Testimonies of God's Awesomeness

The Card He Used to Save My Life...

I had been so active, so on top of everything, full of energy and life,

and then I was exposed to deadly toxic chemicals that left me in an

acute "guarded" state for months and eventually years. At the time,

it seemed to me that I had lost everything...I lost the flourishing

ministry as a Christian Education Administrator and co-pastoring

with my husband as Children's Pastor, my health, many of my friends...

And soon the relationship with my husband began deteriorating, I had

no medical insurance, and eventually had no income and many debts,

resulting in the loss of possessions and all of our savings, leaving us

close to bankruptcy.

I had become hypersensitive to chemicals and upon even the

slightest exposure, my throat would begin to swell shut and

I would begin to suffocate. Because of this extreme condition,

I was confined to a protected environment...we had to turn our

home into a safe haven for me. There were months that I couldn't

leave a bathroom equipped with only an air filter and a cotton

mattress on the floor. If I left that environment, my husband

might find me lying on the floor convulsing from being exposed

to something as simple as furniture polish or bug spray.

A brain scan later revealed that from the chemical burns I had a

great deal of scar tissue in my brain that was restricting the blood

flow, which accounted for the memory loss, lack of concentration

and general all-around continual confusion. The head pain was nearly

unbearable at times. I felt like I was living in a painful torture chamber

and that there was no way of escaping.

We prayed and prayed for healing, but it didn't come immediately.

I'm convinced now that God had a more beneficial plan for my life

in mind, and His greater plans always supersede His other promises,

which in this case was healing. He was more concerned about what

He could make out of me and my life than He was about giving me the

gratification of an instant healing. It was like when Jesus had to die

to His flesh, so that others of us could live eternally: the greater

plan prevailed, and He picked up His cross to follow the Father's will.

Another Biblical example of this was Paul, who for his own good,

continue with the affliction Satan had placed upon him, while receiving

grace to continue in his suffering with the "thorn in his flesh." Paul

also suffered being imprisoned, just like I was "imprisoned" for a long

while, but my prison was nothing in comparison to Paul's. Much of

the Epistles that we read from Paul were written under those painful

circumstances. Had God not chosen to permit the suffering in his life,

we may have had an "arrogant, prideful, too busy building tents" Paul,

who never got around to writing, rather than the humble servant he

became. The Lord has made some of the same radical changes in my

life through the things I was placed under to endured.

God will allow what is of the GREATER value to happen to His willing

servants, including those things which will ultimately benefit the majority.

Like in Paul's case, after we have prayed and asked Him for deliverance,

rebuked the enemy's authority over us, and we find ourselves in a not so

pleasant situation, we have to learn to trust Him and be content in whatever

state we find ourselves in. (Phil. 4:11) That was something I had not yet

learned before this chemical exposure. I liked to command and demand God

to do things that I found in the Word...and I truly believed that this was living

by faith. I was thinking only of what was good for me, not realizing that only

what the Lord had permitted to come into my life could stay after I had

surrendered it to Him. Often times it takes more faith to pray,

"Nevertheless, not my will, but THY WILL be done."

Lamentations 3:37

For who can act against you without the Lord's permission? It is the

Lord who helps one and harms another.

I had become very despondent, had no hope, and was believing what

many had told me...that God was not healing me because there was

sin in my life. Don't you know that the devil jumped right on that

condemnation? I got to the place where I even believed that perhaps I

had never been born again and that I never ever knew the Lord. I

reasoned that I was going to hell anyway, so why worry about that being

a consequence of committing suicide. I was ready to give up. I stood at

the kitchen sink ready to take a hand full of Xanax in an effort to be

relieved of the physical, emotional and psychological pain I was under.

But God had a greater plan...at that precise moment my husband came

intothe kitchen with some Christmas cards in his hands and asked me

who I knew in the White House. He said that there was a card personally

addressed to me from the White House in Washington, DC.

As I reached for the card, I felt the anointing of the Lord come upon me

for the first time in a long while. The card was from Marilyn and Dan

Quayle. It resulted from her having received one of the Prayer Record

books thatI had written years before. The card was a picture of their

family and she had hand written these words...that seemed to jump off

of the page at me:

Marlene...

May you ALWAYS remember to Live for the Lord.

It was as if the Lord had spoken those words directly to me in an

effort to stop me from ending my life. I broke down in repentance.

Since that time, I've been healed...not instantly, but in His perfect

timing. It began with someone giving me a computer, and against all

odds, I was able to learn to operate it. Blood vessels began to route

around the scar tissue and I was able to speak complete sentences

once again...Only occasionally do I have to grasp for words now, and

sometimes I might choose an incorrect word, but when this happens

it is a reminder to me to praise Him for His love, mercy, grace and

lovingkindness, which is renewed every day.

Lamentations 3:21-23

Yet there is one ray of hope; his compassion never ends.

It is only the Lord's mercies that have kept us from complete

destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his lovingkindness begins

afresh each day.

It was during those years of suffering that I founded PrayerVine, Int'l,

first through snail mail, and then eventually on the internet. And it was

then that I began sending out devotional writings. I am positive that you

would not be reading this right now, had the Lord not taken what the devil

meant for bad, but what He permitted and turned into good.

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good, to them that

love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

Joyously living under His reign,

and continually being rained upon with His love and care,

Marlene JuHaros

RGodReigns@prayervine.org

The following Psalm tells us that our God reigns over the earth;

over ALL, both the good as well as the evil. When He is the Lord of

our life, He rules and reigns over every situation...the blessings, as

well as the frightening experiences. His desire is to rain down His

blessings upon those that allow Him to reign over their life. This

series is about the testimonies that resulted from His grace, and

about those times when I've trusted Him and His Word, and allowed

Him to reign over some unexpected situations that flooded into my

life. May His name be lifted up!

Psalm 93

THE Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;

The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength.

Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.

Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.

The floods have lifted up, O Lord,

The floods have lifted up their voice;

The floods lift up their waves.

The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters,

Than the mighty waves of the sea.

Your testimonies are very sure;

Holiness adorns Your house, O Lord, forever.

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