What follows is my wife Debbie’s story. I share it with her permission.

When Debbie was two, she suffered a penetrating brain injury. It was so horrific that the doctor told her parents she had maybe forty-eight hours to live. She beat those odds, obviously, but a few months later incurred her first seizure. She had epilepsy. The welding rod had left scar tissue in her left temporal lobe. Speech, learning, and some socialization were forever compromised. Through the years she has been on many different medications (the “latest and greatest”). She had brain surgery (craniotomy) in 1990 that was experimental and did not succeed. The seizures remained.

In 2001, while living in Jacksonville, her neurologist suggested another surgery, this time at Shands in Gainesville, nationally renowned for this. Of course my brave wife volunteered yet again. After surgery, we were all gathered around her bed. She asked, “who is that sitting on the end of my bed?” Our response was, “wow – those drugs are really kicking in”. “No”, she insisted. “He just told me that everything’s going to be okay. And he’s very good-looking”. We went with it.

Months later, we were now in Columbia, SC at seminary. I had gotten her a book on angels. She was reading it and suddenly exclaimed, “That’s him!” She showed me a picture of archangel Michael. “That’s who I saw after my surgery.”

A miracle of male beauty, sent from God, showing how He saves our life, both daily and ultimately. Talk about unconditional love!

Pastor Art