Data Point: Alex's Story- Part 3 of 3

In one crazy week God demonstrated His faithfulness over and over again.

Hi friends! Today is the last part of Alex’s story. I love these stories that act as “data points” for God. Her story is such an amazing reminder of how God is there through it all and that He is ever faithful. Thank you Alex for sharing part of your life with us. Enjoy everyone!

Note: This story is written and edited (as minimally as possible) by me following an interview with Alex. A big thank you to Alex for being courageous and willing to share her story with me and with all of you.

That Friday night I went up to see my mom.  My parents had divorced many years before, so she was living by herself.  When I saw her, I could see the droop on her face that suggested she may have had a stroke the night before.  When I was growing up, she had several significant concussions over the years from hitting her head.  Twice it happened on our counter when she bent down to pick something up and then stood up and bopped her head.  This, however, was the first time she had shown any indication that she may have experienced a stroke.

Thankfully, the scans on Saturday showed that she didn’t have any significant damage or deficits.  The doctors speculated that she had a heart arrythmia that had thrown a clot because she said her heart was pounding and racing the night before.  However, they didn’t find anything that suggested a clot had formed.  The doctors also said, “We do see where you’ve had a few strokes in the past.”  This was a surprise to us. We thought this was the first time. 

They got mom all straightened out and put her on the necessary medicine.  The next week she still had some residual symptoms, so she went back to the neurologist.  They scanned her again and determined there was nothing significant that showed up relative to the prior scan. A few days later, her face ended up going back to normal.  Thankfully, since then she hasn’t had any issues. 

Although that incident did not cause serious damage, mom had shown signs of significant memory loss probably four to five years ago.  I don’t know if that was when the previously undetected strokes occurred.  Regardless, her health had really declined in the last few years.  She was living in an apartment and had to climb stairs every day. This caused her to reevaluate her living situation.  

Prior to her stroke on Friday, mom had put herself on a wait list for a four-step community.  They told her it would be a year to eighteen months before anything opened up.  The week after everything happened, they unexpectedly called and said, “Hey, we actually have a spot available.”  Mom ended up moving to a little house, it’s kind of like an apartment, in the community.  We like that as she gets older and needs more help she can move to a different area in the community.  They go from what she lives in now all the way down to a memory care unit and a nursing home.  By creating a spot in the housing community, God opened up a lot of doors for her to be taken care of.  

During a time when we were discouraged and confused about Austin’s job, it was powerful to witness God moving firsthand.  It was miracle after miracle that week.  Amid the chaos I remember thinking, “What’s happening God?  Why is this happening?”  The events were awesome but quite frightening and almost shocking.  Then Austin said, “I think He is just showing us how faithful He is.”  I agreed. 

It was a time when our perspectives changed.  Even though Austin had put so much time, thought, and energy into his job, this was a reminder that it was just a job.  It made him realize that while it would have been nice to have the promotion, he still had our family and our life.  Now, he has been praying, “God if you want me to stay in law enforcement, I’ll do that.  If you want me to come out, then just show me what you want me to do and I’ll do that too.”  I think after everything that happened, especially with Maddie and my parents, the disappointment about the promotion just went away.  It was no longer a worry. 

Ultimately, those experiences reminded me that God’s timing is perfect.  He’s never early and He’s never late.  Even in our sorrows and disappointments He still reigns.  He demonstrated that in a new way to me that week.  Being in the medical field, in the ER, I’ve seen lots and lots of miracles but to have it so close to home and experience it on that level was crazy.  It served as a reminder to us as a family that we are never outside of His hands, no matter our circumstances.  It was absolutely encouraging for us to have had that tangible reality of God in control and His great faithfulness.

This concludes Alex’s amazing story. Thanks to her again for sharing!

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An additional “behind the scenes” peek into my conversation with Alex for paid subscribers below the share button: