Courage In The Unknown

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

The Lord commands us to be strong and courageous. Just how strong is He expecting us to be? When your world falls apart in a matter of hours, how can you be prepared to react with strength and courage?

This is exactly what my friend, Patsie, had to find out when her 48-year-old daughter, Chris, was put in ICU with Covid-19. She had to forget her motherly instinct of feeling she would always be able to take care of Chris’ every need when she had to helplessly leave her in the care of nurses and doctors. There is no way to prepare yourself for that loss of control. It takes a lot of strength and courage to give up the control of caring for a loved one, but when that time comes, your strength comes from wanting what is best for them.

The fear immediately took over the family. They asked themselves, “Will we ever see her again?” As Chris was being put in the car to go to the emergency room, her 14-year-old daughter said, “Mommy, please come home.” The unknown was almost unbearable.

Chris was in the hospital for seven days before her doctors decided to place her on a ventilator which required her to be put into a medically induced coma. Chris was able to FaceTime with Patsie before she was put on the ventilator, and she saw the fear and uncertainty in her daughter’s face as she looked at her quivering chin. All a mother wants to do at that point is drive to the hospital as fast as she can, wrap her arms around her child, and tell her everything is going to be alright. But Patsie couldn’t do that. She had to trust that God was wrapping His arms around her daughter that day.

While Chris was on the ventilator, the family got grim news from the doctor. Patsie was told that her precious, only daughter, would probably not make it due to the development of an autoimmune blood disorder that was triggered by Covid. Patsie fell to her knees in full surrender to the Lord. She came to the realization that God was with Chris and that was all that was important. God may take her baby girl home and she had to be okay with that. Somehow God will get their family through the despair of losing Chris. Through her full surrender to God, Patsie was blessed with strength to accept God’s ways, trust that He was fully in control, and faith that He would give them courage to face whatever comes their way.

Patsie then began picturing her daughter lying in that hospital bed with Jesus standing at the foot of it. Chris was not alone, her Father was comforting and caring for her. With this truth resting in Patsie’s mind and heart, she was able to never give up hope that God was in control of every detail of the situation.

After 45 days on the ventilator and 82 days total of many bad and some good days, Chris was well enough to go home. It was a true miracle! The doctors could not believe Chris was alive. She is a true testament that God still performs miracles every day. He is working every day, all around us.

Systematic Theology define miracles as this, “A miracle is a less common kind of God’s activity in which he arouses people’s awe and wonder and bears witness to himself.” Miracles are done so that God’s name may be glorified, and others may believe in His power and goodness.

God performs miracles but that does not mean that all suffering is wiped away. There is still reality that we live in a fallen world at the end of the day. The struggles that Chris, her husband, her daughter, and Patsie still face every day are a constant reminder of the near-death experience they all witnessed. They are constantly searching for the right doctors for Chris’ ongoing respiratory issues, PTSD, memory, ringing in the ears, vision, and fear of what may come. She is still working with a speech pathologist and doing physical therapy at home to help relearn things and build up strength lost due to her paralyzed state while in a coma.

The aftereffects of Covid are real for them, but they cannot forget the many miracles God gave them through this horrible nightmare.

Patsie and her family were blessed with countless family members, church family, and friends that provided meals, cards, birthday parades, Christmas gifts, and comforting blankets that are still used today. They cannot forget the amount of people that prayed for them through social media. Posts asking for prayer were shared over 600 times, over 27 states and 5 countries.

The best thing that happened through this experience was the fact that faith was strengthened through them sharing their story. One of Chris’ nurses said that her faith was wavering when Chris was put in the hospital. After seeing the miracle that God performed in Chris’ life, her faith was strengthened and her relationship with Christ grew stronger. Chris herself is a scientist by education and it has always been her nature to have many questions, like many people do. Now she is confident that God healed her and any doubts she may have had about God’s mighty power have disappeared. The same way in Acts 9:35 when word was spread through Lydda and Sharron that the paralytic was healed or in Acts 9:42 when it became known all through Joppa that Tabitha was raised from the dead, our miracles today are told around the world and our faith in strengthened because of them.

That is how God works, my friends. The very things we wish God would take away are the things we end up being most thankful for. Our God is mysterious yet so close to us. His ways are beyond anything we can imagine. But you cannot read this family’s story and not believe in His miraculous ways.

There is nothing that can stand in the way of God’s sovereign plan. Not sickness, fear, finances, broken families, broken hearts, disappointments, or bad choices. God is in control yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Believe in His miracles!

Digging Deeper:

Scriptures that got Patsie through the hard days- Philippians 4:6-7 and Joshua 1:9

Encouraging Songs-

How do you need God’s strength and courage in your life?

Where have you seen God’s miracles in your life?

How can you encourage others that God still performs miracles today?