Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: CALL (01/14/16)
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TITLE: Who Ya Gonna Call? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Loni Bowden-Horn
01/21/16 -
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My hands shook as I pressed the telephone receiver to my ear.
“May I please speak to Mrs. Stark?”
“This is she.”
“I’m sorry to call you at such an early hour, but your husband has suffered a massive heart attack and is being operated on at this very moment to repair the damage to his coronary artery. His condition is grave.”
“Would you be able to come to the hospital as soon as possible?”
I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. My tongue felt like cotton.
“Are you okay?”
“Ye-s-s Ma’am”
Hot tears spilt down my cheeks as I contemplated the possibility of losing my husband after thirty years of marriage.
“Lord, will my prayers go unanswered of my husband Irvin ever accepting you as his Savior?”
On the way out the door, I grabbed my car keys and raced to the hospital to be by my husband’s side. I wouldn't have gone home to try and rest if I had known how serious his condition had been.
I couldn’t stop staring at the tubes and machines hooked up to my husband when I entered the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital.
I noticed the pallor complexion of my husband as I sat by his bedside holding his hand. I was told that even if he lived not to expect a full recovery because of the extensive damage done to his heart.
My husband lay there so emaciated and weak. I watched as his breathing grew shallow. Why hadn’t I shared Jesus with him? If he died without knowing Christ, my heart would shatter into a million pieces. I may never get a second chance.
I heard a voice in my head whisper, “Be still and know that I am God. My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”
I tried to recall how many hours had passed since I received that startling call? I had so many thoughts swirling around in my mind. I kept my emotional angst at bay because I was told it was important not to upset my husband.
I looked over at my husband’s face and his eyelids began to flutter. It was just for a moment. My heart skipped a beat. I began to feel a small glimmer of hope that my husband may survive.
I buzzed the nurses’ station.
“Nurse, I saw my husband’s eyelids flutter. Does that mean he will be waking up soon?”
“Yes. Your husband is still quite weak but the doctor feels he is not in critical condition any longer. You may have a chance to speak with him in a few hours.”
I saw a look of contentment cross over my husband’s face that I had never seen before. A huge smile radiated from his lips.
“Darling, Jesus is the light of my world.”
Before I had my operation while I was on the table, a doctor came and shared the love of God and the sacrifice of His son Christ. I accepted his gift of eternal life.
I planted a big kiss on my husband's lips.
I knew who I needed to call on to thank for my answered prayers. Do you?
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Note: This was based on a true story. I was 16 years old at the time and staying at a friend’s house when her father had a heart attack in the early morning hours and wasn’t expected to live. My friend grieved for her father because he didn’t know the Lord. Not only did he accept Christ in the hospital but when he was moved to a semi-private room, his roommate was a local minister who disciple him in the Word of God. I believe he read through the Bible two or three times the first year after becoming a Christian. The doctors said later that he had less than a 10 percent chance survival but God knew better. The names have been changed.
Sources: Biblehub.com Isaiah 55:8 (NLT) and Psalm 46:10 NIV
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God is able to use anyone as His spokesperson if we only obey.
I would have liked to hear more about the doctor's words to the MC.
God bless~
I am sure the MC's wife witnessed to her husband by the way she lived her life as well. Sometimes actions speak louder than words.
A little critique- I was confused over who was having the anxiety at the beginning of your story; the caller or the MC's wife?
I hope a bit of red ink is okay... You only used the husband's name, Irvin, once in the story, but "husband" many times. I think using his name and/or terms of endearment or just "he" would communicate the wife's warmth and love, as well as provide more variety in language for the reader.
I love reading how God moves in miraculous ways, and of course, happy endings.