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Tried By
Fire -- Keith's Testimony
On December 24, 2002, Keith and I were put through a
MAJOR test of our faith and belief in God's healing
power. Early in the morning hours, we had been
experiencing major thunderstorms and was currently under
a tornado watch. Keith is a Correctional Officer in a
maximum security prison, and he and a number of other
officers were smoking turkeys and hams for the staff for
Christmas.
Normally, I have all of my Christmas decorations
completed, my shopping done, and my gifts wrapped by the
first of December. However, for some reason, I had not
been able to get into the spirit of Christmas. I even
went as far as wrapping a tomato cage with garland and
buying small decorations ---just so I did not have to
get the decorations unpacked from the Christmas closet.
Never in my wildest dreams did I know why I was feeling
this way.
Around lunchtime, I gathered all the gifts in my
bedroom and began to wrap them. At one o'clock, the
prison called and said there had been an accident, and I
needed to meet them at the Emergency Room. The officer
told me that Keith has gotten burned, but they didn't
think it was very serious. As they were finishing with
the cooking, they began cleaning the smokers. All of the
eight smokers had been cleaned in the same manner, Keith
was just finishing. He opened the fire box sprayed in
the lighter fluid, closed the door. When he opened the
grill door, the oxygen hit the inside of the grill and a
great ball of fire shot out. Both of Keith's hands and
arms (up half way to the elbow) was burned. His face was
burned, and his hair was singed off. The only thing that
saved the rest of his body was the fact that he was
soaking wet because of the rain. "Thank God for the
rain!"
I gathered my kids together and carried them to our
neighbors and set off for the Hospital. As I was
driving, I began to pray. "Lord, you know what is
happening, and you are in control of this situation. I
simply asked him to show us His glory in the situation".
From that time until now, I was at peace with what we
were going to face.
As I arrived at the hospital, I was ushered back to the
trauma unit. I was not prepared for what I was about to
see. Keith was lying on the bed with a fan blowing in
front of him. The skin was hanging off of the bottom
side of his fingers. The skin was peeling off of his
arms, and his face was blood red. But he was laughing
and joking with the nurses. You would have to know
Keith! My first thought was, he'll never be able to play
the piano again.
The doctors were amazed that he was not in severe
pain with the burns he had received. --God working
again. Within an hour, Keith was placed on life support
and shortly after rushed to Augusta, GA to the Burn
Center. By midnight, I had gotten our children placed
with their grandparents and my mother and I had arrived
in Augusta.
By the time Keith got to Augusta, they were able to
take him off the life support. The next morning about
5:30 a.m. Keith awoke in a great deal of pain and began
to pray. He asked God to take away the pain and he
slipped back off to sleep. A couple of hours later he
awoke and from that time until today, he has had no more
pain with the burns. -- God working again!
On Christmas Day, the doctors in Augusta decided to
allow me to bring Keith home for Christmas Dinner and
return to Augusta the following day. Here is a photo of
Keith Christmas night at his parents' home.
We returned to Augusta on Friday, not knowing that
within two hours Keith would be going through skin graph
surgery. The surgery went well and Keith was allowed to
come home on Saturday morning.
The entire five hour drive home Keith was extremely
sick. We thought it was the anesthesia....the following
days we would learn another test of faith.
Keith was very sick all through the night with chest
pains and shortness of breath. By morning, I loaded him
up and we were back in the Emergency Room. After
completing blood tests for the third time, the doctors
came in and told us that Keith had suffered a heart
attack. We refused to accept that news. Keith was only
36 years old. So, the doctors decided to run another
test. After reading the results, they told us he had not
had a heart attack, but they did not know what was going
on. A few hours later Keith was placed in CCU.
On New Year's Eve, the doctors decided to perform a
heart cath and lung scan to see exactly what his problem
was. Keith was carried out and it seem that he was gone
for hours... When the procedure was completed, Dr. Bell
came out to meet with me and our family members. Keith
HAD NOT had a heart attack, his heart was perfect
condition, no blockages, things were Great. HOWEVER, he
had five massive blood clots in the main arteries and
his lungs were full of small blood clots.
When Satan attacks, he really hits hard! But our GOD
is more powerful than the hardest blow Sa tan
throws our way. Because of the skin graph surgery Keith
had gone through three days earlier, there were
conditions that had to weighed in the treatment process.
Our doctor spoke with the Burn Center doctors and other
doctors in Florida before beginning any treatment. The
only "drastic" treatment was for Keith to have a "Clot
Buster" shot. The drawbacks were that it could make him
bleed out where the skin graphs had been attached, and
he would have to go through that surgery again. On the
other hand, if just one of those clots moved, he could
have a stroke or die.
I suppose the hardest task I've ever had to do was
giving my consent to administer a shot that could
possibly kill my husband. But that "still small voice"
assured me that GOD would receive his Glory through
this. The shot was given. I joined our family members
and church family in the waiting room. About forty-five
minutes later, a code was heard on the announcement
system... The code was Keith's room. I was called to CCU,
and the doctor met me. Something had happened and the
tourniquet had slipped that held Keith's leg immobile,
and he had lost a major amount of blood within one
minute. Keith's family was called in, and we played a
waiting game for the next 24 hours.
Hour by hour, day by day, Keith continue to improve.
Within one week, he was moved from CCU into a private
room. Three weeks later, Keith was released from the
hospital to continue recovering at home.
You may wonder, why did this happen? how did God
receive any glory in this tragedy? Let me share that
with you. God looked ahead in time and knew that Keith
was going to need this time as substance to his
testimony (our testimony). We can now say without a
shadow of doubt that truly God will not put more on us
than we can handle. If God brings to to a trial, he will
bring you through the trial. WHAT A PREPARATION FOR A
MINISTRY. Sometimes God has to place us flat of our
backs to tell us things or get our attention. All
through this time, when visitors would come in or folks
would call, Keith would encourage them in their walk
with the Lord, or tell them how much they needed to
accept the Lord. Countless correctional officers were
given a chance to see how God's amazing grace brings us
through tragedies.
The day after Keith was released from the hospital,
he insisted on going to morning worship. He was the the
Minister of Music at the University Blvd. Church of God
in Waycross, GA from 1999-2004. While he was in the
hospital, a good friend of ours who had stopped
attending church, began coming to see and stay with
Keith each day while I worked. If there has ever been a
true friend, she is. But, living a good life will not
assure us a place in heaven. She volunteered to come and
stay with Keith while I went to church. Keith suggested
that she come with him instead. The morning service was
awesome, so Keith wanted to return for the evening
service wearing bedroom slippers and walking on a
cane.... Our friend returned as well.
When the alter call was given that night, our friend
found a place at the alter and rededicated her life to
God. I suppose the most touching thing to come from this
was she looked at Keith, and said, "I'm so sorry you had
to go through this for me ." Keith looked at her and
said, "I'd do it again if I had to if it would win
another soul."
Today, Keith has fully recovered. In May of 2003,
Keith's burns were 100% healed. Doctors were amazed
--our response, GOD IS AN AMAZING GOD!
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