Divine Connection

One of the most miraculous things that has ever happened to me was the most painful things that has ever happened to me. In the fall on 1990 I was a senior in high school preparing to graduate and on to my dreams. My Great-grandmother had suffered a stroke and a brain tumor had returned. I watched her go from the upbeat Saint that sang, ushered, and managed to hold our family together dwindle down to her death.

We noticed she was forgetting things, taking an excessive amount of time to eat, and sleeping a lot. She was checked into Mobile Infirmary and was admitted she would spend two months in the hospital. The first time I went to visit after her surgery she wasn't Ma as we affectionately called her. She was slowly responding.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to find myself and mature because in a couple of months I will be faced with the challenge of college. I began to seek God more than I ever had. I can remember it was a typical day and I made up my mind to negotiate with God. If he would just let "Ma" live I'd be a christian and live for him. I pleaded with God because she was such an example to not only me but our entire dysfunctional family.

A couple of weeks later on my visit she could talk, I remember her saying, "Shiek what have you been up to?" I was like okay, God you are answering my prayers. Be mindful we went to visit her almost two hours away almost every other day. The next time of significance she was different snatching the covers off of her and not speaking. I thought, "oh my goodness." This is not what God & I agreed. After test we found that she was allergic to one of her medications which caused the ill affect. She was such a modest woman that it was unthinkable of her to expose anything other than her neck up.

I prayed many days and nights reminding God of our agreement. It was a couple of weeks and the hospital said they couldn't do anything for her and she would have to be moved to a nursing home. She was moved and my favorite Aunt on my mothers side & her husband took over. I really commend them for being so diligent and good to Ma. Aunt Virg was a nurse and worked nights so she would go see Ma in the morning's when she got off and her husband my favorite uncle on my Mothers side Uncle Gene would go around noon so Aunt Virg could sleep.

Oh, i forgot to mention when she left the hospital her condition worsened. She eventually feel into a coma. Even still someone was with her 24/7. We still talked to her and loved on her and told her our stories. It was a few days before Thanksgiving and we had been summoned down because the time was near. I remember it as if it were yesterday, I couldn't rest and neither could my cousin whom we call Brother. I sat up & I wrote out her obituary. The next day my mother, my grandmothers husband (her first one died), her sister, and myself went to see her and give the others a rest.

I was sitting in a chair diagonal from her face. I can remember hearing footsteps come into the room and I remember asking my mother,"Momma did you hear the footsteps?' I was reading a Gideons bible that I had received from school and tears were rolling down my face. In the moment I was gathering myself and reminding God of my plea. I looked over and she arose as if she was miraculously healed from the coma and she smiled at me. Her eyes were clear no longer glazed or blood shot but clear as the sky on a perfect summer day.I thought she was about to say something but she never did. She was gone but in peace no more pain and suffering. It was as if she approved of my decision to live for God and was released to go home.

My mother called the family and gave them the news. Iwas upset but somewhat at peace because in my heart of hearts I wanted her to suffer no more but for her to be in peace and have rest. She had done so many things for us & in her christian walk she deserved nothing less than the KINGDOM of Almighty GOD!!

We went to Aunt Virg's house and I pulled the obituary off the top of the refrigerator and she was amazed. She knew I had been at the nursing home so when did I have time to write it was her question..I told her and she walked out of the room. She was the strong one able to hold her pain in better than the rest. That very day was one of the many divine connections I had with God. This was one I will never forget.

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.
Samuel Butler (1835 - 1902), The Way of All Flesh, Chapter 77