Volume 2022: Edition 1
Food for thought: The Paralyzed Man
Hello everyone, and welcome back to a new year with us. We apologize for the missed updates these past couple of months when I was down with Covid. We appreciate you coming back for the update this week and month as we continue to grow and study His word.
I apologize in advance for the length of this newsletter, and for the jumbled sentences that are about to spew out. Over this past month that I've been out of the hospital, I've thought a lot about how I would give a testimony to what happened with me in the three months that I spent in the hospital. I still barely have words to describe the miracle that occurred with me and my family, but I'm going to give it my best shot through this newsletter.
Four months ago, on November 9th, I was admitted into the hospital due to acute respiratory failure as a result of Covid-pneumonia. I only know this because that was what I was told when I became conscious enough to understand and remember on December 6th. The most I remember from the time before the hospital was spending Halloween with my family and friends; testing positive after that weekend; seeing my family from the balcony of my apartment; talking to my husband about my mother-in-law coming to stay with us to help take care of us; and then hearing my husband and mother-in-law begging me to try to get up so they could take me to the hospital. That night and that week before I was admitted is a blur, but I very clearly remember asking God that night to give me the strength to get down the three flights of stairs from our apartment to the parking lot, and through him I did. Or at least he gave my mother-in-law and husband the strength to carry me down those stairs. I thought I was helping, but I was basically dead weight for the entirety of my trip to the hospital. I don't remember the ride or the waiting room. I don't even remember the bustle of the doctors and nurses trying to bring my oxygen back up. The last thing I remember from that night was giving the doctors my husband's number so he could make the decision to put me into a comma, and speaking to him in tears as he and the doctors tried to explain to me that I was going to be put into a comma and on a ventilator and that they didn't know when I was going to wake up. I felt fear for only a few seconds before I started to get a warm sensation, like a warm blanket being wrapped around me. In those last moments I knew that whatever was about to happen that God had me and that I was going to be okay. I don't know how I knew that, but I was certain of that when I closed my eyes and when I opened them again.
The time of me being on my stomach, in a comma, for twenty-one days, and the lack of full consciousness and comprehension of my surroundings up until December 6th, felt like a blink. It felt like I closed my eyes and opened them again to suddenly be transported into the next month, like Buck Rogers awoke 492 years into the future, except extremely less dramatic. This sudden time difference didn't change what I had wanted to tell my family before I had been put to sleep. The very first thing I told my mom, or worded to her since I couldn't speak, was that God saved me and that he had me. I didn't fully understand at the time what had happened to me or why I couldn't speak, but I knew that I needed to try to tell her that and that everyone needed to know that he was with me the whole time and that I didn't need to be afraid. I wasn't aware at the time that he had performed a miracle on my body for my entire family to witness, but I knew that he was the reason that I was awake and that I was okay.
That feeling never left me. Not through my frustration of being unable to use my voice. Not through my excitement of being able to see my dad and husband outside my window, and having my mom speak for me to tell them that I loved them and that I knew they were scared and sad. Not through the long nights I spent restless because I wanted so badly to move my body on my own. Not through the happiness I felt with finally being able to move my fingers, my hands, my head, my feet, my arms, and my legs (In that order). He was there with me every step of the way, and I could feel it. Every day was something new, to show me and my family that he heard us and that he would never leave us. Even my nurses and doctors could see it. They would often talk to me about how it was God that brought me through this and why I was progressing so quickly. It felt like my prayers and the prayers of my family were being answered almost instantly with every test, every shot, every pain, and even every little frustration I had. I felt calm most days even despite my moments of frustration. When I felt even a small bit of fear or like I wouldn't have the strength to get through what I had to, it would just vanish as quickly as it would come. It was amazing.
Throughout my time in the hospital, I kept thinking about many different bible stories. I thought about the story of Abraham and his son Isaac when he was tested and was going to give up his only son, only for God to provide a lamb for the sacrifice in Isaac's place. I thought about the parable of the Shepard leaving the ninety-nine sheep to find the one that had gotten lost. I thought about the story of Daniel's friends who were tossed into the burning furnace and who were untouched by the flames through the son of God who was with them in the fire. And I thought about the story of the paralyzed man who was able to walk again because of him and his friend's faith. All of these stories resonated so deeply with me during my time in the hospital because I felt like I was given a lamb to take my place. I was the lost sheep that the Shepard went to find. I was the one tossed into the fire alongside my savior only to come out untouched. And I was the one literally paralyzed, but able to walk again through the prayers of my family and my own faith.
It sounds ridiculous, and far-fetched, but everything I went through and the healing I have experienced everyday wouldn't have happened without God in my life and in my family's life. So I want to continue to give thanks to Him and the prayers of everyone who prayed for me for what He has done for me and my family. He performed the miracle on my body, He continues to heal me with every little ailment; and most importantly, and why I think this all happened in the first place, He strengthened my family and brought so many people together in His name for my cause. He brought our church and our family together and that is the true miracle that He has performed on this once paralyzed woman.
" So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
(Genesis 22:6-14)
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."
(Luke 15:4-7)
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”
They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”
“Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Nebuchadnezzar Praises God
Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the [f]mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”
(Daniel 3:16-29)
"And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”"
(Mark 2:1-12)
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Special Prayers:
Continue praying for Taylor Lambrecht for healing and strength.
Continue praying for Conrad Sack and the Sack Family for healing and patience
Please Pray for Alex Schimpf and his family for comfort and peace.
Pray for the continued healing on our church.
Weekly Devotional:
He Answers Me
Lord, when I call, you answer. Thank you for hearing every cry of my heart. I know you'll respond whether the issues are big or small. I'm in awe that you- the God of the universe- make time for me and care about what's going on in my life. When I call, you assure me of your presence, and I have courage and confidence to face whatever situation is before me.
When I call, you remind me of who you are, how much you love me, and that there's nothing you cannot do. That emboldens me. I praise you for being my always accessible, attentive, and gracious God. I'm grateful for the privilege of having a relationship with you.
" When I called, you answered me: you greatly emboldened me"
(Psalm 138:3)
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."
(Luke 15:4-7)
Verse of the Week:
"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."
(Matthew 6:6)
Questions?
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