In the early 80's , on our 24th anniversary, I became very sick.  I went to the doctor and they did some tests and sent me home.  The next morning I was so bad, that it was even an effort to walk from the bed to the bathroom.  A friend told me of her doctor in Boston and made an appointment for me to go see him.  My husband was selling insurance at the time along with pastoring a church.  He took me with him while he worked, and I was so sick, I laid down in the seat because I was too tired to sit up.  After his meeting, he came out and we drove to Boston to see the specialist. He started to examine me, but didn't get too far.  He came out and told my husband he was going to hospitalize me, my heart rate was going so fast he couldn't even count it, my blood pressure was so high, and White blood count off the charts.  He had no idea what was wrong with me.  I didn't care, I just wanted to lay down.  Meanwhile the doctor I had gone to the day before called my family and told them I needed to be in the hospital.  They were very relieved to hear I had just been admitted.

I was admitted to the New England Deaconess Hospital. I went through every test going and whatever was wrong with me, had hit every major organ in my body.  In the next few weeks, I lost at least fifty pounds, was so weak I couldn't hold my head up, and could not even swallow water without exhaustion. I could not eat a thing, and they went out of their way to try to find something that would hit my taste-buds.  I felt like there was an elephant sitting on my chest, and I couldn't breathe.  I was so weak that I could not read my bible nor hardly lift a pen.  However, on my bed table I had a pen and note paper.  The Lord kept giving me verses, parts of verses, and I would write down what he gave me.  My nurse in the meantime, had been reading some of what I wrote, and told me that there was something different about me, and the phrases I was writing down looked familiar to her.  She was going to AA, and these were some of her principles.  To make a long story short, over time, my nurse came to know the Lord as her Savior, because of the pieces of scripture written down on a tablet on my table.

It was finally discovered after two weeks at least that I had cytomegalo virus.  That is a many faceted virus.there hadn't been a case since the doctors  didn't know when and was really hard to identifyl  It hit every major organs of my body.  My husband called me one night and I said, "Jim, I have had a talk with my Lord tonight, and I am ready, I am too tired and sick to fight against this any longer.  He immediately called the doctor and was told he better come to see me as I was failing fast. Jim cried, she is too young, the children are about grown, it is our time together, but it looked like that many not happen.  I got a little better for a few days, went home, and was rushed back again in more pain that the first time.  They found blood clots in my lungs, my ovaries had swollen to a great size and they believed that that was where the blood clots were coming, so they removed my tube and ovaries

I was in the hospital on and off for over one year and had three more operations after that.  However, the verse They shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings of eagles, they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint.  This became my verse to get through every single day living!  I had to depend on the strength he would give me every day just to put one foot in front of the other.  Over that year, I had the virus, enlarged heart, pulmonary embolism, removal of my tube and ovaries, and both feet had to be operated on and on crutches for over a year.  It also left me with trouble with asthma and heart.  It has taken years to overcome some of these problems, but they have been overcome, but the best thing that happened from this time in the hospital, a nurse came to know the Lord, A chaplain whose wife left him, broke down and decided to follow the Lord and stay in His work, he just couldn't understand why I wasn't mad at God for all that I was going through. He realized he would grow from this experience, and he could not be angry at God for what happened in him life, and he knew he could make it with the Lord's help.  I also had two gay nurses that were taking care of me, although they never said they accepted Christ, they listened, and admitted that only Christ could have brought me through all that I had Gone through.

So, remember, no matter have difficult the journey,  how long the journey, with God nothing is impossible, and the verse Isaiah 49:41 can carry you through even the most difficult journeys. He is One AWESOME GOD/