Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: BREATH (11/19/20)
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TITLE: Her Peace Carried Her Through | Previous Challenge Entry
By Carolyn Ahrens
11/23/20 -
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There it was…the words she had dreaded hearing ever since the day she was told Sadie had a rare heart defect. Doctors didn’t think she’d live to see her teen years, much less age 37. They couldn’t explain how she could still be alive after all this time, but Sadie knew.
Sadie had a strong faith in God. She knew it was Him keeping her going against all odds. He does what man can’t do. Jesus gave her the strength to endure in all her health crisis’. This was just another one of those times and she had peace about it. Sadie tried talking to her mother about putting her trust in Jesus, but it always seemed to fall on deaf ears…still, Sadie hoped one day she would know the love and peace of Jesus as she had.
“There’s nothing left to do but die,” her mom thought, after talking with Hospice. They needed all the help they could get. It was just Sadie and her mom at home. The other two children were grown with families of their own and her husband had died many years back. Knowing that Hospice would be there to help, brought comfort to her mind. She was afraid she wouldn’t know what to do…afraid of falling apart in front of her daughter in her final moments, just when she needed her mom the most.
The doctor had said, within a week, Sadie’s heart would most likely give out. This was not frightening to Sadie. The only thing that made her anxious was struggling to catch her breath, which was happening more often. It required oxygen and a sedative to get her calm down.
It was mid-November and nearly 6 months had passed since the doctors gave Sadie a death sentence. Once again, they were baffled that she was still alive, much less doing so well. Sadie told them that God was in control and wasn’t done with her yet. Her mom wanted to believe like her daughter…to have peace, but she didn’t have it. She never prayed...she didn't believe in it.
Sadie’s brother was having a birthday party and she wanted to go. Her mom was afraid she’d catch a bug being in a restaurant.
“Mom, I’m doing great. You heard the doctors. I don’t want to just sit here waiting to die,” she explained.
“Okay,” her mom said reluctantly.
They went to the party and Sadie had a great time, laughing like she hadn’t in years. It warmed her mom’s heart to watch, and for just a little while, she forgot her baby girl was dying.
Shortly after getting home, Sadie began to have difficulty breathing, so her mom put her on oxygen. Sadie began flailing her arms and legs, grabbing at the mask as she struggled for air. A sedative was given but it wasn’t helping, so Hospice was called.
“I’m on my way,” said a hospice nurse. “Go ahead and give her another dose,” but it didn’t help either.
Sadie cried, “Jesus, I can’t breathe!” In her daughter’s distress, she jumped on the bed to hold her. There was nothing she could do; for the first time she cried, “Jesus help.”
Sadie calmly laid back, reaching out her arms as if to hug someone. “Jesus,” she said with a smile, then drew her last breath.
As a last resort, Sadie’s mother prayed to Jesus.
Sometimes we tend to do the same thing when we should actually be going to God first. He wants us to come to him. He loves us so much that he gave his son to save us. We don’t always understand his ways, but he’s God and sees the big picture. He heard Sadie’s mom and took Sadie out of suffering.
Lying there, she stared at her daughter and peace came over her like she’d never known. She smiled. Finally, she had the peace of Jesus, that Sadie had longed for her to know.
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