When The Unexpected Happens: Part 1

A day after Christmas in 2017, I started my fast for financial breakthrough and healing for my family as planned. I went into this fast with an expectation perspective. I was expecting to encounter God in a special way but I was also facing a ton of uncertainty in my life which caused me to feel uncertain about His timing during the process. I thought I had prepared efficiently for this. I used my vacation hours at work, I planned to also fast from Facebook and limit communication with friends to emergency only. I’ve never felt more excited to spend time with God and see Him move in my life.

However, a few days before Christmas the unexpected happened. After church, I went to visit my aunt at her house as I usually do on Sundays especially because she lives so close to my church. I noticed something different about her. It was as if she was a different person. She seemed very unengaged in our conversation. Not thinking much of it and not worrying, I went home. The next day my sister calls me mentioning that she also noticed the changes and that we needed to take her to the ER. A bit of history, my aunt recently suffered from a hemorrhagic stroke in early 2017 so any changes in her behavior are expected to raise urgent concerns for us.

She was rushed to the ER on Christmas eve but sent home because she “appeared” to be fine and told that it’s best not to use unnecessary radiation like a CTscan (on a person with a history of stroke). The coming days were rough. Her symptoms seemed to be more apparent; From memory loss to apathy. She couldn’t remember the year we were in. I caught her saying that we were in the year 1981! That was very alarming to me and provoked my study of Alzheimer’s disease. I had to remind her to do almost everything and I felt really overwhelmed. Now, I’m not usually very open with my emotions in this way and I appear to be very emotionally strong but I wrestled with God on this because of how unexpected it was and the pain I felt. And I felt the push, even more, to pray for healing over my family in addition to financial breakthrough. I leaned a lot on prayers from friends and loved ones. For those of you who do not know, my mother also suffered from a stroke 6 years ago and is now paralyzed and struggles with speech. My father passed away 2 years later. So the closest relative to me is my aunt.

That week I fought tears as I prayed in God’s presence. I waited and rested in Him. I’ve reflected on His divine providence in my life and I knew that He wanted me to trust Him. During that fast, I noticed as He started to open doors for me in just 2 days. The second day I felt so much peace it was overwhelming. I also received random emails for opportunities I did not initially apply for. On January 2nd, my aunt had an appointment for an MRI and I was excited to have them finally take a look at her brain especially because of the concerns we had that ER physicians found hard to assess. I fell asleep in the waiting room expecting to wait for at least 2 hours. However, they woke me up within 30 minutes, “Vanessa, she’s done!” When I followed the technician to the area where my aunt was I asked “she’s finished already?!” she replied, “No, the doctor will explain it to you.” Now my heart beats are on one thousand per second. The doctor explained that she did indeed have a stroke and they were now rushing her to be recessed in the ER.

This stroke was different from her last one. It was smaller and affected her much less. Thanks to God! Also the timing in which we brought her in did not make a difference. she’s now in recovery and doing better. I no longer have the same fear I had the initial week of the symptoms but I’m so grateful to God for giving me that peace and for the recovery she’s made thus far. I’m glad we have more of an awareness of what happened to her and that she is God’s hands. I am also thankful to all of the friends that have extended prayer during this rough time.

A lesson I learned from this experience is that life will be full of unexpected occurrences and challenges. What’s most important is how we react to those events. Sometimes it may seem like God is not present during these times but He is. He is showing us something but we must pay attention and be sensitive to His voice. I noticed during these moments an urgency for prayer, a need to commune with Him. He is a good God and He uses these experiences for a specific purpose but in the end, it all works out for our good. I pray that during times of despair that the Lord is able to fill you with hope, wisdom and a peace that surpasses all understanding. Love you! God bless.

To be continued…

Author: Vanessa Mack

A Christian millennial, fascinated with grace, passionate about learning, tech, finance, expressive writing and encouraging others. View all posts by Vanessa Mack