Hope Series 17

Our Guest is Dean Hardy of Canada and his testimony of hope about Jonathan.

God’s Everlasting Faithfulness Gives Us Hope Each Day

Psalm 111:1-4 ncv – 1 Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with His godly people. 2 How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in Him should ponder them. 3 Everything He does reveals His glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. 4 He causes us to remember His wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord!

These past few weeks have been quite a rollercoaster ride for those of us who are family and friends of Jonathan, one of our new leaders in Ottawa Valley Deaf Church.

Several weeks ago—Sunday, September 16—I was out of town at a family wedding with my wife and oldest daughter. While we were waiting for the reception to start,  I received some bad news—Jonathan had collapsed in a store and was without a heartbeat for at least 25 minutes. Someone tried CPR, then paramedics arrived 10 minutes later, but it took another 15 minutes of working on him to get his heart going again. At the hospital they put him into a medically induced coma and kept his body as cool as possible to protect the brain from possible swelling. At that time it was not looking good. We immediately began to pray and asked many others churches to pray. Jon would need a miracle. But the Lord was already at work. Ruth his new wife of less than one year was at work and Jon decided to go to the store to pick up a few things before church. If he had been at home there would have been no one to call 911 and Jon would not be with us.

I was unable to get to the hospital until Monday evening, Sept 17, but a couple of our Deaf church leaders had already been to the hospital to spend time supporting Ruth and the family in prayer and encouragement. Jon became a Christian only a year and a half ago, but has been growing in his faith. Just recently he had taken on leadership responsibilities in our church. He and Ruth were looking forward to celebrating their first anniversary which falls on October 8th.  My son and I married this wonderful couple outdoors on a beautiful fall day on October 8th—God truly has blessed them. Now this!

There were many questions—would Jon ever wake up again—had he suffered brain damage from being out for so long—would he ever be the same—would he be able to go back to work (he’s only 50)???? So all week long we waited and prayed—waited and prayed—waited and prayed some more. People all over were praying. Someone even called the local Christian radio station to ask people to pray. The doctors and nurses were positive and encouraging, but with the brain no one could say anything definite until he woke up. But the Lord encouraged us all week to keep trusting Him to take care of Jon. Dorothy Callies’ devotional series on hope during this time was a very timely encouragement.

As I prayed over Jon on Wednesday evening, Sept. 19th during the first week of our vigil, a peace settled on my heart. On the drive home, about ten minutes in, I decided to turn on my MP3 player on my phone. The first song that came on was Twila Paris’ The Battle is the Lord’s. This was an encouraging reminder of God’s sovereignty. Young David declared this to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:47. Goliath had been mocking David—who was only a young teenager with no battle experience—and his God. He told Goliath that God was in control and would give him the victory in this situation which seemed humanly impossible. Our friend Jonathan’s situation seemed impossible, but again and again God assured us He was in control.

The doctors postponed waking him up several times to make sure the conditions were right. There was concern he would wake up in a panic like many patients do. We prayed for the peace of Jesus to settle on his heart. After another postponement on Friday, Sept. 21st, we all went home thinking it would be another 2-3 days. But Saturday morning—September 22nd—after sleeping for 6 days, Jon woke up quietly, peacefully. After he was able to focus a little he signed “I love you” to his wife, Ruth. What joy we experienced as one by one, we rushed back to the hospital to watch this miracle unfold. Even though he was still very groggy and confused, Jonathan recognized everyone who came into the room and signed ILY to each one. The next day, Sunday, Sept. 23rd, he was still in a very confused state—but all day he did two things repeatedly. He said, “Praise the Lord” and insisted on laying hands on each person who visited to ask God’s blessing on them. Even though some of the details were still mixed up it was amazing how much he remembered—names, places, events. A close cousin who visited commented at how free and uninhibited his praise and worship of God was—it was a joy to watch.

The following Monday, Sept. 24th, he was talking much more, but still somewhat confused—however, each day he was a little better than the day before. On Wednesday, September 26th Jonathan was moved out of the Coronary Care Unit into a regular room. When I visited him on the Thursday, Sept. 27th, of that week he was himself, the Jon we all know and love. He was communicating clearly and seemed back to normal. The doctors still don’t know why he collapsed so suddenly on September the 16th, or how he recovered so well. But we who are the Lord’s people know—it was our God, the Great Physician who protected Jon’s mind and has brought him back to us. Although they are still unsure of what caused the 25 minute heart stoppage the doctors put in an internal defibrillator as a precaution if this happens again. Jonathan finally went home Friday, October 5th just before Canadian Thanksgiving and their 1st anniversary on October 8th—Thanksgiving Monday. We all had much to be thankful for with that extra blessing—thank You Lord.

A verse that came to me on the Sunday morning after he woke up, was 2 Chronicles 16:9a ncv.“The Lord searches all the earth for people who have given themselves completely to Him. He wants to make them strong. . . .” In the NKJV it says He wants “to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” God is looking for opportunities to show the world His power, grace and mercy through those who trust Him. His gracious actions give us hope each day—even those days which seem dark, frightening, when God appears silent. We know we can trust Him no matter what happens—Our God reigns and He is fully in control!  (End)

I hope you read this far. Prayer for Jonathan is needed as he will see his doctor for his first check up this week. We pray, oh Lord for Your continuing mighty miracles on Jonathan's life. We believed and we received. In Jesus' name, Amen!

Dorothy Callies