Part I: Changes
You just never know. I had been working part time for Shawnee Public Schools after retiring from the school as the Administrator of Buildings and Grounds. I had worked in management for quite a few years and the reasons for going back to work was to be able to carry my tool bag once again and work in the field with the guys I had supervised. These guys are a great bunch and it was an honor to work with them side by side. But after working part time for the last few years I knew it was time for a change.
2019 started off with me planning and making small changes. I started out fishing, something I hadn’t done in many years, I didn’t really care if I caught a fish or not, the important thing was doing something different. I started watching baseball on television and was planning on taking in a minor league game at the Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. Another change was quitting my job, I had finally grown tired of working. I didn’t have a specific date but I was thinking about sometime in October.
Throughout the year I made these changes and now at the last of July I had been working very hard mowing and brush hogging my property. At work I had put in a hard day starting up a chiller plant for the High School. The next day waking up I was having trouble breathing. Contacting my Doctor he had me come to his office for an examination. After the exam he was somewhat perplexed as to what was wrong with me since my vitals were in appropriate ranges. Not knowing exactly what was wrong he thought I might be having a reaction to my blood pressure medicine so he made the decision to change my medicines but by the afternoon I was still having problems. By the evening my wife took me to the ER. At the ER the attending Physician also didn’t know what was wrong initially thinking I had pneumonia he decided the appropriate action was to have me transported to the hospital in OKC.
I remember the ambulance ride and arriving at the hospital then my mind went blank. Some things would very briefly come and go but mostly I was out of it until the door opened and my neighbors Danny and Judy walked into the room. Now the strange thing about this room was that it wasn’t a hospital room but a dark theater auditorium and I was curled up in a theater seat. I could tell I was the only one in the auditorium all the seats were empty and the stage and movie screen had no lights. The strange thing about all this is I didn’t find anything unusual about where I was nor did Danny and Judy say anything about the room/auditorium.
Now don’t misunderstand what I have said, I knew something was wrong I just didn’t know what. I wasn’t in pain but I was trying real hard to hold onto the here and now. Danny asked how I was doing and in my mind I replied okay I guess, then Judy leaned down and looked me right in the eyes and she spoke. It was Judy, because she was standing right in front of me, but it wasn’t her voice. The voice was deep with authority and the words were commanding. “You will live and not die” remember what I have said, “You will live and not die.” “Take your phone and search YouTube for Norvel Hayes listen to his sermon How to Live and Not Die and do as Pastor Hayes says to do.” “ Then you will read Mark 11;23”. Even though I was in a stupor I heard her words as plain as day and somehow don’t ask me how I wrote down everything Judy said to me.
Sure its on my phone but I never watch YouTube. I’m not sure how I done it, but I have to believe God guided my hands as I typed in Norvel Hayes’s name. The first and only sermon to show up on my screen was the video How to Live and Not Die. I touched the arrow to play and Brother Norvel began to preach. I’m not going to attempt to explain the entire sermon, but will try in my humble efforts to explain what the voice instructed me to do.
Brother Norvel told the story of a young man, grievously ill lying in Intense Care, nothing of his afflictions were spoke of, other than he breathed only some of the time. The Doctors had no idea of what to do and unless a miracle were to occur the young man was certainly going to die. Brother Norvel a traveling Minister was in town to speak at the young mans church, the Minister of the church asked Brother Norvel if he would accompany him to the hospital to visit the young man and pray at his bed side.
At the hospital the Nurse in charge explained to the two Ministers no one but the immediate family was allowed in to see the young man and even they were only allowed two minutes at a time. The man’s Minister appealed to the nurse that they would only stay for two minutes and only stand at the foot of his bed and pray. The Nurse finally relented and allowed them to enter.
Sitting by the bedside was the young man’s wife who the Doctors allowed to stay at her husbands side at all times. The Ministers spoke to the young lady saying they were their to pray for her husband and ask for God’s Will to heal her husband. Finishing their prayers they again offered words of hope and grace to the wife and started to leave the room. Suddenly! Brother Norvel stopped and turned to the wife taking her by the hand excited and a bit agitated. The Holy Spirit has just moved inside of me! He said to the young woman, he has told me he will heal your husband if he will obey Mark Chapter 11 verse 23. He also said to me Pray to God in Jesus’s name. “MY HUSBAND WILL NOT DIE, MY HUSBAND WILL LIVE THANK YOU JESUS FOR HEALING MY HUSBAND, MY HUSBAND WILL LIVE AND NOT DIE.” Say these words over and over a hundred times! A thousand times! As many times as it takes, only stop to rest, once rested began again and the Holy Spirit will heal your husband! Brother Norvel and the Minister were again walking out of the room, when Brother Norvel turned again to the young wife one last time and said “Have only victory thoughts for the devil will defeat you with doubtful thoughts.”
Six months or so later Brother Norvel was again invited to the church for revival and the Minister as the service began came to Brother Norvel and said “Do you see the young couple on the front row?” That is the young man who the Doctors said would die in the next day or two. Remember we visited and prayed over him in his room. Lets ask them to come to the pulpit and give their testimony.
The young man standing before the congregation began, “Yes I was ill and the Doctors gave me no chance of living. It was just a matter of minutes to a few days and I would die. Now after six months I am completely healed and today I’m as strong as I was before I became sick. I am now the Youth Minister for this church and I have been blessed. I praise the Lord Jesus for my life as he finished his testimony.”
Then the young man’s wife who was standing beside her husband at the podium spoke. “I was so worried so scared for my husband I was afraid he was going to die. I sat beside his bed for days and I was losing all hope. Then our Minister and Brother Norvel came into our room to pray. After saying their prays and as they were leaving, Brother Norvel suddenly turned to me and said the Holy Spirit is speaking to me telling me he will heal your husband if Mark 23 is obeyed. Brother Norvel said pray in Jesus’s name MY HUSBAND WILL NOT DIE, MY HUSBAND WILL LIVE, THANK YOU JESUS FOR HEALING MY HUSBAND, MY HUSBAND WILL LIVE AND NOT DIE. I started immediately saying this pray over and over, hardly ever taking a break all through the day and through the night I didn’t leave my husbands side. If I dozed, when I woke I started saying the pray again. I did this and after a couple of days his breathing became a little bit better and after two weeks he was breathing on his own. Any improvements no matter how small we celebrated and rejoiced in the glory of God. Now my husband and I pray each day giving thanks to the Good Lord for saving his life and the miracle of his healing.”
The last thing Judy said to me before her and Danny left was more than I hope you get well. She told me how to get well. She reminded me how in years past for exercise I would walk from my home to the Little River bridge about three miles more or less. This I would do almost every evening from Spring to late Fall. During these walks sometimes I would work on poems that I was writing and planning to performed at Cowboy Poetry Gatherings, reciting verses as I walked. Other times when I reached the top of thrill hill I would stop and look at the horizon and it would remind me of the Ozarks a place I dearly loved to visit. Then there were times as the sun would be setting and with the heat of the day it would embrace the coolness of the evening and their kiss would make ghostly vapors across the creek bottom lands sending shivers through my body.
Then she said still in the deep voice that wasn’t hers. “This is what I am telling you to do. In your mind as you lay in this bed picture the dirt road in front of your house. Picture yourself walking down the road feel your legs and feet taking each step and work your arms back and forth as you walk. See the sun as it sets in the west and feel the breeze as it touches your face remember your lifetime on this road to the river. Do this as many times as it takes to complete your walk and you will be healed
Part II: The Hospital
I know everything I’ve said so far must seem far-fetched, but it is an honest telling of what Judy said to me. Most of the time I was in a stupor barely aware of what was happening. During this time in my mind I still wasn’t in a regular hospital room. One time I found myself sitting and slouching in a dark waiting room. I remember only a few visitors my grandson Riley, my cousin Jerry Lynn with his wife Mary Ann and Kent another neighbor from down the road. I only remember family and friends staying for a few seconds and then they were gone.
This area I was in was dark, there was no sunlight nor any moon or stars I didn’t know if it was day or night. There was a small amount of light at the receptionist desk which was across from the seating area. I couldn’t make out who these people were but they were busy and I could hear them talking softly as they worked.
For some reason one of the workers a young woman who I took to be a Nurse would come to where I sat and tell me to drink this cup of orange juice. This went on for hours and hours and if I fell asleep she would shake me by the shoulders or take my face into her hands slapping me enough to wake me up. As she was doing this she would say “JIMMIE, JIMMIE, JIMMIE STAY WITH ME STAY WITH ME” over and over. Then a thought came into my mind or perhaps better said the thought was placed there, “READ MARK 11:23.” I don’t know how I was able to do this, but at the same time I know in my heart how I was able to. I took my phone and downloaded The Holy Bible.
Opening to the table of contents I went to the Book of Mark and began turning pages to Chapter 11:23 and read, "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."
Physically I wasn’t aware, I didn’t speak and I couldn’t really recognize anyone or my surroundings and I might hear but I didn’t comprehend. At times I could sense some movement maybe whoever it was came and stood beside me, I never felt a touch only a closeness and I kept saying my mantra again and again, as Jesus said to Peter “HAVE FAITH IN GOD” Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Should be easy, but in my mind I knew the voice wanted me to experience more than a brief summary. What the voice wanted was for me to feel each step I took.
I couldn’t say if I was still in the waiting room, or laying in a bed, but my physical location didn’t matter I was going to picture this walk in my head as if it were a movie. I pictured myself at my home getting ready to walk. I always wore cargo shorts and a t-shirt, in my closet was a worn pair of New Balance walking shoes. I grabbed my fanny pack off the hook and fasten the belt around my waist. Filling two water bottles from the tap I stuffed them into the bottle holders on the pack. Almost ready I went back to my room for the most important things, my worn and thread-bare straw hat which anyone else would have thrown away a long time ago. And my walking stick, a thin limb cut from a cedar tree the bark shaved off and the stick stained to seal from the weather.
The voice nudged me as it did every time when I had to start over. “Jim….Jim its time to walk.” Once again I stood on my front porch my fanny pack around my waist my straw hat perched on my head with my walking stick in my hand I headed for the road. I passed the same landmarks I had acknowledged so many times before and as I was getting closer to Whitman’s mailbox I started feeling kinda strange, I don’t know exactly how to explain it but my brain began to tingle a little bit. Looking down the hill on my right I seen Munday’s driveway with the rock banisters protecting the culvert which was also a good sitting place to take a rest. I turned to my left and almost stopped in my tracks walking with me on the left side of the road matching me step by step was Mrs. Laura Ingalls Wilder!
Now wait a minute before jumping to conclusions, don’t start thinking I’ve lost my mind and become delusional. Because it wasn’t Mrs. Laura Ingalls Wilder the famous author of the Little House on the Prairie fame, but a Border Collie mix that was my daughter’s dog way back at least thirty years ago. Marie was a huge fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the books she wrote so she named her dog after her favorite author.
Mrs. Laura as we always called her was my walking buddy, for years she went with me step for step, she always walked on the left side of the road while I walked on the right she stayed out of the way of cars and didn’t bark or chase the neighbors cows as we walked past there pastures. Mrs. Laura was one fine Lady.
I can’t describe how it made me feel seeing Mrs. Laura, except that it felt right. She had been gone from my life for a long time and now she was here walking beside me as we went down the hill toward the deer run. A crossing where in the twilight of the evening I had sat on Munday’s rock culvert and watched as the deer crossed the road to the pond on his property.
As Mrs. Laura and I headed south I felt happy, I started taking longer steps. I swung my arms back and forth and let me tell you the smile on my face was in competition with the sun shinning down on us. We passed the pond beside the road but it was to early for the deer to be there for a drink of water. Then at the bottom of the hill we strolled by my neighbor’s home. I looked to see if Kent was out and about and if he had a been I would've given him a big wave and shouted hello.
In front of Kent’s home for a short distance the road was straight and flat then it dropped off into the Wildcat Creek bottoms. When we reached the drop off point I stopped for a moment as I always did and looked out across the bottoms watching the cows grazing in the pastures. I thought back many years ago about riding horseback working cattle in these pastures my two horses, Corky and Sugarfoot both good working horses helped this young man live a Cowboys dream.
Taking the first steps off the hilltop leading to the creek bridge once again I faded away. Every time this happened it always seemed like many hours to several days would go by before I became aware again. This time was different. I became aware much faster and this time the voice that was nudging me to start walking was my voice. When I stepped out of the house onto my porch, laying by the door waiting for me was Mrs. Laura. I didn’t know how far I would get before fading out, but with Mrs. Laura by my side I no longer felt alone.
Where as before there was a certain amount of hesitation in my steps as if I didn’t know exactly what was going on, this time I walked with a purpose. I knew where I was going and what I was doing and in my mind I spoke my mantra loud and clear.
Mrs. Laura and I made good time from my home to the incline to the creek bottom. From there we walked to the creek bridge where we stopped to take a break. I sat on the rail of the bridge, while Mrs. Laura laid beside the left banister waiting or perhaps wondering if I was ever going to move again. I looked down the road and I could see Glen’s old place on the left along with Danny and Judy’s home. On my right the Rose’s old home place and on the other side of the fence line was the Warden home. And right down the middle was the tallest steepest hill in the neighborhood.
This hill is a challenge no matter what reality you are in. I had hiked to the top and rode my bike to the top of this hill many times and it was never an easy task. Sometimes when doing this I would have to take a rest break before making it to the top. This hill had a few different names, I’ve always known it as Kessinger’s Hill, named after the family who build a two story home at the very top of the hill sometime in the early part of the twentieth century. Other names like Heart Attack Hill, and Suicide Hill were perfect names when walking or biking to the top. And Thrill Hill is a well earned name when your riding a bike or driving a vehicle to the bottom. Rising from the banister with a little bit of thrill and a lot of trepidation I said to Mrs. Laura its time to walk.
With walking stick in my hand and my head bowed to the task I started saying out loud my mantra over and over while putting one foot in front of another. I was determined to make the top of the hill without taking a break or especially fading out.
Part way up I glanced over at Mrs. Laura and she was as spry as a puppy while my legs felt as if they had lead weights attached to them. I didn’t look back and I didn’t miss a step, but I leaned into my walking stick bending it almost to the point of snapping, as I pulled myself up the hill.
Reaching the crest of the hill breathing hard I raised my arms in victory to the clear blue sky. My eyes looked to the hills on the horizon and a breeze cooled my sweaty body. For the first time in a long time I felt strong, not physically nor mentally, what I felt was the strength of the spirit in my body for I had climbed a mountain.
At the top of the hill Mrs. Laura and I started walking. Renewed in my mind I started saying again over and over my mantra “IN JESUS’S NAME MY FATHER I WILL NOT DIE, MY FATHER I WILL LIVE, THANK YOU JESUS FOR HEALING ME, I WILL LIVE AND NOT DIE.” Then I added to my mantra “PLEASE MY DEAR FATHER I ASK IN JESUS’S NAME, I ONLY ASK TO BE NORMAL, THANK YOU MY FATHER.”
Up ahead not to far past the top of the hill was a stone walkway and bordering this walkway on both sides were Easter Lilies in full bloom and very pretty. This walkway led up to where Kessinger’s two story home with the wraparound porch had once sit overlooking the pastures and fields. This beautiful old home had been destroyed by fire many years ago but I could still see it standing there in my mind as true as if it had never been touched by a flame. For a moment I stopped as a memory came to me of sitting in the shade of the wraparound porch visiting with Uncle Herman on a Spring evening while his two Red Bone hounds and his old Blue tick hound laid at our feet relaxing in the evening breezes.
With this memory still in my mind I gave the Easter Lilies a melancholy little smile and stepped back out on the road and headed south to where the road curved back to the east. At the curve another memory came to my mind of an old shack that sat on this curve many, many years ago. The roof was falling in and none of the windows had any glass in them. I remember Mom and I stopping at this old shack on a chilly winter day on our way to visit Grandpa and Grandma. As we explored the old house Mama told me how Grandpa sharecropped this hill land when she was a young girl and this shack was their home. She told me of the hardships the family faced just to put food on the table and raise a crop. She said to me. “ In life its not always going to be rosy and when times get hard you have to stand up and face your troubles head on and take care of them the best you can.” As I headed on down the road I never forgot the life lessons Mama taught me. And how after all these years of her being gone my eyes still tear up and my heart aches from missing her. With each step bringing me closer to the river I asked God once again to please heal me and let me be normal again.
Just past the curve the road has a couple of dips and two small hills, standing on the last hill before walking down to the pecan groves that border both sides of the road I noticed to my left an old barbwire gate latched to an oak tree. Looking closely you could barely make out a rutted roadway now almost grown over from not being used. This trail led down to a treacherous creek crossing into a secluded hay field. I knew this because as a kid not even old enough to legally drive a car I had hauled many a bale of hay out of this field.
I worked with Uncle Herman and Grandpa Hogue. Now let me say neither one of these gentlemen were my kin, but every person young or old who lived in the neighborhood always referred to these two men as Uncle and Grandpa showing their respect for them.
We hauled the hay with two old International pickup trucks both with short narrow beds. Grandpa Hogue was the driver, he was at least in his mid eighties and had problems with his eye sight. Uncle Herman a very strong man from the waist up had weak legs, and needed a couple of canes to keep him steady as he walked. When stacking hay he would sit on the rails of the truck and stack the hay as I ran beside the truck and tossed the bales up to him. How we managed to load fifty bales of hay on both trucks, drive them across the muddy creek and climb the cow trail to the county road I’ll never know. I knew my inner self was alert and strong from my memories but thoughts of fading away still teased the forefront of my mind as I walked away from the wire gate pulled tight against the oak tree.
Leaving the pecan groves and crossing Wildcat Creek for the second time Mrs. Laura and I were entering the Skaggs City community. This area got its name from the country store that a person by the name of Skaggs ran in the nineteen twenties through the mid fifties.
Mama would tell me stories about riding in the wagon to the store when the family had money to buy staples like flour and sugar. During World War II she had a boy friend serving in the Army and he would write to her in care of Skaggs City Store. Reaching the Y in the road I refocused my thoughts as Mrs. Laura and I turned to the south we were getting closer, Little River was only about a mile away. I spoke my mantra loud and clear and over and over, I also added another prayer to my mantra asking my Father to keep my mind awake I have to reach the river bridge.
Crossing Wildcat creek for the last time what little bit of water in the creek traveled slowly to the south to empty into the river. Up ahead there was a big hump in the road from a culvert constructed in the 1930’s by the WPA to drain water from the west side of the road to the creek side on the east to keep the road from flooding.
This hump in the road brought good memories to my mind. When I was a little boy no more than four or five, Dad surprised me one day by driving really fast over this hump if we didn’t go airborne it sure felt like we did because I bounced all over the back seat of his old car. From then on whenever we were traveling this road and coming up on the hump I would scream out in joy saying “Drive faster Daddy, drive faster.” and every time he would hit the gas and we would fly over the hump and we all would laugh so hard it hurt. This memory and others came to me as I walked this road. All happy memories that in my mind brought a smile to my face and joy to my heart.
Passing the hump and walking to the top of the hill I finally looked down unto Little River bottoms. In the near distance was my destination the river bridge. It was hard to believe that I was this close I looked over to the left side of the road to Mrs. Laura and I was bewildered to see that I was now standing in the middle of the road and Mrs. Laura was sitting beside me looking up at me as if she was going to speak.
I glanced again to the bridge excited and thrilled that I was finally this close and then I glanced back to Mrs. Laura and, and she wasn’t there she was gone! In a panic I looked to each side of the road and even turned and looked back the way we had come. She was not to be seen anywhere. Then it dawned on me what she was saying. The rest of the way you have to walk alone.
Through all the hardships and setbacks I had encountered to reach this point, Mrs. Laura leaving hit me the hardest. I sat down in the middle of the road cross legged and with my face in my hands I cried my heart out. I truly loved that dog but she was much more than just a dog. She was my friend and companion. I loved her and I didn’t even get to say goodbye.
Part IV: The Bridge
Unsteadily I rose to my feet and timidly put one foot in front of the other. This was the first time since this odyssey began that I had doubts. The finish line was in my sight yet my legs were weak and my mind was saying you are done, you need to rest, fade away your too weak to make it this time.
I shook my head and I screamed NO, NO, NO WAY! The Lord wanted me to make this walk, he wanted me to cross this bridge I will not disappoint My Father. Then I closed my mind to this type of thinking and started feeling with my heart. I said my mantra over and over timing it with each step. And as I took each step I felt my strength returning as the bridge grew closer I knew I was going to make it.
I was feeling good as I lifted my foot to make the first step onto the bridge. My eyes were on the middle of the bridge, the spot that all those years past was the stopping point for my walks. Then it happened something so shocking that if it hadn’t frozen me in my tracks I would have turned and ran away.
I heard loud cheering and clapping and as I looked to my left standing on the opposite side of the bridge banister stood my family, I seen many of my aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Standing right up front was Uncle Elmer and down from him was Aunt Bea I seen both of them as plain as day, and everyone was cheering me on.
Needless to say I was frighten, but at the same time my heart filled with happiness. These people had passed away many years ago and to see them again filled me with love and joy.
I hurried for the center of the bridge wanting to complete my walk so I could hug and talk with each and everyone of these dear people whom I loved when they were living and whom I thought of and still loved to this day.
Looking at and recognizing my relatives and old friends many of these people whose influence on this young boys life made this old man who he is today, I sincerely hoped and prayed they were pleased with the outcome. I reached the center of the bridge and raised my foot to take that final step to complete my walk and suddenly the floor of the concrete bridge erupted and split wide open! Fragments of concrete crumbled to gravel and re-bar curled over on itself! As the split widened I was frozen in place my foot still raised to take that last step and then to my absolute amazement a figure rose through the large hole of the bridge floor.
Her arms were raised stretching upward, reaching to heaven and touching the clouds in the sky. She shined a bright gold from the top of her tiara to the bottom of her gown. And standing there in her glory was a spirit and beauty for the eye to behold. Looking at her, you knew you were in the presence of Holiness. But then in the blink of my eye I found myself no longer on the bridge but standing on the roadway to the south of the bridge staring in wonder as the golden angel touched heaven.
I looked to the banister where my family and friends had stood to see if they were able to see the golden angel but they were no longer there, they had vanished. And I asked myself how did I get to the south side of the bridge? I had no idea, I never felt myself being picked up or moved I was just there. Everything was fast and as I said earlier “In a blink of an eye” it was that fast. Then I opened my eyes to find my wife and daughter sitting by my bedside.
Epilogue
Even though I had done what the voice instructed and completed the walk. The Good Lord did not suddenly make me well and return me to my normal self. I was still a very sick person. There was a tube down my throat so I couldn’t speak, I also couldn’t move my legs and my eyes were seeing double. My arms and my hearing were about the only things that did operate with some sense of normal. In order for me to communicate I made writing motions with my hands and was given a pen and tablet, for the next couple of months this was my means of communication.
For two weeks I laid in a hospital bed in ICU for the most part unresponsive. The medical professionals ran every test imaginable and still didn’t know what was wrong with me. Finally in desperation my wife told them if they couldn’t figure it out she would move me to another hospital that could. Now I don’t know if her talking to them did any good or not but it certainly didn’t hurt. Finally they did come up with a diagnosis and began treating me. This disease they say I have is an auto-immune disease that very few people have ever heard of.
Now let me speak to what I know, and also what I truly believe in my heart. The events of the above story actually happened. I knew when Judy spoke telling me to picture myself in my mind walking to the bridge I knew it wasn’t her voice I heard, but a voice from heaven. In my heart I didn’t question her instructions, I knew I had to make this walk. More importantly though was, I wanted to walk.
Following Judy’s orders I found Brother Norvel on YouTube and watched as he preached his sermon on How To Live and Not Die. I also downloaded the Holy Bible to my phone and read Mark 11: 23. I then began praying to God in Jesus name my mantra which I repeated over and over. How did I do this? I certainly wasn’t in any condition to search, watch or download anything to my phone. The only way I can possibly explain is, The Good Lord made a way, because two weeks later when I awoke it was all on my phone. So I do believe.
Seeing Mrs. Laura walking beside me released tensions of doubt that were attempting to take seed in my mind. I have to believe God was sending me a message that Mrs. Laura would watch over me as I made my way to the river.
As I made my way to the bridge all the wonderful memories that came to mind and all of the people who influenced my young life were so vivid and real. Taking the first step on the bridge I seen my family and friends with my own eyes, I heard their cheering and clapping I felt the love and emotion from them to me and in my heart I gave back to them all my love.
And finally, The Golden Angel. I have not the words to describe how beautiful and marvelous she was, as her hands reached to the blue sky touching Heaven. I stood on the south side of the Little River bridge weak-kneed and in total awe of what I had just witnessed. I can say in my heart and in my mind “I truly believe.”
I spent almost three months in the hospital. In the beginning I couldn’t speak nor move my legs. I knew though if I could complete my mental walk to the river bridge, I would work harder than I had ever worked in my life to walk out of this hospital.
Every waking moment I worked hard trying to get better. Physical Therapy would stop in and work with me every day and after they left I would keep exercising. As I laid on the bed, I would take my legs in my hands and pull, push, and even drag them and all the while in my mind willing my feet to move and my knees to bend. All during this time I didn’t forget Brother Norvel’s message. I kept asking God through his son Jesus Christ to heal me and let me just be normal again. And each time after saying this prayer I would humbly thank my Lord for all he done for me. I would also thank him for my family, my friends and all others who had come into my life.
After almost three months of hard work and one huge setback that put me back in the ICU for a week I was able to walk out of the hospital and come home. Now after two years I am as healthy and strong as I have ever been, and my Doctors or impressed by how well I am doing.
I’m thankful to the Doctors, Nurses and all the Therapists who took care of me. I am also thankful to my Wife, Daughter, Son-in-Law and Grandson who watched over me.
I am blessed for having so many wonderful friends who would call or make the long trip from home to the city to visit me. I am also blessed for the many others who I have never met that prayed for my recovery, I never felt alone.
Finally I am forever humbled and thankful to The Good Lord for the love and blessings he has bestowed on my life. With all my heart and soul I believe Danny and Judy were his messengers and he spoke through Judy showing me the Way.
Thank you my Father.
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