My Testimony
All of my life I have known what a gracious and awesome God I serve, but never has His goodness been so real to me as now. It is easy to trust God when all is well, or the answers come easily or quickly, but when every door seems to be closed and no matter how hard you pray the trial will not cease, that is when we can truly show our trust and faith in our Heavenly Father. It will soon be five years ago since God opened the doors and we started our new life here in OH. We had just bought a new home, Dwayne (husband) had started work at his postal job. It was the Fall of 2007. We were settling in and counting our blessings. I remember feeling so content and thinking that I had the life I had always wanted. Then came the greatest trial of my life.
I began to have problems with my health. For a few months I passed it off and tried to ignore it, but soon it was to the point of needing medical attention. The doctor referred me to a specialist and at first they didn't seem alarmed but there was mention of possible Crohn's Disease or related illness. I still was not very concerned. God had brought me thru so much and I had many testimonies of His goodness to me, and I knew He would come thru for me again. Finally they sent me for a colonoscopy. By now it was February of 2009. I remember waking up and Dwayne telling me they had diagnosed me with a disease called ulcerative colitis, and that if I would take the medication they had prescribed, they said I would do all right. We had no idea what lay ahead.
I did begin taking the medication, but I was evidently allergic to the main ingredient in the medication, as well as all the other medications they tried. I became so ill that I only weighed 96 lbs. God always gave me strength and there were very few days that I was unable to get up in the morning and care for my children. Looking back, I realize what a miracle just making it thru each day was.
I tried every natural remedy and medical answer that I could safely try, but I was out of options. I remember one instance where the specialist, who was always so kind and concerned, sat with his head in his hands in exasperation. We were running out of answers. Finally a good family friend who is a nurse, Sister Patty, spoke with a doctor in Charleston WV that she felt the Lord led her to speak to about my case. He recommended antibiotic therapy. I was unable to travel to see him, so I asked my doctor to try the therapy, and he agreed. I immediately responded to the antibiotics and my life improved as I became functional, but I was never able to truly be well. I was thankful for the improvements and was holding on for my deliverance continually.
I knew God was with me and strengthening me, yet at times I did grow so weary. The nature of the illness will take the strength and life from you quickly. I was glad to find something God was using to control the symptoms so that I could at least go to church and attend functions with my family. My church family supported me with earnest prayers and steadfast faith. Most of the time I was confined to home.
My family was a wonderful support, and my husband and children so wonderful and understanding. I never knew how many true friends I had and how blessed I was to be a part of the family of God until I received such love and support and a network of prayer warriors who wouldn't give up. The doctor kept giving me the antibiotics because every time I stopped taking them, the symptoms would be so severe. He was greatly concerned though because of side effects and the concern of building up immunity to the antibiotics. So finally he refused to give them to me any more. So I headed to the specialist in Charleston.
It was February 2012. He was so gracious to work with me and tried everything to help me but once again, nothing helped. Finally I was so low that I could not hold up my head at the table. I knew that I was in a serious condition. When my sister took me to see the doctor on April 5, 2012, he took one look at me and sent me to the hospital. I was actually relieved when he sent me to the hospital because I was so weary.
Basically every vital mineral and vitamin in my body was depleted. Even my white blood cell count was extremely low and I was put in reverse isolation to protect me from germs since I had no means to fight off infection. I was on an IV for four days, pumping the minerals back into my body. The doctor talked very straight with me and told me if I did not have surgery to remove my colon, that by Christmas I would not be here.
I was struggling with the idea of surgery but it seemed to be the only way for me to live and raise my children. God sent saints to pray for me at the hospital that day, and from that point, I began to trust God in a way that I hadn't experienced before. I was surrounded by my family and the support and prayers of the saints, and I just surrendered myself into God's hands and basked in the love and the prayers. I lay in the hospital thinking of a friend who God had miraculously healed, and knew that His promises were true to me no matter what I had to face.
I was in His hands. The doctor sent me straight to Cleveland Clinic the following week for surgery. I was discharged from the hospital in Charleston on Easter Sunday. As we traveled home, I began to see improvements that continued thru the following day. I knew God was strengthening me and that I was being covered with the most amazing prayers of the saints. I will never forget the way God's people reached out to me thru prayer. God touched me in a mighty way.
I was sent to Cleveland Clinic the following Wednesday. I was under the care of the top colon surgeon at Cleveland Clinic. He told me that it was certainly time for the surgery, and though it was something no one wanted to go thru, I would be able to enjoy a much better quality of life than I had known in a long time. However he could not do the surgery in two parts as it is usually done, but because of my weakened condition, it would have to be done in three parts. So over the coming year, I was to have three major surgeries.
He scheduled me for surgery the following week. The worst part was being away from my family for a 7-10 day hospital stay five hours from home. I was resigned to the fact that I needed to have the surgery, but on the way home that day a white dove flew in front of our car as we traveled down the interstate. God spoke to my heart and told me that all these things must be for a purpose.
Amazingly, I began to improve. All thru the following days as surgery day approached, I felt better than I had in years and symptoms just suddenly stopped. God kept sending a dove to my window to sing, and every time I felt I couldn't go on, He sent me a dove to encourage me and let me know He was near. All God's people starting confessing the same thing, that I would receive the miracle I had held on for so long to receive, and that the surgery would never take place.
After a few days of no symptoms, I called my surgeon and he cancelled the surgery. I was so relieved all I could do was lay in the floor and cry. Even then Satan tried to take away my faith and I have fought battles since, but the war is won and now I know for sure in my heart that I truly am healed and that Satan can never take that away from me. God's promises are so real to me and I could never praise Him enough for all He has done. I am so thankful for believers, my brothers and sisters who rejoice with me. I have testified to many who will not believe that God still works miracles, but as my surgeon told me when I told him I was receiving my miracle, “Time will tell,” and I agreed with him because every day is a further manifestation in my life of what God can do.
A couple of weeks ago I fought a very hard battle. I had started spring cleaning the house and proving to Satan that I was well. One particular day I started experiencing so much pain in my side that I couldn't stand up straight. A dear minister friend had just called us the night before to encourage and pray with Dwayne and I, and he spoke to us of holding onto victory. He read in the Message where Brother Branham said once you are prayed for not to ever act like you were sick again... so I pressed on.
That afternoon the boys wanted me to play ball with them in the backyard. One of the reasons I asked the Lord to heal me was so I could be here for my boys. I didn't want to hinder their young lives with illness. I wanted to be strong and well and able to be there for them in every way. So I decided to play ball even though I was in severe pain. I would throw a ball and say, “Thank you Jesus, by your stripes I am healed” over and over, even though I was doubling over in pain. So faithfully God honored His promise and the pain left. I knew if I accepted it, Satan could make me sick again, but I refused his offer and pressed on standing on God's promises.
Words could never express the depths of suffering and the desperation I felt in these past years, but if I could encourage one person who is battling a sickness of any kind, it would be to say, “Stand on God's promises. Hold them to your heart until they are the dearest thing to your heart. Pray until God makes them real to you and don't ever give up.” God's promises are true and He is faithful, and I am so glad to be a witness of His Power and Love! I am thankful to the Lord Jesus for He is so real to me.
I would never have chosen to have gone thru this trial but I thank Him for it, for truly I know He had a purpose and I thank Him that He is a reality to me. May He receive the praise, honor and glory that He is so deserving of from this my testimony!
On the wings of a snow, white dove God sends His pure, sweet love, a sign from above, on the wings of a dove.
Sister Sharon