Welcome to the God's Goodness podcast, where our mission is to encourage as well as highlight
God's Goodness and modern-day miracles.
We are your hosts, Josh and Shelley Hankins.
Today we have with us a special guest, and we're doing things a little differently today,
so bear with us.
My husband came down with an illness, but he's not the stereotypical man who you'll
crawl up in bed.
He will just still get it done.
So we have our first remote guest with us, Patrice Reardon, and she's going to open
us up with a little prayer.
But first, I ask for a little grace, just in case the dogs bark for some crazy reason,
or because they'll bark at any reason.
And my son might forget we're recording, so just bear with us and we'll just get through
it and we'll just let the Holy Spirit guide us.
And we just pray for a hedge of protection over all our technology and our peace and
our conversation.
And we just pray that this conversation reaches the hearts and minds of the people it was
meant for.
And we lift this up in Jesus' name.
And now we'll have Patrice about prayers into our episode officially.
So thanks for doing this.
Heavenly Father, oh, you're so welcome.
Thank you for having me.
Heavenly Father, we just come before you, and we thank you for this beautiful day, Lord
God.
Thank you for all the blessings that you've done in my life, Lord Jesus.
I just want to honor you and praise you with all that has happened to me, and to share
my story with everyone, Father, because you're a good, good Father.
And I thank you and I praise you.
And I lift this whole time up to you in Jesus' holy name, we pray.
Amen.
Well, I'm celebrating 10 years since my brain aneurysms.
So it's a pretty awesome thing to celebrate 10 years of being alive on this earth to share
Christ with everyone I meet.
10 years ago, it was Valentine's Day.
I was at work and I wasn't feeling well.
And I went home and my husband at the time had a beautiful meal cooked for me, and we
had Valentine's Day and he had flowers.
It was beautiful.
And then I went to bed and I woke up in the middle of the night screaming because I had
a brain aneurysm.
He jumped out of bed and he said, what's wrong?
What do I do?
And I said, get me to the hospital.
I'm having a stroke.
And so he threw me in the truck and awfully went to the hospital.
And the whole way I kept praying, God, please be with me.
I could sense, I knew it was going to be bad, but I didn't know how bad.
And then we got to the hospital and they did a quick brain scan and they said, you're
bleeding on the brain.
We're going to call Life Flight to come get you.
And so we waited for a little while and Life Flight called back and said, we can't get
you.
It's snowing so bad, you're going to have to wait for an ambulance.
So I was in so much pain and I'm praying and I'm like, Lord, please help me.
And everybody in that hospital heard me praying because I was in so much pain.
I was just crying out to the Lord in that time.
And my family was just, they didn't know what to do.
They were scared.
They were distraught.
And so the ambulance came and got me and awfully went to the trauma unit because they needed
a higher trauma unit for what they were going to have to do.
So off I go and I go to the hospital and they opened the doors and the snow is falling so
beautiful.
It was the most beautiful sight.
And that was the last I had consciousness.
I fell out of consciousness and they wheeled me into the hospital and they had to medicate
me.
And so they were waiting till the medication was, and then they said, okay, we're going
to be taking you into brain surgery.
And I said, Father, please shepherd me through this surgery.
I know you've already stood where I'm going.
I need your help, Lord.
I don't know what's going to happen, but let thy will be done.
And I trust you, Lord, with everything I give it all to you.
And so they wheeled me into the operating room and they already sedated me and everything.
And I was in there and I knew the Lord got me.
I just said, Lord, you have me.
I'm yours.
I'm your child.
I trust you.
So off they started to do the surgery.
They told my family it would take about four hours.
Well midway through about five to six hours, they came out and they said, I'm sorry, we
ran into a complication.
Your wife has had another massive aneurysm causes another hemorrhagic stroke.
And they said, for us to do surgery on the other side of the brain, we have to cut the
blood supply from the other side to work on the other side of the brain.
And when that happens, a lot of times your heart stops and my heart stopped twice in
surgery.
And when that happened, I was above my body and I was looking down and I could see all
the surgeons around me and I wasn't afraid.
I just was looking around and then I glanced to my right and there was this most incredible
angel standing right beside my body and he was just breathtaking.
And I looked at him and he said, don't be afraid.
And so when he said that it was like a wave of peace just rushed over me and I was like
in this beautiful piece and then I looked around and I looked at my body, then I looked
back at him and he said, do not be afraid.
And as he was standing in front of him, he had a huge sword.
Within me, I was not afraid.
And then I looked down again at the surgeon and then the angel spoke again and he said,
he is helping you.
And then after he spoke that, I went back into my body and the surgery went on for 17
and a half hours.
And so they wheel me into intensive care.
When that happened, when the second aneurysm gave way, they were just about to put my skull
back on and then they noticed there was blood and the team, somebody in the team screamed
and said, listen, she's bleeding.
She's bleeding.
And so they jumped into gear again and they had to trace where the other aneurysm was.
So they had just clipped the first aneurysm and they were going to put the skull back
on and then they saw the blood.
They told me that if they wouldn't have seen the blood, I would have passed the next hour
because the aneurysm had given way.
And so they traced it and then they finally, they had to go through my eye, they compressed
my one eye to go through to my temple to clip the one that was in my temple that gave way.
So finally I'm in intensive care and I'm in a coma now.
I had fallen into a coma.
It was four days in a coma.
Going close to the fifth day, the surgeons all came in and the only one that was in the
room was my daughter.
She was writing a letter to me and she kept saying, mom, please wake up, please wake up,
mom, please.
And the surgeons came in and they said, please call your family and tell them that she's
going to pass by morning because we want them to get a chance to say goodbye to me because
I was no longer breathing on my own.
I only, the only thing that was breathing for me was the ventilator.
And they said, they've seen this so much.
They said she's so weak.
She's been through so much.
Her body has been through racks of, you know, processes of us doing things.
They said that we've seen this happen.
A lot of times they just succumb to the weakness and they pass on.
And so my daughter, who studied nursing at the time, she understood all the medical terms
of what they were saying.
But you know, she said, you're still my mom.
And when they left, she was like hysterically crying and she looked up and there was a Christian
brother standing in the doorway and he came in and she just fell apart and just told him
what happened.
And he said, don't worry, we're going to pray for her.
We're going to lay hands on her right now.
And he grabbed my daughter and they both prayed and they laid hands on me.
And I had my family all over there.
I have family in Georgia that were praying.
And my oldest brother, Artie, is a born again Christian.
And he said, he called my parents and he said, you know, the Lord said she's going to get
through this.
He said, it's going to be rough, but she's going to get through this.
I just feel the Lord's going to pull her through.
And so he had great faith and he kept trusting in the Lord that he was going to bring me
through.
And so the next morning came the fifth day I'm in a coma.
The morning came and I woke up.
The Lord answered our prayers and I woke up and I could hear people crying.
See when I woke up, I was blind.
I couldn't see anyone.
I'm still on a ventilator.
So I can't speak.
I heard my daughter say, Mom, can you see me?
And I just shook my head.
All I saw was a little sliver of light.
It was the most beautiful light.
And I knew when I saw that I was going to see again because I knew the Lord was there with
me.
I just said, thank you, Jesus, in my heart.
When I saw that light and she said, can you see me?
I said, yes, I can see you because I knew I was going to see her.
I knew I was.
And on the third day, my sight came back.
So I could see everybody.
There were people were crying.
There were nurses and doctors.
They were overwhelmed.
They said they had never seen anybody recover the way I recovered.
And so I was on a ventilator for many weeks so I couldn't communicate with anyone.
But as soon as that ventilator came out, my room was full of doctors.
They said they had to see the miracle girl.
They had to see what God did because it was a miracle.
They said, you survived.
Not one aneurysm, but two brain aneurysms.
And they just said they had never seen it happen like that.
They had such an experienced team working on me.
And I know God, I stayed in the intensive care for 28 days.
And a lot of that, I had a ventilator, but when they did take the ventilator out, they
came in and they asked me questions.
And because of the strokes, there's a lot that happens to your brain and a stroke as
well.
And I had two.
And so I was there in the hospital.
And when you have brain trauma, a lot of times they tie you down because they don't want
you to pull at your tubes.
And I was doing that.
They said I was a very bad patient.
I was pulling at tubes and I was feisty as all get out.
They said, so they had to tie my arms down.
So I was tied down for most of the time I was in intensive care.
But when I finally got set free from all that, I was pretty excited.
But when I used to pray, my hands would go up real high.
And when you're in intensive care, you're on a camera.
They watch you 24 seven.
And so when that would happen, they would rush in because they didn't know if something
was happening, if I was having a stroke or something was happening.
And so I said, no, I'm just praying.
I'm just praying.
And then they said, oh, okay.
Because every time that would happen, it would come back.
I said, I'm just thanking God.
I said, I'm so grateful to him because I'm here.
I'm alive and I'm here and he's got me.
God's got me.
So they sent me to a rehab facility for two weeks and then they sent me home.
And I tell people all the time, I woke up to a world I didn't understand and the world
didn't understand me.
So it took five years to recover from the brain trauma plus the physical trauma.
And so now I'm 10 years out and I'm so grateful for what God has done.
And I share my story wherever I go because I'm alive to share the story of what God
has done for me.
Well, that's an incredible story.
Yes.
And I'm just so grateful.
My heart is full of gratitude and God gave me eyes to see through his eyes.
Like I see people in a different way.
I see his love all over them.
It's so beautiful.
And when I just love people, I'm a little quirky, but I'm just me, you know, I just
love people because he loves them and I love them too.
I wouldn't consider that quirky.
I would consider that you have literally had an encounter with the living God that radically
altered your life by changing your death.
Yes.
And you see things through a different lens now.
Yes.
And I wouldn't consider that quirky.
I would consider that a gift.
You explained how beautiful the snow was before you lost consciousness being wheeled
into the hospital.
What a serene and beautiful.
Like I can't get that out of my mind.
How peaceful that must have felt.
Not even something was seriously wrong, but being able to enjoy the scenery as you're
being wheeled into someplace that you know not anything is going to happen.
You don't know one minute from the next what you're going to go through.
Yes.
And to have that calm and serenity of seeing snowfall, that is just breathtaking to me.
I'd never seen such beauty.
It was so beautiful, guys.
It was so beautiful.
And then how cool is it that a couple of days after your 10 year anniversary, you get to
talk about it on a podcast that's in 19 countries so far.
I'm so blessed.
And then we have snow the night before.
So it's covered the day that you tell about this story.
Yes.
So cool.
He is so good.
And I'm so grateful.
My heart is so full.
I just share how much he loves you, how much he loves all of us so much.
His love is so great.
I always tell people, you don't realize how much he loves you.
I always tell people, he just doesn't like you or care about you.
He loves you with an everlasting love.
It's a love that is beyond words.
He's so precious to him and he cares so much for you.
I'm in such awe of our God.
Our God is so awesome.
I think another evidence of how much he loves you was illustrated that you said the angel
had a sword.
Yes.
He was breathtaking.
So he's not obviously fighting off anybody in the hospital room.
Right?
He's not planning on defending you against the doctors who are saving you, but he is
defending you against something.
Yes.
Otherwise he wouldn't have a sword.
And you didn't see anything else in that room.
So he's doing a good job of whatever his job was, other than keeping you calm and full
of peace.
So he wasn't just with you, but he sent you a bodyguard.
So the enemy couldn't interfere in the actions of the doctors.
He sent you a warrior to stand on your behalf, but you couldn't stand for yourself.
And he loved you so much that he handpicked a messenger to stand over you, to keep watch
over you.
I've been to the military and it's a pretty rewarding job to pull guard duty on someone
completely helpless knowing that you're that you actually are making a huge difference
for somebody.
Oh, wow.
God is so good.
And you know what?
He was so beautiful.
I kept staring at him.
I thought I've never seen anybody so beautiful as him.
And he was a warrior, like you said, a warrior standing there.
And then with that sword, I was just like, wow, Lord, you're awesome.
Thank you, Father.
He's so wonderful.
To me, it's surprising that you had an anus among one side and then the other side of
your head.
Yes, that seems like it's not a natural occurrence to have one rupture and then while they're
fixing one, the other side pops.
Yes, it feels very much like you were being attacked in the physical by something not
seeable.
Right.
Which would have another reason why that that angel was there to make sure nothing else
popped.
Exactly.
And they said they had never seen that ever happened in surgery.
They said they such an experienced pain.
They said this was just beyond what they had seen before.
And I knew the enemy, but the enemy tried to steal, kill and destroy.
God said no.
Our God said no.
And he said that angel to stand guard over me.
And as they were searching out the second aneurysm, and when I turned to him, the angel said,
he is helping you, meaning the surgeon.
And I looked down, this whole team was working on me and also see they had to revive me because
my heart stopped twice.
And every time that they tried to go forward, my heart would stop.
There was all these things happening and they were just fighting and fighting to help me,
you know, to save me as best they could.
Yeah, I'm also an EMT.
So I'm very familiar with a lot of the terms that you're putting out there as well.
And I have taken people in snowstorms from a hospital to another because the flight team
was grounded.
Yeah.
But oftentimes if they're that critical, we go and pick up the flight crew and drive
them because they're nurses and higher level medical care than we provide on an ambulance.
So we're basically the ride.
And I've taken many a person from one hospital to another where they can get better care.
Yes.
I've also not left some hospitals because the people were so critical that they actually
passed before we could put them on our stretcher.
So by the time they call a flight team, that's how bad you are.
Yeah, they said right away, they said, we called life flight immediately.
And then like, like call back and said, we can't get to her because of the snow was so
great, we can't take off.
And they said, call an ambulance, a local ambulance as quickly as possible.
And that's what happened.
I waited and how God protected me even in all time.
God was still with me the whole time.
And I was like, thank you, Jesus.
I kept saying, Lord, see when I was praying, I was praying pretty loudly and people in
that ambulance knew I was praying because I was crying out to my savior at that point.
And he was truly, truly present with me.
And I could feel him in the ambulance with me.
And I just kept thanking him and thanking him.
I said, Lord, I know you have me and I trust you.
I give it all to you.
I trust you no matter what happens to me.
I trust you.
And I knew because when I said that little prayer before they took me in because I always
tell him, he's my king and my shepherd.
And I said, I need you to shepherd me, Lord.
And he did.
He shepherd me through the whole thing.
He's so good.
We serve a great God.
Have you been in contact with any of the people that assisted in your medical miracle after
the incident to see how many people have asked questions about God because of what they've
seen in you?
Well, I asked my surgeon.
And I said, I saw you in surgery and he said, he said, sometimes many people say they see
me in surgery.
I said, the Lord told me not to be afraid.
He said, I'm glad you weren't afraid.
He was so funny.
And then he married one of the nurses in intensive care that took care of me.
So when I see my surgeon, see, I have another aneurysm in there, but it's very tiny and
they visit.
I see him once a year for a scan.
And it's just a follow up to make sure they check everything else too.
I was going to go visit the ICU again and talk to some of the nurses there because I
know there's a few nurses that are still there.
And so they were just fabulous, wonderful people.
I'm so truly blessed.
And I went to a neurologist for something minor and he said, I wish my wife could meet
you because she's one of the ICU nurses that took care of you as well.
Oh, wow.
And I said, wow, thank you, Jesus.
You know, I mean, God just did a beautiful tapestry of his love through this whole thing.
He wove his love through every step, every person that touched me, every person that
took care of me in intensive care.
I would talk about Jesus to them.
I would share, I would read my Bible and I would just, when they did take the ventilator
out and I could talk, you know, but they used to bring teams of doctors in to see me because
they hadn't, they just said, we heard through the hospital about a miracle that happened
here and everybody wants to meet you.
So I, being, when you come out of brain trauma, you don't always understand the world.
And so all these people were, you know, asking me questions and I was trying the best to
answer them, but a lot of questions I got wrong, but that's okay.
You know, I'm here.
Yeah, yeah, sure.
That's understandable.
That's okay.
You had trauma on the right and left hemisphere of your brain.
Right.
Exactly.
So when I go for scans and I see other doctors read my scan, I always look at their face
because I know it's pretty horrific to see, but you know what, what little I have, it's
God's and I serve him.
I serve the living God.
And so whatever I have left, I give him honor and glory and I give him everything.
Everything I have is his and each day is a gift.
It's a true gift to live and serve God in any way he wants me to.
I try to show love and care wherever I go because, you know, our God is love and we
have to show that love to other people and that's what we're called to do.
And that's what makes you a great reader at church.
Oh, I just love them all so much.
I try so hard to remember everybody's names, but I still forget certain people's names.
Oh, there's so many.
I've never had any brain trauma that I'm aware of and I can't remember people's names.
I wouldn't focus on that as a fault.
Right.
I think it's amazing how you were in a coma for only a short time.
Was it, you said three days you said?
Five.
Because Tiffany Dawson was on, as you know.
You and I were talking earlier at church and you guys could start a club with all the
aneurysms that God has brought people through and her coma was 45 days.
Wow.
Praise the Lord.
You know, she didn't see angels, but she took a vision to heaven.
But anyway, listen to that episode if you guys haven't listened to that yet.
But God is so good.
He's working people through aneurysms and they each have their own specific story about
it and how God spoke to them during that time and just healed them and just brought them
out a new person.
I know.
And you know, when they sent me to rehab, that was really hard because they want you
to use parts of your body that was not working.
My left side was not working and it was giving me trouble and I got discouraged.
And you know, I just said, okay, God, you can heal my body.
You healed my brain.
You can heal my body.
Yeah.
And so it was a trial, but you know, he was so good.
He helped me through it all.
I can't imagine having to learn everything all over again.
Yes.
Start all over.
And see when you have strokes, you lose your memory.
That was so hard to remember things.
And my kids used to say, mom, you already told me that.
And I said, did I?
And they said, yeah.
And so it was hard on my children because they saw this mom, this 49 year old mom, perfectly
fine and now I'm going to be 60 this year.
And you know, they said, you really changed a lot, but that core of who you are always
stayed the same as Jesus, the love of Jesus.
And my kids are pretty tough.
They've been through a lot, but they love Jesus and they're growing in the love of God
too.
And I would have messed with you if I were your kids.
If you'd told me something the first time I'd have told you said that already.
I'd have had fun.
Well, they're funny.
I used to say quirky things like how heavy is a gallon of milk?
Or can I pick because I had all kinds of restrictions.
I wasn't allowed to do for years.
I wasn't allowed to do.
That's not a legit question.
Milk is heavy.
I say pounds.
Well, they thought they thought I was kind of quirky.
They're like, mom, what are you asking me this for?
Because you want to know if you could live through without hurting yourself.
That's not quirky.
That's common sentence.
That's smart.
We'll see those are the things I was asking.
And my son was like, mother, it's fine.
It's like eight pounds.
He was so cute.
He got the scale and he measured the milk.
He said, look, it's eight pounds.
And then he measured the sweeper and he said, you know, anything I got scared of, he always
said, just put it on the scale and make sure because I wasn't allowed to lift over 20
pounds.
But it was just things you go through and you think about, you know.
That most of us take for granted.
Yes.
And I couldn't drive for years.
And now I'm driving and I'm going further driving and stuff.
I want to drive to New York, but I don't want to go by myself.
And so I have to get somebody to drive with me.
So what's in New York?
My daughter lives in New York.
She doesn't live in the city of New York.
She lives in upstate New York.
It's in the farming country.
So I always tell her, I said, that's my goal this year.
I said, I'm going to drive to your house.
And she's like, okay, okay, mom.
You know, because she's so busy.
She runs a company and you know, what little time she has, she comes visits and stuff,
you know.
So, and I have two grandchildren there and one grandchild here in the North Hills.
So I get a chance to see my son today.
And I had a chance to dance at my son's wedding.
Oh, awesome.
Yeah.
I danced with him three weeks ago at his wedding.
I just couldn't stop crying and he just said, mom, everything's okay and everything's
going to be okay.
And I said, because God is good.
He said, yes, he is.
He is good.
And our family's been through so much and we're so grateful.
We're grateful that I can be here and be with him.
I'm so blessed.
I'm grateful to hear your story.
I hope our listeners feel blessed, but I'm being encouraged by how much God loves them,
that it's not just you.
I mean, he loves you, but it's not just you.
Yes.
You know, for God to love the world, and they said it's only be gotten, son, right?
The world, that's every single human being in it, every single human being that he bothered
to give life to, he cares deeply for.
Amen.
And when I came out of the surgeries and they sent me home, the Lord gave me Isaiah 46 and
it said, he was saying, I kept saying, father, what do you have for me?
And he said, even to your old age and gray hair, I am he, I am he, he who will sustain
you.
I have made you and I will carry you.
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
That was the scripture I had hanging in my bedroom.
And at night I would say that scripture every night before I went to bed and I would thank
him and I was so grateful for him loving me and caring me and sustaining me through what
I went through.
I love the art of gratitude you have for it.
I am so grateful.
He's so good.
We serve such a good God.
He loves his children so much.
And I just, that's all I see is his love.
And I'm just me and I work with children and I love on them like they're my children.
And it's just wonderful to be back in the world with people and getting a chance to
share my story.
And then I was at work and I had made a big mistake, which I usually do sometimes.
And I put the wrong box in the wrong bag and I gave this beautiful woman her shoes for
her son, grandson, and she left.
And then she called me back and she said, you gave me the wrong shoes.
I said, I am so sorry.
I try so hard not to make mistakes at work.
And then she said, I'll come back tomorrow.
I said, thank you.
And so she came back tomorrow.
I shared my story and she said, I'm a survivor as well.
She had something happen to her as well.
And so her and I had a chance to talk about Jesus.
And even my mistake, God made it all good.
You know?
I love it.
I think you're going to have that mistake to have that conversation.
It was so wonderful.
And I just felt such a kinder love for this sweet woman.
I just thought, wow, God, you're so good.
And she left with the right shoes and I left knowing a new friend in Christ.
I was just, I was so blessed.
I was like, thank you, Lord.
Because anytime there's a mistake that worked, I always say, was it mine?
Because I always seem to make a mistake.
Was it me?
It seemed that they really like you there though, because you're still working there.
Well, see, I was there when I had the brain aneurysm.
I was working that day and then I had the aneurysm that night.
These lovely people have loved me for 10 years.
I worked with them for over three years, 13 years ago, and they were so good.
They just said, come back to work.
And I said, God will tell me when he wants me to go back.
And then one of the women that works there, she's in her 80s.
She called me and she's 82.
And she said, could you please come back to work?
I said, I'm coming.
So we have a very diverse group that work there.
That's awesome.
That's almost like another family.
Exactly, exactly.
It's wonderful to go to work with people you love working with.
And you love working with the public and taking care of these precious little kids.
Children are my, they're my favorite.
Children are my favorite.
I just love working with kids and the Lord's really put that in my path.
Hmm.
Yeah, I see that.
I work in the Children's Ministry at the church and I see a lot of people that absolutely
love working with the children.
Yes, I love it.
Yes.
The world needs you people.
Yeah.
It's not for everybody.
It's the best job ever.
Interacting with people and like when you're a retailer or things like that, that can be
very difficult because you're not just dealing with a fresh person with a mission.
You're dealing with a person who has problems of their own and they're bringing in the baggage
of the world with them.
And sometimes it gets difficult because the way they treat you isn't a reflection of you,
but a reflection of what they're carrying.
Right.
And it can be very difficult.
Whereas kids often don't have that because every moment is a new moment for a child and
they live in the moment.
And that's not to say that kids don't have trauma and it's not to say that kids don't
carry things with them, but for the most part, mostly kids that we deal with don't have that
trauma and they're just in the moment kids being kids that enjoy us.
Right.
I don't feel the same way that my wife does about kids and I don't feel the same way that
you do about kids.
I have like a different perspective when I'm down there.
I feel more like a shepherd than I do a teacher.
Yes.
I feel more like a guardian and someone who guides them in the right direction when they
need it.
That's kind of how I feel my role is in that.
What a privilege to share the love of Christ with them.
What a tremendous privilege.
And I'm in awe of these precious little ones that just listen and they ask questions and
I just love it.
And then we were at the Good Friday service and we had two beautiful children come to
Christ that night.
And it was so awesome.
And when they would see me, they just hugged me.
My heart just melted.
I thought, oh Lord, these kids are so precious.
You're little children.
And my heart is just so full with fun.
I love being with them.
I'm just a big kid at heart.
I always tell them.
I said, you guys, I don't care.
I'll play games with you.
I don't care.
I enjoy all that stuff.
You know, they're always funny.
They're like, hey, Miss Patrice, do you want to play the game?
I thought, of course.
That's what is your answer.
Yes, I'm playing.
That's right.
We're going to do it.
We're going to have fun doing it.
That's so awesome.
You sound so happy.
I am very happy.
I'm a very happy person.
The physical things that the Lord has restored for me.
And I'm just so happy.
Each day is a gift.
I always tell my children, today is a gift.
What is rejoice in that gift today, that we can be together as a family?
And my son just called.
He says, what are you and Grandma doing this afternoon?
I said, why would he got plans?
He said, let's go for dinner.
He said, I haven't seen you for a while.
I said, OK, I'll meet you.
So I get a chance to sit and have dinner with my son and his beautiful wife and their little
girl.
And I'm so blessed.
Well, what's that I say in the Bible?
For the joy of the Lord is my strength.
Amen.
And you are definitely portraying the strength of the Lord through the joy.
Yes.
He's so good.
If I could jump and leap like I did before I could do it, but I can't do it anymore.
Well, you said you were 60 now or coming up on 60.
So I don't expect you to.
Yeah.
I'm going to be.
What is that?
A senior citizen here before you know it.
But that's OK.
It is.
It is because I'm great.
Ten years ago you might not have made it this far.
That's right.
If they didn't do what they did to help me, I probably, you know, would have had the
Lord stepped in and he took away the deficit.
Some of the deficits I could have really had as well, you know, but he allowed me to go
through what I went through and I'm grateful because he went through it with me.
I didn't go through it alone.
You know, I have people say, are you afraid to die?
I said, are you kidding?
I'm not afraid to die.
You mean to go in eternity with my king?
No.
Yeah.
No.
Not at all.
I went out with them friends and we celebrated 10 years and they said, are you afraid to
die?
I said, nope, I'm not afraid to die.
And my one friend said to me, OK, death, where's your sting now?
You know, I don't, I'm not really afraid of either.
When I think about it, I really think about what my family does without me is my only
thought.
I don't really consider my aspect of it.
Right.
It's a done deal.
If I'm going to be with the king, I'm going to be with the king.
That's right.
And if I'm going to be with my family, I'm going to be with my family.
It's not really up to me.
That's right.
And I just, it's so beautiful.
Yeah.
And you were saying that, you know, every day is a gift.
Yes.
And I was thinking back to a movie that came through Panda and they had a turtle master
Ugway and he was talking about, no, don't, you know, forget about the past and don't
worry about the future.
Today is a gift and that's why they call it a present.
That's right.
It's funny.
It's cute.
But today is a gift because it's a present.
That's what I was thinking in my head.
Well, at least one of us is brave enough to say that quite point out loud.
That's why you're here.
Teamwork.
That's why it makes the dream work.
Well, thank you so much for letting me share my story with you and with your listeners.
Oh my gosh, I'm blessed by hearing it.
That was the, and the timing was really cool too.
Oh God, work that out.
Yes.
That was awesome.
I didn't realize that when we planned it, it was after right after your 10 year anniversary.
Oh my goodness.
And we're actually having the interview a few days after the 10 year anniversary.
It's not going to air for a while, but the interview itself and the house.
Yes.
How amazing in the snow and all the things that are lining up for this.
Yes.
Just to reinforce it.
Right.
The God of details.
Everything about us is so beautifully and wonderfully made in details.
You know, and our walk with him is such rich in details of his fingerprints.
I always tell people that's God's fingerprints all over that because he's a God of details
and everything is so beautifully done.
And it's so vibrant before us, his love of this great God who loves us so much within
these fingerprints.
Absolutely breathtaking story.
Beautiful.
I love hearing the joy in your voice.
I love hearing the miracle that God has performed on you.
I love hearing about how he sent a bodyguard to protect you and to keep you calm so that
you knew you were safe.
I love how you defied the odds.
I love how you reconnect with some of the doctors and nurses and such.
And the nurses, yes.
And unexpected places even.
And met up with another woman who had a similar survivor story.
Yes.
I just totally blessed to hear your story.
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day and sharing that with us.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I love you both so much.
God bless you all.
We love you too.
And with this episode has been a blessing to you.
We ask that you pass it along to a friend so you can be an encouragement to them as well.
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And with that, we'll talk to you next time.