He Knows Where You Are!

On that Sunday morning in April 1986, I awoke with symptoms of a stomach virus. At the time, I was an active member in a large church and I led worship at a small church that met in a hotel.  I contacted the pastor of the hotel church to inform him that I would not be there.  He assured me that they would pray for me during the service. I went back to sleep and a little while later, a friend came by. I had canceled plans we had for that afternoon and she wanted to check on me. After I assured her it was just a stomach virus, she went on without me. And then things quickly changed. I had actually been heading towards full-blown Ketoacidosis. Had I been left alone for another day, that friend may have been the last person to see me alive.

Later that afternoon I received a call from the hotel pastor to check on me. He requested directions to my apartment so that he and his wife could come over. I later found out that they had been sitting in their living room when Jim said, “We need to call and check on Kathi.”  Peggy replied, “No, we need to go and check on Kathi.” When I got out of bed to be ready to unlock the door for them, I began to realize just how sick I had become. I maintained the strength to stand long enough to open the front door at their knock. At this point I rounded the kitchen door and sat down on the floor. I remained there until the ambulance came. Noticing how bad I was, Jim requested my brother, Dave’s phone number. I knew from prior episodes that my words could become turned around. I listened to be sure that I had given Jim the correct number. The last thing I remember was hearing Jim say, “Dave, this is Jim. We are at Kathi’s…”

When I moved into an apartment by myself, because of losing roommate, I had bemoaned that working out of my home I could have serious, diabetic problems and no one would know until my customers began complaining that I didn’t answer the phone. That concept was forever squashed that day. God knows exactly where I am, what is happening and how to get the help I need to me when I need it.  “Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7 AMP)  There is no situation in my life that God does not see and He will make provision for, as he did with Jim and Peggy that day.

The clock read 5:30 and hung on the wall of an ICU.  A nurse, excited to see me finally awake and coherent, informed me that it was Tuesday morning.  When I awoke, I had no memories of the nearly two days that had passed since I had sat on my kitchen floor. Somehow, deep inside, I knew four things. First, my pastor (from the large church) had visited. Second, a man named Al, who I had not seen in several years, had prayed for me. The third was that people had been praying for me all over the country. Finally, God had given me the choice to continue living or to come home to glory. I had actually chosen to come back to fulfill what He had planned for me.

When Pastor Harold visited again on Tuesday, he confirmed that yes he had been they are the day before. It was a large church with a large staff, and I would’ve been happy with the visit from any of these godly men. But God had chosen to send the senior pastor to me in my need. Although I had shown no signs of awareness when he had been there, I had known Pastor Harold had come.

Confirmation that our old friend Al had indeed prayed for me came in a more surprisingly way. Al and his wife had left our church several years earlier to begin a new church about 40 miles west. I had only seen him a handful of times during those years. I had reasoned that possibly God had spoken to him and he had prayed from home. But when I mentioned this ‘knowing’ to my sister-in-law, her eyes became huge and her jaw dropped. Al had actually been there in the hospital emergency department. A member from his church had been in a motorcycle accident and was in the same ER. Dave and Jan snuck him into my room where he had laid hands on my shoulders and prayed. Jan went on to tell me that at the end of his prayer, during which there had been no signs of consciousness, Al looked them in the eye and confidently stated that I had received the prayer.

Conversations with friends told me of phone calls and prayer chains that had been initiated in and maintained in at least half the states in the union. I truly believe that God placed in my heart that once I decided to live, the prayers of the saints took over and all powers of death and hell could not interfere with my return. I’m so grateful for all of the people who cared to pray for a young woman they would never meet, during her desperate time. When I woke up on Tuesday morning I had an overwhelming sense of what King David felt when he wrote, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?” (Psalm 8:4 AMP)  Who was I, that God loved me so much?

So as you face a dark and difficult time, remember that God sees where you are. He not only sees you but He has people He will send to you in your time of need. Take courage.  Also, be ever looking to God and listening for His voice. You may be a Jim, Peggy, Al or a prayer warrior that God desires to send to someone at just the right moment.

(Note:  For some of the basic details of the events referred to in this post see 'Note to My Readers 4/6/2014.)