Part 3 - Faith put to the test

Part 3, Prayer, does God answer prayer?

Sometimes things go along alright in life and then wamo, out of nowhere comes something that leaves you reeling. My wife and I had such an experience in 2005. In March of that year we had the joy of welcoming our daughter into the world. Just 8 weeks after that joy my wife experienced flu like symptoms that in a span of 3 days progressed to a red spot on her thigh. What the doctors in emergency first thought was a blood clot, was an infection and then just before surgery I was told that my wife had a milder form of flesh eating disease. How could we go from such joy to such despair in such a short time? Little did we know that it would only get worse before it got better. When something like this happens there are so many things to think about and deal with, like how much do I tell my wife before she has surgery. Everything was happening so fast. Fleshing eating disease is not that common, but I did recall the story of the Quebec Premier, whose leg had to be amputated to save him from the dreadful disease. During surgery, some family members showed up and we went for a stroll. My tears were uncontrollable, even though at that point the outcome seemed positive, perhaps I somehow knew it was going to get worse. After surgery I was informed that my wife had the worst kind of flesh eating disease and  that it was life threatening, but to go home and get some sleep. I saw her briefly, she was in a drug induced coma and already had taken on a puffy appearance from all of the IV fluids. I was exhausted, but get some sleep, you gotta be kidding me. My brother did end up driving me home. We prayed, but not to the extent that we would cry out to God in the days ahead.

I remember getting up the next day and trying through tears to communicate to our 17 month old son, who only knew a few words at that point. What could I say, he had no idea what was happening, he was with his Grandma and life was good. Little did he know that he may never see his mommy alive again.  My mom had stayed the night and offered to look after the kids. What a blessing she and many others would turn out to be.

Already at this point we could be thankful for a quick response from the hospital emergency staff, which had been an answer to my wife’s prayers. God was in control.

More to follow…………….