My Testimony - Part 4 - Angels Among Us!

My testimony is very long so I am breaking it down into several posts.

Part 1 - God Calls A Child

Part 2 - A Path Of Sin

Part 3 - Redemption - God's Amazing Grace!

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; " Psalms 23:4

Our Wedding Day November 22, 1996

Dustin and I were married when I was 19 and he was 20. We thought we had life all figured out. We bought a house and a new truck. We both had fairly good jobs, life was going good. For the first year I didn't want children at all. I knew I was too young and didn't want all the work and trouble that came along with kids. Then all of a sudden it hit me. The baby fever. Out of the blue and totally unexpected this strong desire came to me. It was so overwhelming how strong the desire became. So Dustin and I decided to start trying. I had been on birth control so had to go off it and let it wear off. Within a few months I began feeling very sick and throwing up a lot. I KNEW it had to be morning sickness!! I told everyone at work I must be pregnant because all I did was run to the bathroom. Month after month this went on and still no pregnancy.

I started having rectal bleeding and my mom became concerned and convinced me to go to the doctors. Two weeks later my test results were in. I went into the office and my doctor said, "You have Crohn's disease, have a nice day" WHAT?!?!?! She didn't tell me what it was or give me a paper or anything. I didn't know if I had a week to live or what. Thankfully I did have more then a week to live, but still the diagnosis was bad. My body made ulcers all through my intestines causing the bleeding and vomiting. I became VERY sick and soon had to quit my job.

In the mean time I had a pilonidal cyst on my tail bone. I had it removed 5 times in the doctor's office and it never went away so I finally had to go in the OR and have it surgically removed. The cyst was extremely painful and so was the Crohn's. I was on A LOT of steroids and other medications at the time. Dustin worked around the clock and didn't realize how sick I was. I was so sick and didn't realize he didn't know. At this time I could barely get out of bed. I had to roll on the floor and crawl to the bathroom, still vomiting and bloody diarrhea. I had sores all through my my mouth and throat, which felt like needles, and soon I couldn't even swallow water. The doctor's just kept telling me this is how the disease goes and it would be 10-15 years before I was sick enough for surgery. Finally I was hospitalized. I had already lost over 30 lbs and I still couldn't swallow. My stool looked like tomato soup. My steroids and morphine were increased to the point that Dustin got very worried. He knew too much morphine was a death sentence. He begged that I be sent to Boston for a second opinion. The doctor was very angry, but after a week he finally agreed to send me. I was sent by ambulance with all medications locked out and without a chart. The EMT's were told I would be dead before I reached Boston. I remember how long that trip was. I couldn't have pain medication and I was very weak and tired.

Showing off my "big" muscles at 78 lbs!

When I arrived in Boston the doctor's in the ER were amazed that I had survived the trip. But unfortunately the hospital that sent me messed up my paperwork so they couldn't treat me immediately. They couldn't get my IV to work so they tried placing a central line, an IV in the main artery in my chest. I was so dehydrated and sick the line went through the vein and punctured my lung. Now I needed an emergency chest tube to drain the fluid and pump back up my lung. The chest tube was extremely painful. It was determined that I was indeed a candidate for surgery but was too sick and would probably die on the table, so they waited a week to give me fluids and TPN (IV nutrition). I underwent MANY tests that week, all miserable! My surgery was scheduled for the following Monday, but late Thursday we were told the Friday surgery was cancelled and I was bumped up. I was going to be given an ileostomy bag. It happened so fast I didn't even have time to process it all. But I was so sick I didn't care. I now weighed only 78 lbs.

Thursday night I died. (I didn't realize it at the time though) I can't even put into words what it felt like. It was so calm. Void of feeling or thought. The true meaning of peace! I was standing on the roof of the hospital looking down at my body in the hospital bed. The room was glowing so bright I couldn't see the walls. There were 4 angels standing guard of my bed. Two at the head and two at the foot of the bed. They looked like HUGE men with blond hair and off white linen robes. They were standing shoulder to shoulder and I felt so safe. I felt a presence beside me and I realized that I was at Jesus' feet. I heard his voice say. "Sarah are you scared?" I answered, "No I see my angels and I feel peace" Then I woke up...

Recovering after 8 hours of surgery!

I didn't fully comprehend what had happened, but one thing was sure, I had seen angels and I HAD peace! God was with me and no matter what happened I knew everything was going to be OK. I told every person I came in contact with about my visit with angels. The story spread through the hospital and soon everybody knew what I had seen.

My surgery was a lot more serious then anticipated. It lasted over 8 hours and finally late that night Dustin was allowed in the recovery room. He was crying. I don't remember him ever crying. He told me that my intestines were so diseased they were rotten. They were 4 inches in diameter and bright purple and fell apart in the doctor's hands as he removed them. He said I would not have lived through the weekend and made it to the original Monday surgery. All I could think about was the vision I had of Jesus and the angels! I thanked God all weekend for his mercy and love and for showing me He was with me. He knew what I would need for the days ahead.

REFLECTIONS:
~Have you ever had to fight for your rights because the people who were supposed to be fighting for you weren't?
~Have you ever been in the "valley of the shadow of death" but felt God's peace that everything was going to be OK?
~If my surgery was not changed to Friday I would have been dead before the original surgery date. Have you ever had circumstances change that first appeared to be random, then looking back you realized there was a higher power orchestrating things?

Thank you for following along with my testimony! If you are enjoying this series please share with your friends. Please continue to Part 5 - 300 Days And Counting!

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