JOY Stories

 

Lisa

Redeemed and Restored


Content warning: suicide

Almost 5 years ago, I tried to take my own life. I never realized how devastating depression and anxiety could be until I experienced it myself. Mistakes and regrets consumed my mind and took me into the pit of hell.

I was given a 1% chance to live after experiencing three heart attacks, kidney and liver failure. I was transported to a different hospital to see if I had brain function. In the hospital, they had packed me in ice to try to get the swelling of my brain down. No one told the ambulance drivers that I had been packed in ice, so when I began shivering one of the guys in the back told the driver to crank up the heat… which he did.

Let me stop right here and interject that the night before my son-in-law, Mike, had been praying at my bedside. God told him and also his father-in-law (a hospice pastor who lived two hours away) that at 2:17 p.m. the next afternoon I would wake up.

Well, guess what, when they cranked up the heat in that ambulance, I started pulling out everything that they had going into my body. It was 2:17 p.m.! I left the hospital completely restored physically just a few days later! However, mentally, I had a long road ahead of me. More than anything, I was embarrassed and wanted to hide.

Since I am a pharmacist and had taken an overdose of pills from my own medicine cabinet, I was not allowed to practice until I was cleared. That’s when my friend, Lauren, took me under her wing. She was about to open a new Chick-fil-A in Newnan, GA and she hired me to be her catering director. But more importantly, she also held me accountable and made me go to counseling.

During this time, I constantly listened to The JOY FM. I can’t tell you how much the songs, Bible verses, and the stories you share meant to me! In particular, the song “Rescue” by Lauren Daigle became my anthem. When I was at my lowest, He reached down from on high and saved me!

Now, 5 years later, I feel I have been completely redeemed and restored because of the grace and mercy of Jesus. I KNOW God left me on earth for a purpose!

I’m now to the point where I can be used for whatever He is calling me to do next!

Photos for Lisa

 

PHOTO 1 of 13