Last night at 1:30 in the morning my lungs began to fill with phlegm that I was not able to clear. Usually my bi-pap ventilator is strong enough to force air into my lungs so that I can breathe without the mucus interference. When I realized that I could not clear my lungs and my breathing was becoming more labored I knew that it was time to get my wife’s attention. Since I have a mask that goes directly over my mouth, I cannot talk and express my needs to Glennis, so we have developed another means of communication through my foot. I first get her attention by kicking over an object on a night stand, and then I spell out words in the air with my foot. Well, I needed attention right now, so I spelled OFF with my foot and Glennis removed the mask. By then I could barely breathe or talk but managed to let her know that I needed to lean forward to cough. This didn’t work so I choked out, “get my brace” which she did. The custom neck brace allows me to stand and walk without assistance. It also helps me to clear my lungs of mucus by allowing me to lean forward and let gravity help drain the mucus.

After about 5 minutes of very shallow breathing and being unable to drain my lungs even with my brace, I couldn’t inhale to get a breath. The mucus had plugged my airway and I started to black out. Right then Glennis put her hand on my chest and declared a bible promise that God had given to me in Psalms 118:17 “I shall not die, but live and declare the works of God.” And immediately my airway opened. I slowly was able to wheeze into my lungs air and began to breathe again. I walked around the house with my wife speaking words of life over me. When I sat down the mucus had worked its way out from blockage and into my throat where I was able to cough it up to where Glennis could suction it out of my mouth.  I was now free again to breathe! To make sure everything had been completely cleared we used the “Cough Assist” machine along with intermittent suctioning for a continued 10-15 minutes  Over an hour had elapsed before we settled back to sleep. I hadn’t been dealing with a cold and hadn’t changed my diet or the time I ate; this episode came out of nowhere, simply because of my being in a relaxed state and the pooling of mucus. Here in the peacefulness of the night, things turned critical, to the point of not being able to respirate.

I thank God He rescued me in the night, watching over me with His great care and that He continues to give me His mercies every morning. He gives me strength each day (and night); He hears our cry and delivers us from destruction. Invest the Word of God into your life and God will refresh His Word back to your remembrance for you to apply to your situation with HIS authority. You can depend on his promises even in your worst estate, when it seems like all hope is gone and you cannot possibly persevere. These are times that God will demonstrate His great love to you.   “…for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”  2 COR 1:20 All the promises of God are given to us but remain with Him because He has to fulfill them. God’s promises are the links that reveal His thoughts toward us through His actions. When we begin to discover God’s promises to us and the authority that is behind them, we will, without hesitation, confess them in our darkest hour, because He is The One who keeps us and never sleeps or slumbers. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.