"By HIS wounds we ARE healed." Isaiah 53:5

So, by this time you are probably wondering, what event happened next??

Well, this next story has to do with how God used my mom to bring ME face-to-face with another "Date With Destiny."

It was not long after we had moved into my aunt and uncle's house in Georgia that things got hectic;  four parents and six children were constantly running around the house tending to their own needs.  Several of us shared bedrooms, and bathrooms, and well, our whole living space. Every day held some sort of new chaos, but chaos was something that became quite normal to us.

This particular day started off like any other day, but ended with me bed-stricken, unsure if I would even live to see another day.  My family did not have health insurance or a lot of money at the time, so paying several thousand dollars to go to an emergency room was not really an option.

What the cause of my illness was, still to this day I am not sure, but I knew that I needed a miracle, and I needed one fast.  I lay sick in bed for days on end, not able to eat or drink (anything but water).  I could not even get out of bed.  I remember crying to my mom because I was so scared that my fever would not break.  My temperature continued to rise and I was not getting any better. I was literally knocking on death's door (and I'm sure that I looked like death too).

It was about this time that my mom had enough.  She saw how fragile I was and knew that the only thing left to do was to call on the one person she knew could do a miracle: God (the Ultimate Physician).  I wept as she began to pray for me.  She prayed for what seemed like an eternity, and quoted multiple Scriptures over me.  About an hour into her prayer, she was led to sing songs over me (my mom has an incredible voice and singing has always been one of the ways God uses her).  At one point she began to sing, "There's Power in the Blood," and "Oh, the Blood of Jesus" and the craziest noise (like that of a train's whistle or howl of some kind) followed the ending of her songs.

What happened next, I cannot even begin to describe in words, but will do my best to capture.  I remember that a "shaking feeling" started in my gut and soon spread throughout my whole body.  Within seconds, my entire being was trembling. I began weeping uncontrollably, and instantly, I felt something happen inside of me.  The fever that had gripped me mercilessly was now gone.  I felt a coolness return to my body that I had not experienced in days. The only words that I could muster in that powerful moment were, "Mom, I don't feel it anymore. God healed me, Mom." My mom embraced me and began to weep also.

Soon after, I was up walking around and spending time with my family (something that I had not done in days and thought, at one point, that I might not be able to do again).  I began to look at each day as a miracle, a gift from God, in and of itself.  That day changed my life.  Although it looked like the end, it was just the beginning, the beginning of a second chance, a chance to embrace God's plan and His divine destiny for my life.