You are not alone...

    Richard had been suffering from a pain in his abdomen for two days and believed that he had pulled a stomach muscle. He told his wife, Pam, that he was going to rest. When she checked on him, he was looking pale and was unable to get up. She called 911 and in a short time he was taken to the hospital. Doctors suspected he was having a heart attack and administered blood thinners and prepped him to be moved to another hospital. As they were about to have him transferred, a doctor noticed swelling in his abdomen and realised it was not a heart attack. They suspected it was an aneurism and that he was bleeding from it.
    After being transferred, he was examined and doctors discovered that he had suffered an abdominal aortic aneurism and that he was bleeding internally. This would require immediate surgery. The mortality rate for individuals with a ruptured aneurism was very high even after undergoing surgery. The doctor contacted his wife at home and gave her an update. She asked the doctor if she could pray for him and was surprised when he agreed. She prayed a short, simple prayer asking God to guide his hands and show him the right thing to do. On her way to the hospital, she prayed. She told God that if it was her husband's time to go be with Jesus she would be okay. However, if He brought him back to her, she would be even more okay. 
    Richard’s surgery was successful. According to the doctor, he had defied the odds. Pam praised God, happy and thankful because God had answered her prayer the way she wanted and she wanted her husband to live. Both Richard and Pam believe that Richard is alive today because of God’s loving care. Richard’s words of advice? Rely on God, trust Him and know that He’s there.
    Throughout this testimony, I truly see God’s loving care for Richard and his wife. Pam did not enlist help from others. She went to God herself and completely trusted Him. Yes, she wanted her husband healed but she was also ready to allow God’s perfect will to be done. That was surrender. That was between her and her God. 
    The reality is, when we go through tragic situations, it is between us and God. What God allows is not to scare us or even discourage us but to motivate us to draw near to Him, to trust Him when our back is against the wall. Pam admitted that she felt lonely yet, she kept her focus on her God. He was her strength and her support when no one else was around.

---

    I think sometimes God brings us to these lonely seasons where it’s just us and Him. He knows that we are not truly alone because He is right there. He just wants us to realise that. Human support can certainly be appreciated but, at the end of the day, God is the One we need to do the miracle, to do the impossible.
    I believe that there were many people who Jesus healed that felt lonely in their negative situation. The woman with the issue of blood was isolated because she was considered unclean because of her condition (Mark 5:25-34). Yet, out of all the people thronging him, Jesus noticed the lonely woman who had been living a life of rejection and loneliness. The man who lay by the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years had no one to help him into the water when the angel came and touched it (John 5:2-9). Yet, out of the many people by that pool waiting to get into that water when the angel touched it, Jesus noticed the one who had no one to help him in.
​    Trials and challenges have a way of ushering us into lonely seasons. The fact is though, we are not alone. God is still our ever-present help in trouble, no matter what that trouble may be. Trials and challenges are not evidence of God’s absence but of His presence!!!
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. No matter what we go through, we are never alone. God has promised to always be there no matter what. He wants us to rely on Him, trust Him and know that He is there. ​

---