by LA Ekstrom

It was a dire time for our family.  I had quit my corporate job in January of the year before to come home, care for the children, and decrease the stress in our marriage.  To save our home, we refinanced it around Thanksgiving but the payments were really beyond our means…still, it stopped the foreclosure.  My husband’s business had slowed to a stop by then and he had just found a regular truck driving job in December to help pay the past due bills.  The driving job would supply needed things like medical and dental insurance after six weeks.  I was so relieved.

And then…

Three weeks before the medical insurance was to kick in, my husband started feeling very ill.  He thought it was the flu, then suspected it was his appendix, but he prayed and kept working.  There was no way we could afford the medical bills, let alone the time off of the job.  He was in serious pain for a couple of days and then it stopped.  He thought maybe he had been healed.  After 10 days though, he walked through the door after driving all day, and was stooped over nearly perpendicular to the floor.  He was white with pain and shaking.  That was it.  The kids and I shepherded him into the car, took him to the emergency room at Good Sam hospital where they diagnosed him with a burst appendix, and they scheduled him for surgery.  My sister came and got the kids to feed them (it had been several hours), and they began to prep Jerry.

At 5:45 that evening they wheeled him to surgery.  It was a Saturday night and the surgical waiting room was empty and very, very quiet.  There was no one on the floor with me.  I even answered the phone a couple of times when it was obvious that no one else would.  Somehow God gave me a supernatural peace that he would be okay, which didn’t make any sense.  Peritonitis (an infection that results from a burst appendix) had 10 days to set in and he should have been near death.  At 6:00 p.m. as I watched the clock tick, knowing they were beginning the incision, I asked the Lord a question, “Lord, what would you have me do?”

(I had my preconceived notions, sell the house, go back to work, beg money from relatives, etc., etc., etc.).  Through the deep stillness of that empty hospital wing, what I heard, clearly and unmistakably from God, was just two words:  "Worship Me."

That’s all, just “Worship Me”.  In the silence, it rocked my heart.  Worship you?  My husband is having his gut cut open, we’re going to lose everything, and you say, Worship Me?

So I did.  All alone, outloud but softly; I sang to Him.

My sister, the kids, my cousin and my father-in-law arrived soon after.  They were present when the surgeon came out and announced the first miracle:  The appendix had walled itself off and even after 10 days, the infection had not spread!  The surgery was the less extensive kind, faster to heal from, and less serious.

He was in the hospital for one week and home for four.  The hospital was able to qualify us for the Oregon Health Plan and every penny of the over $15,000.00 in medical bills was paid.

Due to the refinancing of our home and the cancellation of a credit life insurance policy, we ended up being in a paid ahead status on our loan and had three more months of no payments due!

Someone from our church anonymously donated $300 to us through our pastor and all of our food and utility bills were covered.

Jerry healed quickly and completely.

“Worship Me”; the answer that didn’t seem to be an answer.  In His presence is fullness of joy.  In His quietness and confidence is our strength.  He is our refuge and our fortress in time of trouble.  In His presence is our answer.

In everything -- Worship Him!