Hold on to His Word!

Seven years ago, I woke up one morning with extreme pain and was vomiting. Days would go by, I wasn't able to use the bathroom and I continued to vomit every day, throughout the day. Every time I tried using the toilet I felt like I was going to faint from the amount of pain I was in. I didn’t want to go to the hospital because every time I went they would always admit me. I chose to ignore the signs and take some advil and continued on with my day as I went to work in pain. Now, I would like to pause and ask you this. How many times did you choose to ignore the warning signs? This was a time that I ignored them. At times, God sends us the warning signs, but we don’t fully pay attention to them or question if it’s God sending them to us. We convince ourselves that we can handle whatever is coming and that if we survived the last time, we can do it again. Nope, I chose to be stubborn and continued to do the things I decided to do. 

By the end of the day, I was rolled into the hospital because I couldn’t get up from the bathroom floor. The pain kept getting worse. I was screaming and crying out for help.  I was rushed into the ER and they did multiple scans of my abdomen and injected high amounts of morphine into my veins. I ended up falling asleep.

The doctors woke me up to share test results from the scans they took. They alarmed me that my intestines were twisted (Volvulus) and the surgeons would have to do emergency surgery on me because I wouldn’t live if they didn’t operate. They mentioned that I would wake up with a colostomy bag. I remember crying out to them to please save my intestines while they were injecting me with medication to put me to sleep. During surgery, my throat closed up and I stopped breathing. The doctors and nurses rushed in and put me on a ventilator machine. They kept me sedated for several days. Days later, I remember waking up fighting the nurses trying to pull this tube out my throat. The nurses ended up strapping me to the bed because they were scared I would try to do it again. The doctors walked into the room and started to explain everything that happened during surgery. As I was laying strapped to my bed, I couldn’t comprehend what the doctors were explaining to me.

It was like the Lord blocked out the noise so I can clearly hear from HIM saying to me that HE was not done with me yet! At that very moment, the Lord gave me HIS peace and calmed my heart assuring me that everything was going to be okay.

Many days went by and I was still on the ventilator. I was so tired of communicating on paper. I just wanted to speak, eat, and breathe on my own again. Finally one day the doctors came in and asked me, “Are you ready to be off the ventilator.” I shook my head yes. Then he asked, “Are you scared?” At that moment, a fiery dart of fear pierced my heart and I answered, "Yes." At that very second, I remembered what the Lord had spoken over my life, and as quickly fear tried to creep in is how quick fear was gone. The doctor's next statement was, “Do you trust me?” I shook my head yes! Right there I told the Lord, "You are my breath and I trust you Lord!" Within seconds I was breathing on my own again! 

You may be in a similar situation as I was. You too, may need a word to hold on to from God. 

Lean on the Lord. God wants to speak to us even more than you want to hear from HIM. Seek HIM, by giving HIM your time and attention. Don’t wait until it's too late because you are too stubborn to listen when the Lord is sending you the warning signs.

“So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17 NKJV

When I stare at this picture all I see is God’s Strength! 

By His Strength,

Jessica Johnson