think he’ll ever be mentally back to where he was; it’s also probably that he won’t ever get back to physically where he was. He likely won’t be able to work a normal job, etc etc etc.
This morning, we were watching our church via the live stream. Appreciated hearing Pastor Danny Farley, especially touched by the Sunday School message about Ecclesiastes and how everything we do, we can do either with God, or without God (when it’s all vanity). I certainly don’t want to leave God out of my life. I know for sure, these last few months would have certainly been a torment, rather than "knowing the peace that passeth all understanding" if I was going through this without Him.To read more about Dave and Mindi's journey, or to help them out, please visit their site at youcaring.
Mindi's Testimony:
When I was young, I gave my life to Jesus Christ and accepted him as my Savior (in a suburb of Toledo, OH). A few years before that, my now husband Dave did the same thing a few miles north in Livonia (Detroit) Michigan. Fast forward to 1995 when Dave decided to come down to Pensacola Bible Institute, where I grew up and was also a student. We met on my 16th birthday. (no, it really wasn’t love at first sight ;-)
A few years later, after being told we’d most likely never be able to have kids, and if we wanted some, to be prepared for a lot of medical intervention, we got married June 5, 1999.
Imagine my surprise, on my 20th birthday (Sept 1999) to discover that I was pregnant. 15 years later, we have 5 children. (Rebecca - 14, Iris - 13, Alyssa - 9, Evelyn - 7, and Tobias <Toby> - 3) - Yes, just one boy. And, it’s totally up to God as to whether we’re “done” or not.
Fast forward to 2014 - My biggest problem is that I’m a worrier. Yep, I have to micromanage everything, and if I’m not in control, I stress BIG TIME. You know those procrastinators that wait until the last minute and then rush, rush, rush trying to get things done? Well, that’s so NOT me. I’m the person who does it the first night and then “fixes” it over and over until it’s “perfect” <read as “I drive myself crazy trying to get it just right”> and wants to turn it in early. I work a lot, don’t have any energy, often tired and crabby, really just frustrated at life, and what seemed like a never ending cycle.The worrying over bills, diabetes, kids, …. every little thing was really dragging me down.
Not to get into details, but as you can imagine, on very little sleep and mega doses of stress, my health hasn’t been that great. After months of trying many different medicines and natural remedies as well, I had surgery to help correct at least some of the problems. I did miss a bit of work, but was working most of the time (thankfully from home) while I was supposed to be off my feet in bed, and then on “light” activity for 6 weeks.
Both of us have been off work for an extended period of time, God has provided. There have been trials and things popping up left and right, some times God takes it right down to the wire, but he’s always right on time. There are many things still to be worked out, finances, jobs, medical bills, a wheelchair friendly vehicle, and the list goes on.
I do not know the reasons for everything that we’ve went through, but I can tell you what I know so far…
I’ve definitely been blessed.
- Personally, I’ve had more peace during this most chaotic time in my life, than I had in the previous year. Philippians 4:7 - Claimed and Proven (I stole it from a sermon where an old saint had written that “code” over and over next to verses in her Bible). How crazy was I to stress and worry over small things like how to pay a bill, when I should have been counting my blessings: my husband, children, pets, sufficient food to eat - some times provided in obscure ways or even at that “last minute”, but if it wasn’t one thing, I had found something else to worry about. Now, I’ve finally learned that if I just give it over to God and let him worry about it, if the worst happens…. well, I trusted God and rested; when the miracles happen, I was trusting in God and resting…. In the end, when all is said and done. God is in control. He’s seen this from beginning to end. He’s involved in every tiny aspect of my life, and there’s no better person to trust in control. That doesn’t mean that I don’t do anything. Only that I do what I need to do today, and trust God to take care of tomorrow (while taking care of today as well).
- I no longer take my family, health, life for granted. I’m thankful for the time that I have with them. I realize it is precious, and could be gone in an instant.
- I’ve learned so many spiritual lessons during this time: thankfulness, pride, selfishness, life is a vapor, worry is sin (not trusting God to be in control), bickering/backbiting/gossip - what are we really accomplishing in our petty little squabbles that we have other than destroying ourselves and each other, and most likely innocent by-standers like our children. I could go on and on with the lessons I’ve been dealt with on. I am by no means “cured” of these, only more aware of them and determined to make that conscious effort to do better with God’s help and grace.
- With Dave, I’ve seen more spiritual and emotional changes in Dave in the last two months than ever before. He now has the softest heart, wants to read his Bible more, talk about God more, pray more. His love and appreciation for our children and myself is now expressed verbally many times over. Every time he prays, he thanks God verbally for allowing him another day to live. He’s even thanked God multiple times for this “accident” and everything he’s going through. (The Bible says, In everything give thanks for this is the will of God…. - we’ve claimed it) I’ve listened to him tell God, I’d really like to ____ (multiple things), but if you (God) never want me to again, I’ll be happy with that. He just wants God’s will for his life. Romans 8:28, James 1, Romans 5. He’s fully surrendered to God. To have a spiritually strong husband, or a physically strong husband…. for a Christian wife and mother, there’s no contest which one is better.
- Philippians 4:13 - Dave’s verse that he exercises to. We’ve claimed this verse over and over. God does keep providing the strength to get through. He didn’t give us more than we could handle. He hands out the strength, mercy and grace as they’re needed. Handfuls of purpose...
If you had described to me on December 31, 2013 everything that we’ve been through, I would have told you there was no way that we could survive it, or possibly even that my faith would survive. Well, it didn’t just survive, it thrived. God was able to prove his promises over and over. He really does give peace in the midst of the storm, every need supplied, and so much more.
We are looking forward to finishing this rehab, getting back to Milton, Florida, back to our church ( which I’m thankful to have had the privilege to attend virtually thanks to live streaming on the internet), and back to living our lives full steam ahead for God. We don’t know what forms that might take, where the path will lead us, but …
I know God is with us every step of the way. He knows the beginning and the end. He loves my children, Dave and myself more than I or anyone else ever could. He only wants the absolute best for us, and He knows exactly what that is.
I’m excited to see what’s in our future.
