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Written by Dawn Pratt
Our spiritual life intertwines with the worldly part of our existence every minute of every day. We are tested through trials great and small. But how we deal with those trials and what we learn and take away from them will determine whether we are moving forward in our spiritual lives or backward. Here’s what I learned in a severe trial.
On Aug. 2 of this year my life was turned upside down. I woke with a start at 5 a.m. to the bed shaking violently. When my eyes began to focus, I realized it was my husband who was causing the bed to move. I jumped out of bed and turned on the light.
What I saw was indescribable to anyone who has never actually witnessed it. He was in a full-blown grand mal seizure. I could not wake him, and he was unresponsive. I ran to the other room, grabbed my cell phone and quickly called 911 with very shaky hands. I kept saying out loud, “Father, please don’t take him from me!”
Praying and putting my faith in God, I moved forward in my spiritual walk.
Emotions take over
I was talking to the 911 operator for what seemed like an eternity, when my husband’s body finally calmed down. I panicked even more as he began to gurgle and his body went limp.
I realized I was letting my mind get carried away and was stepping backwards again.
I managed to get him on his side, and then the 911 operator told me the ambulance would be there soon. I left the room to get dressed so I could follow him to the hospital, and when I came back, he was sitting on the edge of the bed just staring into space.
I tried to get him to lie down, and the moments that followed just tore at my heart. He didn’t know who I was, where he was or what was going on. He screamed and fell on the floor and crawled around until the ambulance arrived, and they were able to calm him with some Valium. I continued to shake all over, but not once did I stop praying for God to intervene on his behalf.
I knew that my faith would carry me forward and through this trial.
Once he was in the ambulance and I was in the car waiting to follow, numbness settled in and I dialed my pastor. I was able to tell him everything that was going on and where the ambulance was taking him. I was fine until he spoke in his calm and loving voice, “We will meet you there, Sis.”
Then I lost it for just a few moments and fell apart. I sobbed into the phone, “I don’t know what I will do without him!”
And again my pastor’s voice came on the line, telling me to calm down and pray to God for help and strength before I ever started the car. So I prayed to God for strength. I prayed for peace, and I again prayed, “Please, Father, don’t take him away from me.”
Taking that step and moving forward again spiritually made such a difference for me.
In a few minutes I stopped crying and my body stopped shaking. I was not only able to follow the ambulance to the hospital, but I had no desire to speed to keep up with it. I knew God was with him, and there was nothing I could do that would be any better than what God was already doing for him. After some time he was admitted to the hospital.
The answer
My husband had never had a seizure before, so the doctors were not only worried but very perplexed as they continued to run test after test that came back fine. There was no stroke, no blood clots anywhere, no abnormal indications in the brain, no heart issues, no blood issues, nothing in the urine and on and on it went.
Two and half days of solid testing, and we were not any closer to figuring out a cause than we were when we got there.
My human side began to take over again, and I began to step backwards again. I wanted answers.
I prayed and I prayed (moving forward again) until I realized that all the negative tests results were my answer. I prayed God would “not take him from me,” and He did not. That is what I asked for, and He gave it to me! The only thing He required from me in return was my faith! I smiled to myself and sent up a big “Thank you, Dad!”
As I took my husband home, I knew things would never be quite the same as they were before that awful morning, but I also knew that whatever was in our future, God was there with us and would see us through, no matter what the trial might be.
So day by day, two steps forward and one step back, I continue in my spiritual journey growing closer to God.
Your journey
I pray your steps are always firmly planted in the forward direction, but if you happen to step back, God will be there with you to set you back in the right direction—forward to His Kingdom!
“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7, New Living Translation).
Dawn and her husband are members of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.
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