It has now been sixteen years since my near death experience and it is just as clear today as it was then. Allow me to share this testimony with you as the Lord spoke to me then that I would not die but tell the world of His works. Since then I have told anyone and everyone who is willing to listen and praise God some have even come to the Lord with repentance through this testimony. It was late January of 1987 and I had abdominal surgery for adhesions. After surgery instead of getting better I got really sick with fever and vomiting. At first they thought it was a sort of flu but after a week they decided to take me back to surgery to find the problem. My bowel had been accidentally perforated during the first surgery and I was now full of poison. Another surgeon was called in to repair and bypass the damaged area. I was taken to ICU (intensive care unit ) after surgery with little hope of recovery. My husband was told the news and my family was called to the hospital expecting the worst. The very first night in ICU my husband was playing the Psalms on our cassette for me to hear since he was not allowed to stay in my room.

As I laid there wondering in and out of consciousness I heard the Lord speak to me through the tapes. He said " You shall not die, but live and tell the world of my works ". I instantly received that word from the Lord and knew I ! was not going to die. I tried to explain to my husband, Ted, what had happened but he thought I was delusional. I knew that I knew that I knew that I was NOT GOING TO DIE. I tried telling the doctors and the nurses and anyone that came into my room but no one could believe me. But it would not change what I knew. Each day something else would happen to worsen my condition but it didn't matter because I was not going to die. Ted would cry and ask God to give him the assurance I had but for some reason he just couldn't believe. I remember on my forth or fifth day in ICU that I ask Ted to read to me my favorite scripture, Psa. 27.

Just as he began to read all the beepers went off and the nurses came running in and told him he had to leave. It took a couple hours to get me stabilized and then he was allowed to come back into the room. When he did Pastor Menke was with him . He only stayed a few minutes and prayed with us and got ready to leave and then he paused and said "wait! ! God spoke to me in the elevator to read some scripture to you and I almost forgot " ! Can you guess what it was? Your right!!!! Psa. 27 !!!!! I wish I could tell you I was instantly healed but that was not the way the Lord choose to do it. That day the doctor told Ted that he should call the Red Cross to have them fly our son, Mike home from the service. Again the family was called together. The next day and night had been very hard on us all and I was just about to doubt what God said to me. I remember crying out to God and saying, " Father, I know that Jesus is my Savior and that the Holy Spirit is my comforter but I need you Abba Daddy right now. I had no more than said that when I was lifted out of my bed and carried upward to heaven.

I didn't see any bright lights or hear any singing but I do remember how sweet the fragrance was and I felt a peace that I cannot begin to explain. In the distance I saw a huge chair and a shadowy figure and as we came upon it I was laid in the lap of my Father. He cupped the back of my head with his tender but large hand and drew me to His chest and softly said, " daughter, fear not for all is going to be OK " and the next thing I knew I was back in my bed in the ICU. That was the first night that I slept peacefully through the whole night. The next morning I tried to tell everyone what had happened to me but again no one b! elieved. You would think that after being to the throne that I would have been healed but it wasn't to be until a few days later when a deacon from our church, Brother Swartz, came to visit and pray for me that God finally touched me. As Brother Swartz was praying for me he began to tremble and said he felt the power of God in his hands and at that moment I took his hands and laid them on my stomach and instantly felt the power of God go through my body. ( I must insert here for reference that after I was reopened the second time they could not close my incision because of all the poison so I had to be packed every 3-4 hours. I also had a bag attached to the drain hoses to catch all the poison that was flowing from my body).

The next morning when the doctors came in I told them that I had been healed!!!!! I was so excited that they wanted to give me something to calm me down. I just kept repeating what God had done to me and finally the doctor ask Ted if he could talk to me and calm me down. But this time even Ted knew that something had happened so he too told the doctor that I had experienced something. I told him that they could remove the bags and the packing but he still did not believe. So to pacify me he told the nurses to remove the drainage bags and to pack me real good and by next morning I would see that I needed them. BUT glory to God by next morning not only had the drainage stopped but the tubes had also fallen out. From that moment on it was just a matter of time before I would be going home!!! The doctors thought I would be in ICU at least another week, but I was out in three days, and then they thought I would be in another room for a couple weeks and praise God I went home i! n three days. I know that my Father imparted upon me the supernatural gift of faith to receive my healing and since that time I have not been able to get angry or hold any bad feelings toward anything or anybody. We are born to do God's work on this earth and I will try to be obedient till the day I finally do get to go home and be with the Lord!!!!!!!!!!

I would also like to add that every time Satan tried to end my life that the Lord would call up prayer warriors to stand in the gap for me. Brother Jim Wahlie was awakened several nights to walk and pray for me as the Lord showed him in the spirit how the enemy was trying to destroy me. If you ever get a urge in your spirit to pray for someone or a heaviness in your spirit that you cannot identify then get in your prayer closet and stay there in prayer until the Lord releases you. You may not always know who, what or why but that doesn't matter. Just be obedient and God will surely bless you!!!!