New River Community Church : Elaine's Story

Elaine's Story:

A testimony is not something that happens to you at one point in time. Instead, it is what God does in you and through you, it is daily, it is progressive, it is evidenced by change. God has changed me and He continues to change me.

At a young age I was curious about God. One day when I was very young I accepted Jesus. I didn’t really understand then what it meant for Him to be my Savior or even what it meant to need to be saved and forgiven of my sins. But because I had knelt down and asked a pastor to pray for me to accept Jesus, I prayed and read my Bible throughout the years and overall felt like a Christian. Or perhaps I was simply religious.

Last year, I realized that I needed the power and presence of Jesus. I had become bound to spiritual lies and I needed to be set free from the damage of others’ sins against me and my own sins. Deep pain, resentment, unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, shame, and fear were my daily companions. One of my biggest fears was loosing a child. The very thought of it was paralyzing; it was the worst thing that could ever happen to me, aside from loosing my husband. I needed to be rescued. And God showed Himself to me in a mighty way. With the help of three Godly women who were not afraid to let God work in and through them, dark memories were exposed, sins were confessed, sins were forgiven, and the strongholds were broken. Jesus’ power and authority were amazing and for the first time ever, I experienced His love, forgiveness, and peace. I was set free. I will never be the same again.

The journey to know God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and who I am in Christ began. When you come to God with a heart that truly desires to know Him, to love Him and to feel loved by Him and to experience His love, He delights in answering those prayers. That is praying according to His Will and He will always answer prayers that align with His Will.

God longs for children who are devoted to Him, He longs for His children to know and experience Him as a loving Father who is strong, deeply compassionate, kind, just, trustworthy, and righteous. Why does He want our devotion? Because He is devoted to us, He loves us beyond measure and we are precious to Him. His Word is where you encounter Him. His word is truth. You have to get to that point where you declare that God’s word is truth. It’s not mostly true or just the parts you like that are true, it is all truth. This is vital in the face of adversity.

Adversity struck our home in March of this year. Three days after we celebrated Becca’s first birthday, which was also the day we dedicated her to the Lord, she began to show signs of having caught yet another cold. On Wednesday, she spiked a very high fever. On Friday, a chest x-ray confirmed pneumonia. By Sunday, she was so lethargic and weak and I had this feeling that she was more than I could manage alone at home. I had never cared for such a sick baby before. I was in over my head. I had no idea what was to come. Monday morning I walked into her room to find her coughing with blood in her sputum and blood stains all over her mattress. This was more than pneumonia and I was scared. After rushing her to the pediatrician’s office and then to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital, it quickly became evident that things were going from bad to worse. She got yellow in a matter of hours, she could hardly breath, and she stopped peeing. At times she nearly lost consciousness, she would cry out in distress but found comfort only on my shoulder, where in that position she could breath a little better. Doctors were in and out of her room grilling me on her history and events over the past few days. Specialists were consulted and no one had answers for a mom who knew she was loosing her child. The moment the thought entered my head “Oh God, I may not be taking Becca home” fear struck my inner being and panic sprang into my throat. I was not in control. Then, the Holy Spirit reminded me that God alone controls the course of one’s life. At that moment the fear left and I began focusing on truth. The truth was that Becca is God’s child, His creation. He graced me with her life and entrusted me to care for and nurture her. He alone determines the duration of that privilege. She is His. The truth is that He is the Good Shepherd, He is El Roi, the God who sees, He is Elohim, God the Creator, He is El Elyon, God Most High, He is El Shaddai, God Almighty, He is Jehovah-rapha, the Lord who heals. And because I believe in Him, I believe that all I am and all that I have has come from His hand, the purpose of my life is to bring Him glory, I can say that He is my Adonia, My Lord.

I prayed a prayer I could never have prayed before, “Lord, I surrender Becca Joy to you . Jehovah Rapha, please heal Becca, restore her God. I want to take her home. But, God, if that is not your plan, I trust you to walk with me through this. I know you know the pain of loosing a child. Jesus I need you!”

The nephrologists diagnosed Becca with a rare bacterial infection that caused the pneumonia, kidney and liver failure. It was a long, rocky road. Three weeks in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and one week and a day on the medical surgical floor. A day felt like a week, and a week like a month. It was spent waiting for Becca to turn her normal color, waiting for her to pee on her own, watching her get puffier daily because of fluid retention – she was hardly recognizable, signing consents for blood and plasma transfusions, holding her hand during x-rays and CAT scan, consenting for surgery and dialysis. We waited and waited. I longed to hold her. It was a very difficult time. My husband and I saw each other in passing as we updated each other on her progress and on how our son was doing at home with relatives. Either of us stayed at her side, night and day.

I remember a relative calling me and saying something like “you must be frantic” . . . and I wasn’t. I was deeply concerned and my heart ached in me, I never knew what the outcome would be and waiting was so hard. But, I held onto Jesus. I held onto the truth that I am His treasured possession, His daughter in whom He delights. I held onto the truth that He loves Becca more than I can imagine. I held onto the truth that this adversity would and was bringing Him glory. I was amazed at the number of people across this country and in other countries who were praying fervently for Becca. Isn’t it cool that dozens of people flooded His throne room, they got in His presence, on her behalf? That’s where He wants people to be – in His presence. The Bible tells us to pray always and to be devoted to prayer. He is the living God who hears our words, sees our tears, and bends down to hold us like a strong Father.

I give Him reverence and I am in awe of Him. He has healed Becca Joy. He worked through the doctors, nurses, therapists, blood transfusions, medicines and antibiotics to heal her. It was His plan to restore her. He is a Sovereign God. Have you ever stopped to think that medicines and antibiotics work the way they do because God wills them to every time? He gives doctors knowledge and wisdom to heal the sick and He allows medicines to be created, but He wills their activity, their effectiveness. It is The Almighty who does the healing. Becca’s kidneys, liver, and lungs are all functioning normally! She is a happy and fun little 17 month old toddler who is an amazing witness to God’s mighty hand, His grace, His love. He breathed life into her, again.

God is faithful. And He would still have been faithful even if He had not healed and restored Becca’s life. God is faithful not because He answers our prayers the way we want Him to. God is faithful to His promises; He promised never to leave me nor forsake me because I am His child. He was with me in my thoughts when I was physically alone and He was with me through the friends who came to visit. He is faithful to His righteous character; He is the God of peace and the God of comfort. He comforted me. I saw Him as the Father who invited me to take His hand to lead me down a road where I was afraid. He invited me to hold Him close like I hold my children. I could never have gotten through this experience on my own strength. He strengthened me and gave me peace. He gave me faith to believe in Him. He put in my heart a desire to know Him more deeply.

I am so thankful to have a relationship with the one, true, living God. He changed me. I remember how I used to be. I was so bound, but now I am free. I give Him all the glory, I praise and exalt the One who lifted me. I know what it means to bless His Name both when the road is marked with suffering and there is pain in the offering and when the sun is shining down on me and the world is all as it should be. God still performs miracles.