“I love the Lord for hearing me, for listening to my prayers.
Yes, he paid attention to me, so I will always call to him whenever I need help.”
~ Psalm 116:1-2
MIRACLE FOR CHIP ❤
By Alison Davis Wiber
A
little over a month ago my husband started developing symptoms that
suggested his heart problems were resurfacing. He was becoming
increasingly short of breath and dizzy and having chest pains.
At
first we thought it could be his lungs because his last visit to the
Cardiologist had shown his heart function was stable, if not improved a
bit.
So we made an appointment with the pulmonary doctor but they
didn't find anything in his lungs that could be contributing to his
symptoms. They changed his asthma medicines to see if that would help
but there was little improvement. His symptoms not only didn't improve,
they grew steadily worse.
Chip was born into a family history of
heart problems. His mom, dad and aunt all died of heart attacks. He has
survived two heart attacks, two open heart surgeries that included a
seven-way bypass and a two-way bypass. He has been near death many
times.
Chip died on the table once and was brought back by an angel of the Lord--it wasn't his time.
During
Chip's last close encounter with death, God assured him on two separate
but amazing occasions that he would be healed and given fifteen more
years of life just like God healed King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:6. And
just as God promised, Chip came through the dark valley of the shadow of
death alive! My husband never wavered in his faith in God to keep His
“Hezekiah promise”- at least, not until these new frightening symptoms
appeared.
Around the same time that Chip's serious heart
symptoms began to resurface, my sister Suzy encouraged me to join
Twitter. She said that she had amazing Christian followers who were very
strong in their faith and encouraging; she was sure that not only would
I be inspired by them, but I could bless God by encouraging others as
well!
The idea that I could be encouraged as well as be a blessing to others and to God by encouraging others really appealed to me!
So I joined Twitter and my sister had her friends friend me.
Immediately
I was blessed by their love, faith, and joy, and by their wisdom from
God! My faith was really being uplifted by their encouraging blogs,
inspiring tweets, and prayers that were just amazing. Their messages of
hope extended to all and from all over the world: people who love,
praise and seek God; people who pray for people they don't even know!
People were praying for the Church, the country and everything else!
Interacting
with the new friends I met on Twitter was really helping me because I'd
become so downcast by my ever constant personal and spiritual
struggles.
My Lord Jesus, had somehow become overshadowed by these
struggles and it didn't help that most of the Church sermons, bible
studies and facebook posts I was being exposed to seemed to be
constantly focused around doctrine, false teachers, the ills of this
world, and sin.
All of these are very important subjects but I
needed Jesus! I needed to see His power still at work in the midst of
these weighty issues. I needed my Savior-- my Hope and my Strength!
Jesus knew my need! Ever faithful, He provided it ~through
Twitter, of all things! --Only God! ❤️
My
sister's posts and blogs were always exactly what I know God wanted me
to hear and see! I would get daily scripture tweets from Rev. Ray
Collins and ALWAYS the scripture he would send was somehow a word
straight from God. I would study it and God was speaking! I was being
brought out of my slumber so to speak...or at least out of the valley.
While
God was encouraging and lifting me through my newfound twitter friends,
Chip was getting worse. Everyone was worried about him.
Our little
home study group that meets at our house every Friday all rallied around
to help and pray. They were a tremendous blessing.
God had just
formed this little group spontaneously about 3 months earlier. We were
never so cohesive though as when Chip started going downhill. His
illness really brought us together and established us as family.
It
became more difficult for Chip to do even simple things. Workouts that
only weeks earlier he could accomplish without incident were becoming
impossible. On several occasions he had to stop because he couldn't
catch his breath. One time he was certain he was having a heart attack
because the chest pains, shortness of breath and dizziness were
unbearable. Soon he stopped working out altogether.
I was having to
help more and more because he could no longer do even simple things like
filling the gas cans for the riding lawn mower. He just couldn't lift
the full cans and carry them from the truck to the garage or even take
the trash out. It was heartbreaking.
Finally he called his cardiologist and made an appointment. I was so relieved!
At
the initial appointment, the Doctor said his symptoms all pointed to
heart failure. They took some blood and a chest X-ray. Then they put him
on a med to slow his heart beat down and nitro 3 times daily. He had
been dreading that. We were to return in a week. It was a very long week
and the second visit could not come fast enough. None of the meds were
helping.
Chip had gotten so bad by this point he would spend
half the day in bed. I couldn't for the life of me understand. While
praying God had spoken clearly to me that this trial was for Chip's
"edification." There were times I was really strong with that knowledge,
but then I would see him struggle just to get down the hall and it
would break my heart and I'd worry.
Like Peter the apostle, who, as
long as he kept his eyes on Jesus he could walk on water by faith, but
when he looked around at the wind and waves his faith grew weak and he’d
sink. My faith grew weak as long as I kept looking at Chip's symptoms.
But
then I would remember God's Hezekiah promise to my husband and the word
of God which says: "It is impossible for God to lie..." (Hebrews 6:18)
Both
Chip and I know that God doesn't break His promises, yet he kept
wondering if maybe God took some time off for bad behavior! ...or he
would say God didn't say he would be completely healthy all those years,
he didn't promise that he wouldn't decline!
For the most
part, Chip handled it well but was trying to come to terms with the
whole thing, especially that he might have to live this way and was
trying to wrap his brain around it.
Somehow, I was mostly confident and
had a sense of peace. Especially because of the tweets! They were always
right on time with encouraging words and scriptures that I just knew
God put before me to help see me through this trial.
Chip’s
second visit to the doctor didn't go so well. He ruled out heart
failure, Chip had none of the signs...which was excellent news but his
medical team now feared the worst: a blockage. If Chip did indeed have a
blockage his options were few! Because of the two previous bypasses a
third bypass would be extremely risky....he would have less than 50
percent chance of survival & because his arteries are so narrow it
may not be possible to clear it at all. His only other option at that
point would be a heart transplant.
After warning him of the worst they
sent him home telling him to basically do nothing. This was Thursday, a
heart catheter was scheduled for the following Tuesday. This would be
Chip's 23rd heart catheter.
During the time between the
appointment and the procedure my sister asked all the twitter prayer
warriors she knew to pray for Chip. Our little group prayed over him.
They got their churches to pray, and Suzy got her mother in law and her
own church to pray. She even called the 700 club!!!! Chip's kids and
their churches were praying! Mom was praying.
God really mobilized
an incredible prayer effort! As tweets would come in I would read them
to Chip and they would bless him so much. People he didn't know praying
for him really humbled him. All that my sister did in his behalf really
humbled him!
People were praying for me too and I could feel it.
Not only that, God was speaking and giving me peace~ so much so that the
night before the heart catheter procedure, I confessed to Chip that I
didn't think they were going to find a blockage!
I couldn't tell him
how I knew or why I thought that but I was almost certain. He of course
was incredulous and rightly so because not having a blockage was little
consolation! What was causing all his heart symptoms then, and how
could he get better with a mystery sickness? He thought I was in
complete denial!
We got to the hospital early but they took him
right in. Then began a long wait. An emergency was flown in so they had
to do that first, Chip would be 2nd after that. They didn't come get him
until sometime after was 1:00 pm. It was a long nerve wracking half a
day! I was so apprehensive. I just didn't know what was going to happen
if they said no blockage. And I didn't know what would happen if they
said there was one.
But all of the Twitter Prayer Warriors kept
sending their prayer tweets and I kept reading them to Chip and this
really helped! My friend Natalie called and prayed on the speaker phone
so he could hear.
Finally the hospital staff came and got Chip. I
texted everyone to pray. The procedure took about an hour. When at last
they wheeled him out...he was awake but half conscious....he said they
didn't find anything!
His heart was even a little BETTER than the last heart cath as far as heart function!! God had performed A MIRACLE!
His arteries remain very narrow but there was nothing they could do about that! His symptoms were NOT from a blockage!!
Chip
looked bewildered if not frightened. I felt so relieved! I knew it! The
Holy Spirit had assured me there would be no blockage and that Chip was
going to be okay.
Chip slept the meds off and I read all the
tweets. This one Rev. Pat sent out-- I can't even tell you how many
tweets requesting for Chip not to have a blockage! I lost count at 80
but there were so many, many more!
And each of those tweets had the
maximum amount of people in them so it had to be up in the thousands. I
was blown away by that man's faithfulness to do that. It really, really
blessed me.
The next day, Chip woke up and- ---bam---miraculously, Chips symptoms were better!
By
mid-day he was no longer dizzy! The shortness of breath was easing
dramatically and there was no chest pain. He tried to do a little to
test it and sure enough it proved true. He just couldn't believe it!
I
showed him how many people God had praying; I scrolled through every
prayer! He was floored!! He now had to admit a few things.
First
of all he may have very well just been the recipient of yet another
miracle but this time without medical assistance. He had to admit that
God did not lift his symptoms until all medical avenues were exhausted
leaving no room for doubt. He also had to admit that his faith wavered
-and because of it he was really humbled by it all.
And was he ever grateful to God and feeling so blessed by His healing, and by Suzy, and by everyone who prayed.
Two
days after the heart cath, in the afternoon, I almost cried as Chip
left to go workout!! Two days earlier he couldn't walk 20 feet and now
he was healed and restored! Bless and Praise God! I will thank the Lord
forever for hearing and answering our prayers!
Lord, thank You that You are a God who knows our every need, You hear every prayer, every sigh, and You keep every promise. We thank You for Your love and mercy. In Jesus name. Amen.
Guest
Blogger Alison Davis Wiber is one of Suzanne Davis Harden's four
amazing sisters. Alison is a Bible College graduate who loves to study
God's word. She lives with her husband Chip and white lab, RG 3, who she
says, is "a handful." :)
