God Was In Control

Believe it or not, everything that happened is a testimony. We will never understand why things happen the way they do. Gods ways are not like our ways. But He is in control, He sees the bigger picture. He uses everything for the good of those who love Him. My mother loved God, and He aligned things perfectly for her in her last days. He was there, He was in control.

On Friday October 16^th, we had to call the ambulance. She hadn’t been feeling well for quite some time, but her being so strong and stubborn, she kept putting off going to the doctors. The truth is, she was afraid to leave her family. We couldn’t let her wait anymore. My brother gave her the scripture Romans 10:13 written on a little note paper and reminded her to call on the name of the Lord.

As her eldest daughter and health care proxy, I had the honorable duty of being by her side each day and making medical decisions on her behalf. Her first three nights in the ICU she had a wonderful nurse who happened to be a Christian. God used him as a vessel to read her this scripture in Romans and pray for her while he cared for her. The Lord was in control, He kept her in His hands. During the day, one of the nurses that cared for her happened to be a woman I graduated nursing school with. This was comforting to me. On two other days, my mothers nurse had such a calming and patient presence. I found comfort and peace with her caring for my mother. God was in control, He kept her in His hands. Her first two nights in the ICU, the respiratory therapist who cared for her happened to be another Christian. I happened to know her and her husband, we used to work together. I also was their nurse when they had their second daughter. She prayed for my mom at her bedside and took great care of her for me. The Lord was in control, He kept her in His hands.

I wrote out a prayer thanking God for her healing, and asked people to pray it with faith in hopes that it would come true. I took a picture of it and sent it to my best friends. When one of them clicked on the picture, the scripture “For we live by faith, not by sight” happened to come up. I never sent that scripture. I took this as a message from God. So, I chose to live out this scripture and live by faith and not by what it looked like. God was in control, He kept us in His hands.

I am blessed to have had the honor of being at her bedside every day. I had the privilege of reassuring her she was safe, and that God was good. I would play Psalm 91 and 23 for her. I played the song Blessings and sang to her. I worshiped the Lord at her bedside. I scratched her arms and legs. She loved to be scratched. She would always say that could wake her up or heal her from anything. I rubbed her head and hands and wiped her face and eyes.

The doctors didn’t seem hopeful, they were honestly surprised that she was surviving. She was the strongest woman we knew. The night of October 20^th, I went home with my faith the strongest. Despite what the doctors were telling me and how everything looked, I chose to walk by faith not by sight. That night I sang and worshipped my Lord. My mother told me to never stop singing, she said I sound beautiful. I sang to God, for her.

The morning of Wednesday the 21^st, I felt uneasy, sick to my stomach, just felt like something bad was going to happen. I received a call from the hospital saying that the doctors would like to have a family meeting about my mom at 2pm. As a family we decided that it would be my brother and I that would attend the meeting. Because of Covid, only two people were allowed to attend in person. At 2pm my brother and I arrived. At 2pm my brother was able to preach the gospel of Jesus to her and pray for her one last time. At 2pm I watched the monitors, as a nurse I knew what was happening. At 2pm she started entering the kingdom of Heaven. My brother and I had the honor of reaching out our hands toward her in prayer and in complete submission to Gods will as they tried to resuscitate her. We all loved her so much, but the Lord loved her more. God was in control, He took her with Him.

When we had the chance as a family to say our final goodbyes, the scripture my brother wrote on the little notepad paper happened to be beside her head. As a reminder, it reads, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” Romans 10:13. This to me was confirmation He saved her. The Lord was in control, He kept her in His hands.

Let this testimony of her last days encourage you. Nothing just happened to be. God uses everything for the good of those who love Him. I believe that souls will be saved, and lives changed for all who have been involved or have heard this message. Surrender to God, call on His name. He will save you. God is in control, let Him in, so He can keep you in His hands.

***After her service and burial, we later found out that one of the pastors who were praying for my mother and our family had a specific scripture on his heart as soon as we contacted them for prayer. This scripture happened to be Romans 10:13.

I also found it beautiful that the pastor that officiated my mothers service said to our other pastor that although he went to the service to minister to others, he was the one that got ministered to.