Heartbreaking.
Yet heartwarming.
He is still good.
20 Responses to “God is Still Good”
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February 23, 2011
[...] few days ago, I posted this video, which was produced by a guy named Adam in South Carolina. Here is another story that will inspire [...]
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Thank you so much! You have inspired me to share more about the “real” me.
I have feared for my own life, many times. I don’t want to leave my family too soon. I have asthma, and it tries to control my life! But daily, with God’s help, I don’t allow that to happen. As a singer, my voice can be unpredictable, and each performance I have, I give it up to God, and ask him to use me to minister. He has allowed my voice to continue.
When I was 30, and pregnant with my youngest son, Cory, I was hospitalized for 21 days with pneumonia, critically ill. After that, my lungs were no longer the same.
I began to develop symptoms of asthma. Each night I would awaken, gasping for breath, an inhaler under my pillow. As the next few years continued, my symptoms worsened. I began noticing that I couldn’t wear my beloved White Shoulders perfume any longer. It caused me to wheeze. I couldn’t walk down a city street because of the car fumes and smoke, etc, without covering my face with a cloth. It was life-threatening; it was embarrassing. My life had changed. I was in and out of the hospital several times, and each time I was discharged with more drugs, more fear. I could no longer go into a public place in a normal fashion. I would have to smell the area in a restaurant, needing to sit where there were no scents of perfume or strong deodorants, detergents, etc. In church, we sat away from people the best that we could. I could no longer hug my friends for fear of their scents rubbing off on my clothes. The worst part has been the asking. I must ask my sons to request that their girlfriends do not wear perfume in my house. I must ask my co-workers the same. At the Preschool where I teach, even though I’ve been there 10 years, some of the other teachers don’t understand that chemical cleaners are extremely harmful to my health, especially Lysol. I have found that Clorox Anywhere spray is wonderful, and I can “handle” it. It is also safer for children. My heart breaks time and time again, when folks talk about me behind my back. When you can’t see the symptoms of an asthmatic, you can’t understand the suffering. We suffer in silence with the limitations of our breaths, and the hurt in our hearts.
My sons were young when I became ill, and they feared for my life. It was hard. I simply asked them to pray that God would allow me to live long enough to raise them. He has.
After my daughter, Lori, was born in 97, I was at my worst. After another hospitalization, I was on strong doses of steroids; so strong that my friends didn’t recognize me. I had been a thin, attractive woman, and my swollen body changed all of that. My husband and family continued to see the old me, and I’m forever grateful! It took at least a year for the swelling to subside, but my arms had thickened and my face continues to be a little fuller.
During that illness though, I began to pray that God would heal me. I begged that He would at least keep me healthy enough that I would never have to take steroids again. My prayer was answered. That was 12 years ago, and I have never been that sick since then.
I continue to battle scents, and chemicals and smoke; my main triggers, but as long as I keep a distance, I do not suffer quite as much. Just this past year, I have felt that maybe I am beginning to heal. At the very least, I am more able to live with my illness.
My singing voice continues to be a struggle at times, but when I give my performance to God, to glorify Him, I am successful!
Thanks for listening. Sharing this part of me is very difficult…. I am a sensitive woman, and I don’t like to hurt the feelings of others.
Hi Sandi, Thanks a lot for sharing such a personal part of who you are. Even though most of us don’t know each other personally I have come to consider all of you friends (safe place for me to be) and it is a privilege to say that. Take good care, Joe
Me too, on the friends part! I’m very excited about your wedding, and I don’t even know you, haha… What time will it be, so I can be thinking of you?
Thanks a lot Dave… God is good
Thanks for sharing.
love, hugs & prayers, monica : )
Wow. Inspiring. I need to be reminded again and again and again that with God, I will survive, even if my greatest fears become reality.
Thank you soooooo much for posting this! It’s really encouraging for me to see that you can heal from tragic things like losing family. Almost 4 years ago my cousin died, and it has been super hard for me to heal from this. I was just getting to the point of where I didn’t think I could heal at all and then I watched this. I’m so thankful that God is still God and that He cares
Other than the vehicle not being cancer, I lived the same as this wonderful woman. Three kids, a girl and then two boys. She has put it in such amazing visual wording. “We were now a family of 4.” And, yes God gets All The Glory. It’s been almost 26 years for us. And, how close we’ve come to God because of Bobby. Praise God Forever and Forever…..
Did your husband pass away – Bobby?
Yes, Bobby died on blue sky, sunny June 8, 1985, from a farming accident across the road from our house. He was a wonderful man, best dad and greatest husband. And, we found Jesus……
Wow, I’m sorry!
I think God gets the greatest glory when his children respond so beautifully to tragic circumstances.
Betty- how old were your children when Bobby passed away?
Carrie was 12, Michael was 8 and Jim was 5, had not started kindergarten yet. While many people were saddened that I had such young children to finish raising, they were the blessing for it all. We moved as a cloud for many years. And, they are such blessings now with their own families and staying fully connected with me, as well. God indeed gets all the Glory!
I just got to see the video. Couldn’t make it work at home. It is beautiful, yes, heartbreaking and heartwarming.
Thank you for posting this video. It is amazing how God works in our lives through other people. Every year once January 28 comes around, I start replaying my time in Guatemala on a continuous loop in my mind. I remember celebrating my daughter’s 11 month birthday because I wasn’t sure I would still be in country when she turned one on February 28. But God, being so good, set things in motion so that I remained in country not only through Mariela’s birthday but Juan Carlos’ in April as well. Mariela’s birthmom had a hard time getting to Guatemala City for DNA. This delayed the process and infuriated me. And again, God was good. And we were able to meet Mariela’s birthmom when DNA was done on March 28. Then, on April 7, my dad flew to Guatemala for Easter and Juan Carlos’ birthday. We, dad and I, flew home on April 12. Not only did I have to return to work but I was four and a half months pregnant and really needed to see my doctors in NJ. So, I left my husband and babies in Guatemala. My dad promised he and my mom would keep me busy while I waited for everyone to get home. Daddy passed away in his sleep on April 18. And me, the perpetual Daddy’s girl, found herself trying to figure out how to keep my mom and my sister emotionally together without unraveling myself. And God was still good.
As we grieved my dad, spring turned to summer. Mom and I returned to Guatemala for a visit trip and our Embassy appointment for Juan Carlos. And God gave me the strength to leave my husband and babies in Guatemala again (yes, after JC’s process was complete, he remained in Guatemala with my husband and Mariela because the babies had become in separable and taking them from each other was something we desperately wanted to avoid). Unfortunately, God had other plans, as He often does. My husband and son came home in in late July. My Gracie was born on what would have been my parent’s 40th wedding anniversary. And Mariela finally came home in October.
None of these things were supposed to happen the way that they did. From finding out Gracie was on her way three days after we arrived in Guatemala to foster to placing Mariela back in foster care so that my husband wouldn’t miss Gracie’s arrival, God’s plans were so different from my own. But He showed Himself at every twist and turn. I needed to see this video to be reminded that all these things happened for a reason and four years later, God is still good and working in our lives.
I loved your story! Thank you for sharing! It inspires me to read how God is working in the lives of others. You must have a busy household now, and I’m sure you wouldn’t trade it for anything!
A young woman we know has spent several summers in an orphanage in Guatemala. I must find out what the name is.
I should have made mention of my 16 month old in my post. He was another example of how God has plans for us that we do not plan for ourself. Michael was our super surprise baby…and what a pleasant surprise he was.
Here is the name of the orphanage where our friend, Anya Thetford, has worked for several summers:
http://www.hogarafaelayau.org