Slumped over the steering wheel, I could not get the strength to start the car. In front of me were four hours of tedious driving. The schedule was set; I would leave the house that I was caretaking to cross the mountains to Santa Rosa where I would be housesitting for a friend who was set to catch her plane for Mexico.
But I couldn’t move. The car was fully packed and the home I was leaving had been cleaned and readied for the real estate agents that would be showing it. But something wasn’t right. I got out of the car and walked back to my temporary bedroom. I needed to pray. I began to kneel by a rocking chair and noticed on the dresser that there was a small bouquet of purple Irises that were completely brown, wilted and dead. I made a mental note that I needed to throw them out or they would end up stinking up the room, before I returned.
I began praying. God, I need you so badly. I feel so unwell, please help me to have strength to make this drive.
I stayed on my knees with my head on the cushioned rocking chair. I was thinking about the Irises that needed throwing out. I wanted to cry because even that one simple task seemed like too much. I didn’t want to get up … but I did.
And that is when I experienced a miracle. What? Immediate healing? No. But right in front of me was something that ran shivers down my spine. Those dead Irises … were now in full bloom as if they had never seen a moment of death. My quick intake of breath was followed by a strong thought; God can take an apparently dead thing and bring it back to life.
I sat down in the rocking chair and cried. God was showing me that HE was in control and that there was nothing too hard for Him.
Instead of throwing out the Irises, I wrapped them in paper towels, and placed them in a plastic bag to come with me. I rinsed out the vase and set it back, empty, on the dresser.
With encouragement in my heart, I began the long drive. A little over an hour into the drive, on a back road, a flash of extremely bright light came over my eyes. I was having a stroke. As quick as the flash in my eyes had come, my vision returned, but now as double vision, revealing one car coming at me which now looked like two cars staggered … one above the other. I pulled over and called my daughter. I told her that I was having a stroke and would be getting to a nearby hospital; could she please call our friend to let her know that I would not be able to get to Santa Rosa. I felt terrible both physically and emotionally because I was leaving my poor friend in a very difficult situation.
All of my things were in the car and I didn’t feel safe leaving it on those back roads. So, in a state of prayer, driving at a snail’s pace for five more long minutes I turned into a small town and spotted a big blue H sign, indicating that there was a hospital nearby. I pulled into the almost empty parking lot and stumbled into the Emergency room. Stroke, I said. Immediately I was in the hands of the medical professionals. They took numerous tests and then set me up for a brain CT scan.
I had to lay perfectly still for an hour as the loud clunking of the machine did its work. I was so afraid. No one was with me and I just knew that I was dying. It took everything within me to not weep openly. Oh God please help me! And then I felt His Presence beside me and these words swiftly came to mind, God can take an apparently dead thing and bring it back to life.
My friends drove that hour-long drive to retrieve me and my car from that small hospital. I was taken back to the house where I was temporarily staying. My vision was still damaged and I could not take care of myself; but my daughter came to help for a few days and friends took over from there. Eventually I had full recovery of my sight and strength.
God could have healed me, instantly. Instead, He showed me the miracle of the Irises, a strong object lesson which has encouraged me in numerous other difficulties.
Dead hopes? Dead circumstances? Dead ability to function? Dead ambitions? Dead dreams? God can take an apparently dead thing and bring it back to life.