Sandra Everett
Ewing, New Jersey
"By the time my neighbor arrived, my pain intensified to the point where I could not breathe nor speak!... Thankfully, a heart attack was ruled out but I was advised that my left lung had collapsed! My husband and I looked at each other in disbelief and I began to cry and pray and think of nothing else but my son and daughter. "
I was born a Christian and raised in the Pentecostal religion. I received the Holy Spirit when I was 14 years old while visiting my Grandparents in Puerto Rico. Yet, as most young adults usually do, I left the Church because of its many rules and stipulations. Thankfully, I was saved and returned to God last July (2002) at my family reunion. Throughout the rest of the summer and fall of 2002 I searched and searched for a Church I could be a part of. I visited a few Churches but I could not find a Church that I felt welcomed in and that was not too far from home. I prayed that I would find this Church and that I could stop smoking but the enemy overpowered me. He overpowered me until May 28, 2003 when the Lord said, “No more – you have got to come Home!”
On May 28th at approximately 7:15pm I arrived home after a 12-hour day at the office. I was not stressed, ill, or fatigued. I was simply late coming home and late in getting things prepared for the next day. Once I arrived at home I began my usual evening routine and as I was putting lotion on my 4 year old son's body I felt an excruciating pain in my back. The pain then proceeded to my left arm and then my chest. My husband became aware of my pain and checked to see what was wrong. He assumed that it was gas or that I had strained my body the wrong way and he gave me water and asked me to get up and walk down the stairs.
My daughter finished getting my son prepared for bedtime as I followed my husband down the stairs to our living room. I explained to him that I felt as if I was having a heart attack. I asked him to contact our neighbor as she was also my doctor’s nurse. By the time my neighbor arrived, my pain intensified to the point where I could not breathe nor speak! She took my vital signs and found that I had an elevated blood pressure and immediately my husband placed me in the van and took me to the hospital!
Thankfully, a heart attack was ruled out but I was advised that my left lung had collapsed! My husband and I looked at each other in disbelief and I began to cry and pray and think of nothing else but my son and daughter. The ER doctor advised us that the surgeon had been summoned to place a tube in my chest to inflate my lung. Once the surgeon arrived he informed my husband and I that I would be hospitalized for 3-4 days and he explained the procedure to us.
A Collapsed Lung, A Heart Renewed
Using general anesthesia, the surgeon proceeded to make an incision on the left side of my chest and insert the tube while I yelled, screamed and begged God and my husband for forgiveness! I prayed loudly for God to save me that He please not take me away for my children and my husband! I promised to stop whatever He wanted me to, but to please spare my life! Within three hours of entering the ER, I was emotionally and physically exhausted; I had a chest tube on the left side of my chest; and I was escorted to the trauma unit of the hospital!
GOD had saved me. Yet, the events of my six-day hospital stay were the events that led to the MIRACLE GOD performed on me.
The first event was when my neighbor the nurse came to visit me in the hospital. She could not believe what had happened but was grateful that I had not had a heart attack. During her visit, my roommate (an elderly woman) began complaining that I was too loud, always on the phone and had too many visitors. She also stated that visiting hours were over and that my neighbor should leave. My neighbor had previously been a nurse at the hospital and so she asked her former colleagues (the nurses of the trauma unit) to switch my room. I was in the new room alone for a day when a young lady was wheeled into the bed beside mine. She was a victim of a bad car accident and had trauma to her back, neck and head. The blessed part of this woman was that she had just completed her first year of Seminary School at Princeton. God had sent me an Angel – Sign #1!
The second event was when my Mother-In-Law who is a Reverend came to visit me and she brought me the King James Version of the Holy Bible along with a book “A Woman After God’s Own Heart”. Mom provided me with verses to read and after her heartwarming visit she anointed me with oil and prayed for me! This began the large volume of prayers, which I received from my entire Christian family here in New Jersey, Florida, Atlanta and New York. I began reading the bible, praying loudly, and reading the book that Mom gave me. The days that followed were filled with visits and phone calls from my husband, family and friends. Then on the third day I finally got to see and hold my children in my arms again!
I felt all the prayers and well wishes and I was overwhelmed with Joy and Love because Jesus was with me! He was listening to all who cared and loved me and he was listening to my prayers! The power of healing came to me through prayer and the anointing of oil and I was reunited with my Father Jesus – Sign #2.
Then on the 4th day of my hospital stay, the surgeons advised me that I would need another tube inserted in my chest because the 1st tube was not working. I immediately called my husband and stopped him from bringing the children to see me for their second visit. I was so emotionally distressed that I simply could not see them so my husband took the kids home and when he returned alone he spoke with the surgeon who explained that in the morning an x-ray would be taken of my lung and if the lung was not inflated, a second tube would be inserted to expedite the process.
"Two hours later the technician came in and took the X-ray. Another two hours after that the surgeon came to see me and said, “I don’t know how, but your lung is completely inflated!” My eyes bulged out of my head and I yelled, “Thank you Jesus!” I jumped out of bed with the tube in my chest and gave the surgeon a bear hug and kiss! "
Once my husband left the hospital, I began to cry and plead with Jesus again. I prayed like I never prayed before and I even prayed along with my neighbor – the woman from the Seminary School – who was praying with a Priest from her School! The following morning at around 7am I called my Mom and through tears I explained what would be happening that morning. I begged to speak to both her and her husband who is also a Reverend/Pastor so that they could pray for me right then and there! At about 7:30am they called me back and asked, “What do you want God to do?” I said, “I want God to inflate my lung so that they would not have to put in the second tube.” At that moment as they prayed and I wept I could feel the Lord’s hand enter my chest and inflate my lung. I felt the pressure in my chest. Before they were finished praying, I felt a calmness that was so relaxing that although I was still crying, I was not afraid! After I hung up the phone, I lied down to sleep and I kept chanting “Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me!” Sign #3 – God listens to every word we say; He listens to our cries for mercy!
Two hours later the technician came in and took the X-ray. Another two hours after that the surgeon came to see me and said, “I don’t know how, but your lung is completely inflated!” My eyes bulged out of my head and I yelled, “Thank you Jesus!” I jumped out of bed with the tube in my chest and gave the surgeon a bear hug and kiss! He was quite shocked and smiled nervously. When he left I threw myself to the floor beside my bed and prayed, “Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus for your miracle! I begged the Lord to forgive me for abandoning him after being saved the year before! I was sorry for continuing to sin and for being weak and unable to give up smoking! I thanked the Lord for inflating my lung for only Jesus could have done it, as the surgeon did know how it happened! Thank You Jesus! I’m Yours again Jesus! I promise to return to Your House as soon as I am able!” – THE MIRACLE WAS PERFORMED!
I called Mom and gave her the good news! All I could hear was “Praise Jesus, Praise Jesus” as I wept! I thanked her for loving me and I asked her to thank her husband and she reminded me that it was not her husband nor her – It was GOD! “Thank God, she said and I did – I promise you I did!”
After all the excitement I fell asleep totally cleansed and renewed – as if I was born all over again. Later that day my chest tube was disconnected from the suction on the wall. Needless to say I slept like an Angel and the next day after my final x-ray, the tube was removed and I was released from the hospital!
I was the recipient of a true miracle of God! I was truly blessed by the Lord Jesus! I was forgiven for my sins when Jesus died on the cross so many centuries ago! Now, I was given another chance to become an even better mother to my children and an even better wife to my husband! I was given the opportunity to reevaluate my life and do away with the evil that I had in it! I was given the opportunity to reunite myself with my Father and Savior!
And today, thanks be to God, and my friend I am a member of a wonderful Christian Church. For months my friend had been talking to me about this church and she kept making plans to come and pick me up and take me but it never happened. Once I was out of the hospital and she came and visited me at home I asked her to please take me with her that following Sunday. I told her it was time for me to see my Father in his house and since that first day that I entered the Church I have never been happier in my entire life. My relationships with my children have never been better. My relationship with my one true love, my best friend and soul mate, my husband, has never been better!
I praise the Lord Jesus and give thanks to Him for All his Glory! He exists in me and he loves us all! He is real and He SAVED ME! It can happen to you too! Let’s praise our Father!
Sandra Everett
Ewing, New Jersey
