My Reason to Live
Apr 17, 2022 | by The Fellowship
On Easter Sunday two years ago, I was released from the hospital after almost dying twice from COVID-19. The 21 days I spent in the hospital were like a nightmare. Admitted through the ER, I had double pneumonia as well as the corona virus. Losing consciousness almost immediately, I woke up a week later with a ventilator in ICU isolation. The doctors told my family I would not survive.
While in a semi-comatose state on the ventilator, I felt death rapidly overshadowing me and frantically pleaded with the Lord to keep me alive. A host of family, friends, Bible study and church members were continually lifting me before the Lord, begging for my life. The Lord spared me. The second incident happened the day after I was taken off the ventilator. I felt my body giving up again and screamed, “No, I am not going!” and once more, the Lord brought me back. Unbelievable power is released when people pray! I promised Him that if He would let me live, I would praise Him and witness for Him whenever and wherever He wanted!
I was so weak when released from the hospital that I could not walk but needed a wheelchair to get around. Since I had lost 25 pounds, much rehabilitation was necessary before I could move on my own again and resume a more normal life.
COVID left me with the problem of keeping my blood pressure regulated. There have been times when it dropped suddenly, causing me to lose consciousness and resulting in more hospital stays to address the issue. No perfect solution has been found, so I cannot leave home without someone with me in case I have an incident.
This has been frustrating for me. One day I prayed, “Lord, how can I keep my promise to witness for you if I am stuck in this house.” He showed me! Two hours later, the phone rang and a man from my church asked if I would be willing to share my testimony. Of course, I agreed, and they came and filmed a video at my home. Recently I learned that it has been viewed more than 1,000 times.
A Katy magazine also contacted me and published a full-page color article about how the Lord had so amazingly spared me. It would be hard to estimate how many have read of His miraculous deliverance of my life.
Last summer, I was blessed to go back to visit close friends in Ohio where my husband and I lived for 40 years. Besides sharing my story in two churches, I also told it to every friend I encountered while there. One of them had been a nominal Christian, and I saw a light go on in her countenance while she listened. I knew the Lord had touched her! What a blessing to now hear about her meaningful activities serving the Lord.
My grandchildren have also been greatly impacted by my life being spared. My 14-year-old granddaughter lives for the Lord, sings on the praise team of her enormous youth group, posts a Bible verse on Twitter every night, and feels God is calling her to be a neurosurgeon and a missionary.
God must not be through with me yet! Three weeks ago, I had surgery on my left wrist to remove a very painful knot at the site of many IV insertions. Since X-rays and a C Scan had not revealed anything, the surgeon was amazed to find a large blood clot. He told me, “If it had passed, even in pieces, you would not be sitting here now!”
The Lord keeps me here for a purpose. Even as He provided a kind of resurrection for me, I want to continually proclaim that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Resurrection and the Life. After dying on the cross to take the punishment my sins deserve, He rose from the dead on Resurrection Easter Sunday! He is the Lord and has made a way for us to live eternally with Him if we repent of our sins and accept Him as our Savior. Jesus is my reason to live, and I count each new day as a gift from Him!
P.N.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Romans 10:9