THE STORIES \ Rebekah Beene
Rebekah Beene
When Angels step in.
Each morning of our life-changing event was a morning I wrote. I had to. I had to seek God and get His perspective for everything. Without that, I am quite sure I would not have made it.
My husband and I had lived a good life. We’ve been through difficulties, but for the most part we’ve had a blessed marriage. We always prayed over each other and for one another. We prayed for illness to stay away and trouble to be blocked at the door. Yet on May 6, 2017, everything changed.
We had been to a meeting in Dallas and my husband was experiencing what everyone thought was back trouble. Unable to move his right foot, he finally said we needed to go home. Once we got home things worsened. My husband could no longer get out of the back seat where he had been resting all the way. We drove to the local emergency room where it was determined that his back was the problem. But this time, they sent us by ambulance to a larger hospital in Little Rock, to be under the care of a back specialist. At 4 AM the next morning my husband woke me up with a whisper and a tear in the corner of his eye. We would find out within another day that my husband was experiencing a stroke.
“My strong man was suddenly so weak he couldn’t move his entire right side nor could he speak above a whisper. The one I had leaned on for over 43 years was changed. What was I going to do? How could I live? Where would I run to?”
I could stop there. That could be the end of the story. The devastation of all that a stroke entails. My strong man was suddenly so weak he couldn’t move his entire right side nor could he speak above a whisper. The man I had leaned on for over 43 years was changed. What was I going to do? How could I live? Where would I run to?
I am blessed to say that just over a year later God has outdone Himself. He has proved Himself to be more than a Savior, He is our Comforter and most assuredly our best friend. I know now that I would never know God to the depth that I do now, had we not gone through what we did. But I’m also here to say that in spite of all these things, we are more than conquerors.
Today my husband has a strong voice again. He reads the Word. He has returned to work. At 68 years old, he wants to work full time, believing it is good for him. I would agree. What looked like the worst day of our life, turned out to be full of such rich and promising blessings.
Would I want to do it all again? Of course not. There have been times I asked the Lord to take the stroke from Danny and put it on me. I have bargained with the Lord, told Him just how I felt about all this. I even repented many things that came before me as we waited the hours, days and months of Danny’s rehabilitation. But I tell you the truth, God is good, all the time.
What all happened because my husband had a stroke? We met a doctor who hears God’s voice. The first doctor in Little Rock said she was having quiet time at home that Sunday morning and heard God speak to her “Go to the hospital and see that man in person.” She listened to the Lord and because of that, she’s the one who discovered it was a stroke not a back problem. We met a nurse who was an angel from heaven (all the nurses and caretakers were absolutely wonderful, but this one was extra special) She walked into Danny’s hospital room on one of those very bad days early on.
“You’re not in danger. You’re on assignment. Even the hardest of places have to bow the will to the Father’s plans for your life. Yes bad things happen but you don’t have to crumble under them. Your life is a beautiful canvas and the Lord is painting your life story upon it.”
She took his vitals and then she began to pray over him – from his head to his toes. Then she spoke over him words straight from the throne room, “He will walk again and He will preach the Gospel. God is not finished with him.” I did manage to ask her if she was an angel. We never saw this nurse before. She had no knowledge of our walk with God and we never saw her again. Other people along the way were angels in disguise, from the nurse who brought me meals from home to the friends who lived just down the street from the rehab hospital who washed my clothes, sat with Danny while I ran errands, and more. The list is too long to recount.
Wherever you are beloved, if you will hold on to the Lord as hard as He is holding onto you, there will come a day when you will see His wonderful works in your life. You and I don’t have to worry whatever happens to us or our loved ones. For God is pleased to give us blessings and honor and more wisdom and power and love than we’ve ever had before.
You’re not in danger. You’re on assignment. Even the hardest of places have to bow the will to the Father’s plans for your life. Yes, bad things happen but you don’t have to crumble under them. Your life is a beautiful canvas and the Lord is painting your life story upon it. It’s His message to the world through you that He is Lord. And when His plan shows, your life shines with the glory of God even if you didn’t realize it. This is your finest hour. An emissary sent to the far reaches to tell the greatest story ever known!
Rebekah Beene, Oh Beloved!
(If you’d like to read the devos I wrote each morning while we were in hospital and rehab, go to my blog rebekahbeene.wordpress.com and go to May 2017 through the end of July 2017)
