Do you believe in miracles? Miracles still happen today, and I am a walking testimony.
About a year before I went into the hospital, I received a scripture from a friend at church.
Mark 5:19 (ESV), “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
When I received that scripture, I thought, “Yes, the Lord has done so much for me. He has been incredibly faithful to me my entire life, but Lord, what exactly do you want me to share?”
I have shared some about my lengthy hospital stay and how the Lord sustained me and held me during that time. While I was in the hospital, my kidneys began to fail, and I was placed on continuous dialysis. As I began to recover, I had dialysis three times a week in the hospital.
When you are on dialysis for three months, the diagnosis automatically changes from acute kidney disease to end-stage renal failure. I reached this marker about four months into my eight-month stay in the hospital. Once you pass that marker, there is little hope of your kidneys recovering.
But God!
When I left the hospital, the doctors were telling me that my kidneys were showing some signs of recovery. However, when I returned home and began dialysis at my local clinic, the doctor was focused on getting the rest of my body stabilized with the goal of not having to return to the hospital.
My husband asked the doctor about the possibility of my kidneys recovering. The doctor said that since I had been on dialysis for six months at that time, the likelihood of them recovering was not great. He said that he had only seen one other person recover.
My husband’s response, “So you’re saying there’s a chance.”
Throughout the next year, the hardest part of my recovery was dialysis. Accepting it into my daily life was extremely challenging. It was not only time-consuming (the average person is at dialysis for three and a half hours three days a week), but it took a toll on me physically as well as emotionally.
But God!
One day, as I was sitting in my dialysis chair, my nurse came by and said, “I’ve been looking at your blood work. We need to run some tests. I think your kidneys have recovered.”
I sat in my chair with my jaw dropped and tears in my eyes. I said, “Really?” She said, “Yes, I don’t think you will need dialysis.”
As you can imagine, so many emotions were coursing through me. Wonder, amazement, excitement. I mean, this is what I had been praying for, but I was also taking active steps to get on a kidney transplant list. I had faith that God would heal me, but what did that healing look like?
God has been incredibly faithful to me through this whole journey. He saved my life and has held me every step of the way. I knew He wasn’t going to let me down now. I just wanted to act in obedience in accordance to His plan.
It took about a week and a half to do all the tests and get the results back. One day I walked into the clinic, my nurse said, “Oh, we need to look at your results.” The doctor happened to be in the clinic that day.
She printed the results and smiled at me. She laughed and said, “It’s good.”
She went over to the doctor, and they looked at my results as they walked to my chair. The look of astonishment on the doctor’s face is not one I will soon forget.
He said, “Your kidneys are recovered! You don’t need dialysis!”
I told him I had been praying so much for this. He said, “Well, that was going to be my next question. Who is praying for you? Because I might need to come to you!”
I told him a whole bunch of people had been praying for me!
They stopped my treatment, and I got to walk out of the dialysis clinic that day with no more dialysis! I felt like a bird let out of a cage.
I am truly amazed at the faithfulness of God. I have gone through an unimaginable valley of the shadow of death, but God has kept me, sustained me, rescued me, and sheltered me. I am incredibly grateful.
I also feel blessed that I have been able to share my testimony with so many people. The caregivers at the dialysis clinic where I have been for over a year, and the fellow patients I have developed relationships with, and my home health nurses to name a few.
Sharing this testimony increases my faith every time I share it, and I have so loved watching this testimony increase other people’s faith as well. It’s not about me. It’s about the faithfulness of God.
Stand on His promise in Psalm 34:8 (ESV), “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”