Episode 007: Do you Believe In Miracles?

The line between life and death isn't always as definitive as we think. Sometimes, it blurs in ways that defy medical explanation – ways that force even the most skeptical minds to consider something beyond science.

Angelic shares the breathtaking journey of her son Austin, born with complex congenital heart defects that doctors believed would be fatal. What follows is an extraordinary 30-year testament to resurrection power that has left medical professionals shaking their heads in disbelief. From Austin's first open-heart surgeries as an infant to a dramatic airport collapse in 2018 where he was without oxygen for over twenty minutes, this story reveals how the impossible becomes possible when faith refuses to surrender.

The raw emotional details bring you into hospital rooms where life-and-death decisions hang in the balance. You'll witness Austin's astonishing out-of-body experiences, including a four-year-old's encounter with Jesus and a teenager watching his own resuscitation from above. These aren't merely close calls – they're moments where medical science reached its limits and something else took over.

Perhaps most remarkable is Austin's current reality. With an ejection fraction that improved from 22% to the mid-30s (medically improbable for degenerative heart disease), he lives a quality of life that baffles specialists. "Austin is not a one-time miracle," Angelic explains. "He is a walking miracle and a carrier of glory."

Whether you're facing your own impossible situation or simply curious about the intersection of faith and medicine, this testimony challenges us to reconsider what's possible. After all, in a world fixated on quick fixes, Austin's story reminds us that sometimes God's greatest work isn't in immediate healing but in sustained glory that unfolds over decades.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Well, good morning, good morning, how are you
feeling this morning?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm good, I'm excited , I'm excited too, Always
excited when you come in hereright, that is true.
Holy anticipation.
This is going to be a veryspecial day.
We're going to do things alittle bit different to all you
Double Dose listeners out there.
Very special day, we're goingto do things a little bit
different to all you Double Doselisteners out there.
Today we are all going to getto hear from my co-host and
personal friend, angelique, apersonal story, and it's a
miraculous story.

(00:33):
It's a heart-stretching story.
It's one about pain, aboutsurrender.
It's really about moments thatno parent ever wants to have to
face or live through.
But I also think it's a storyabout how God is still doing
supernatural things in thenatural when we trust Him and

(00:54):
when we believe.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, 100%.
You know it's the story I'mgoing to share and thank you,
elisa, for your kind words.
The story I'm going to share isone that's incredibly personal
and I've shared it less thanthree times my entire life, and
so it's one that I don't reallyshout from the rooftops for all

(01:16):
to hear because it's a sacredstory, it's a personal story and
I only share it when I feel theLord's prompting, because it's
really his story at the end ofthe day, and it has to do with
my son, austin, who is my eldestson, and a lot of it is what
he's had to live through, hispain and suffering, because he's

(01:38):
been through the ringer and, um, you know, over the years
Austin has released me and he'sgiven me full permission to
share the story, because it'sone that he doesn't personally
know and understand, becausehe's been asleep for several of
the things that I've livedthrough and prayed through for

(01:59):
him and you'll understand what Imean by that in a little bit,
but nonetheless, it's importantthat Austin was okay, that I
share this part of my testimony,because it's directly connected
to him, it's connected to ourfamily and he's released me, and
it's the seventh yearanniversary we're upon of this

(02:20):
miraculous story that we arehere to celebrate Seven years.
You know it's divine completionand I just think it's an
appointed time that God he givesus testimony to share it with
people.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
And so here we are, we're going to share it.
And, speaking of seven, we justfigured out, before we kicked
off this episode, that this isactually our seventh episode as
well.
And we didn't even plan that.
No, we didn't.
A lot of people wonder aboutGod speaking and there's a
perfect example.
Yeah, and we're recording thisCoincidence.
It's not a coincidence.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
No coincidence, and we're recording it on 7-25-25.
It'll be released in August butnonetheless, today is grace
upon grace, five is grace andit's grace upon grace and it's
25-25.
I hope listeners are followingme here, but God is going to
bless the socks off of everybodywho tunes into this episode.

(03:14):
I just feel it.
There's so much grace over thestory, there's so much
resurrection power in the storythat it's just going to.
You know, the prayer is that itshines a bright light on who
God is and when we really leaninto him, we can see just
incredible things unfold beforeour eyes.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, so this is a story that makes no medical
sense, but it makes perfect Godsense, absolutely.
So take us back, let's get intoit.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah Well, so Austin, he is going to celebrate his
30th birthday this December,which is crazy to believe.
It's been 30 years since mybaby boy came into the world and
Austin came in like any othernormal baby.
He was born and they thought hewas beautiful and healthy and
all the things.
And when Austin was a few daysold, he was born December 21st,

(04:04):
and so a couple days later it'sChristmas and I found myself in
my grandmother's home with theplethora of first cousins that I
have.
My grandmother had ninechildren and her kids had
children, and here we are, andthen my generation's now having
children, and so it was just apacked house and there's not a

(04:27):
quiet moment ever in mygrandmother's house.
And here I am schlepping alongmy two kids.
At the time my eldest was whatwas she?
Probably 15 months old at thattime, and then Austin was four
days old.
I mean, he's just a little babyboy and he slept through that
entire day.

(04:48):
Nothing could wake him up.
I mean, I kept trying to wakehim up, to feed him.
I was just going to get him towake up and I knew something was
wrong.
I had already been gifted withanother child, so I knew baby
sleeping for hours on end,especially through loud noise,
and just not really evenstirring to eat, was not a
normal thing, and so I made adecision and took him into the

(05:11):
ER for evaluation.
And they did a full evaluationon him, said he was perfectly
fine and sent him home.
Well, hours go by and he'sstill not getting any better.
And one of the things that theydid, ironically, was they gave
him a belly ribbon test.
When I took him into the ERthey measured Austin for an

(05:33):
eight-pound baby on that test.
It's just something you neverforget.
And they said he was fine.
And so then of course we gotsent home.
The hours go by, he's still notstirring.
I'm literally to the pointwhere I'm getting ready to take
him back to the ER and the phonerang and it was the hospital
and they said you know, wemismeasured his belly ruben for
his birth weight.
He was in the five-pound rangeand we need him to come back

(05:59):
because he actually needstreatment for jaundice.
And so we load him up.
We're like, okay, this is theanswer.
He has jaundice, admit him intothe hospital.
And next thing, you know, theyhook up all the monitors on him
and they did a pulse oximeterwhich reads your blood oxygen
level, and Austin was south of30%.

(06:20):
So for those of you who may notknow what a normal oxygen level
for a baby should be, it's 100%.
It needs to be high 90s,typically 100%.
So to be down in that rangesouth of 30%, they thought
something was just broken withthe machine.

(06:40):
Literally they went to swapmachines out and they just
couldn't get any answers orunderstanding.
So they ushered me and myex-husband into a room and they
said you know what?
Just wait here, we've got tofigure out a couple things,
whatever.
So again, time is going by, noone's communicating to us and of

(07:02):
course the nerves are startingto get neat and I have no idea
what's going on until this womancame into the waiting room and
she had a flight suit on and shehanded me a plastic baggie with
a hair clipping in it and shehands it to me and she says

(07:24):
here's your son's first haircut,and she gave it to me.
And she says here's your son'sfirst haircut, and she gave it
to me.
Austin had a full head of hairwhen he was born and I was just
kind of stunned and I'm lookingat this lady going what is going
on?
Like what do you mean haircut?
And she just gives me thatknowing look that she realizes,
oh, literally no one's been inhere to talk to the mom, wow,

(07:47):
and or the dad, for that matter.
And so, through the swirl of itall, we had come to learn that
they had seen that Austin had aheart deformity and that the
local, we were at a communityhospital and they just weren't
equipped to handle it.
And so they brought in a flightcrew and they were going to fly
him.
We were in Sterling, brought ina flight crew and they were
going to fly him.
We were in Sterling, illinois,at the time, and they were going

(08:07):
to fly him to Rockford Illinois, and that's the first flight
Austin ever took.
You know, he's four or fivedays old and they airlifted him
to Rockford Illinois.
We had to drive from Sterlingto Rockford, which would be an
hour on a typical day, roughlythereabouts.

(08:28):
Well, it happened to be ablizzard in 1995, and it was a
storm like no other.
Wow, and so we are in the carand now we are going through the
snowstorm Complete agony.
It was just horrible.
Snowstorm, complete agony.
It was just horrible.

(08:48):
And literally by the time wegot there, hours later we go in,
we find where Austin would be,and the NICU cardiac unit come
to learn that Rockford felt likethey weren't equipped to handle
Austin and they flew him toChicago.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Wow, and so now and you're feeling like you're
losing precious time, I imagine.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Oh yeah, it was just one of those things like what is
going on and you're just, wedon't even really understand the
diagnosis, except for heartdeformity.
And so we get, when we're inRockford and they're like we're
not equipped, the doctor startedto rattle off.
He has a double outlet, rightventricle, interception of the

(09:26):
aortic arch, all this stuff andthe transposition of the greater
arteries, All these differentmedical terms just being thrown
at us and what we would come tolearn is basically everything in
Austin's heart, plumbing, hiscardiovascular, plumbing, the
main arteries coming into theheart, they were transposed on

(09:49):
the wrong side of the heart, sohis body wasn't able to get
oxygenated blood throughout hisbody.
And not only that, his aorticarch, the main artery that takes
blood to the lower extremities,it was just interrupted.
So it left the heart and thenit interrupted, it stopped and

(10:09):
then it picked up down.
So there was no connection.
His ventricle wall had a holein it I mean, it was just
missing plumbing all jacked up,if you will, and he was in a
pretty serious way.
At this point in time you'retalking 1995, no one was
surviving these conditions.
Yeah, Okay, and so that was thestart of this crazy 30-year

(10:34):
journey that we're on.
We're still on it.
I mean, when you have acongenital heart disease, it's
not one and done, it's somethingthat continually has to be
cared for.
The heart is in a constantdegenerative state.
It typically is getting worseyear over year.
Lots of different reasons forall of that.

(10:54):
But it was a prettymemorializing period of time to
know that I now have this childwho is going to need lifelong
care.
The prognosis was very doom andgloom.
Babies weren't surviving thiscondition back in the 90s, and
so we really didn't know whatthe future held.

(11:16):
And so we got back in the carin a blizzard and we made our
way to Hope Children's Hospitalin Chicago and we were greeted
by the most amazing medical team.
I mean the medical community.
Just hands off to all of them,Elisa, people who do this sort
of work.
I mean this is intense work andthese people work endless hours

(11:38):
just pouring into these babies.
But to make the beginning ofthe story short, the first
couple years of Austin's life hewent through multiple open
heart surgeries.
He kept beating the odds.
I mean, at one point in timethey told me that it was time to
say goodbye to him andliterally went home to get the

(12:03):
family just to kind of processthat we were going to lose
Austin.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Well, every time you put him on a table.
You had to have that question,right.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
Every time, and it's not even just putting him on the
table.
It was the healing after Sure,are the kidneys working?
Is the liver working?
Because the heart is connectedto everything.
And so he went into kidneyfailure.
He went into liver failure.
I mean just the endless amountsof things that this kid went
through.
But it got to a point in thisparticular time where his entire

(12:30):
body swelled up and he becamelike just one big blob of flesh.
You can even really make outthat it was a human child, and
it's just.
They couldn't get the toxins outof his body because his liver
was… Fluid retention of somesort and toxin buildup because
his kidneys were shutting down,his liver was shutting down and

(12:51):
it was a reaction post-opsurgery.
And they said you know, we'vereally done all we can.
It's time to say goodbye.
And that was one of the mostpivotal moments in my life where
I didn't really have a closepersonal relationship with
Christ at the time.
But I believed, I alwaysbelieved, and I went and I was

(13:16):
staying with this woman.
She actually married my husbandand I.
She lives in Chicago, paulette,but I was staying with her and
it was one of those nights thatI knew the next day wasn't going
to be a great day because wewere saying goodbye and I just
cried out to God and I said whywould you give me a baby and
take this baby away?
It's just still like ushersback all these emotions.

(13:42):
But the wrestle was real anddidn't really sleep that night
and the next day, fully preparedto say goodbye.
This was the first time andthis woman that I hadn't seen in

(14:03):
years, since I was in highschool, came to Paulette's house
and she told me everything thatI had thought and said the
night before to God.
God had told her had woken herup and sent her to me and said
never lose faith again becauseGod's going to save your son.

(14:23):
Today and it was just like thatand I was kind of thinking she
was a little crazy and shedidn't understand what we were
walking through.
I thought it was veryinsensitive.
And sure enough, the phone rangand they said we need you to
come to the hospital.
Austin's doing a 180.
And he came home two weekslater.
Wow, and so that was the firstmajor event that it was like

(14:50):
holy cow, the power of the Lordwas so real.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Because you were resolved to have to say goodbye
that next morning.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Completely resolved.
And you know, I prayed whenAustin was a baby and because
that's baby, because that's theonly thing you know to do, I
grew up around faith, but Ididn't pray, really believing, I
didn't Sure, and so I wassurrounded by people that prayed

(15:24):
really, really hard, and theywere intercessors and prayer
warriors.
And I do believe that thoseprayers were being heard in the
throne room of grace, but Iwouldn't say that my prayers
were powerful and effectivebecause they were undergirded in
core belief at that point intime.
But I saw the power of Godunfold and it was just

(15:44):
absolutely incredible.
And then fast forward.
I just kept seeing it.
When Austin was around fouryears old, he had another
procedure done and it put himinto supraventricular cardiac
arrest.
Long way of saying that he wentand his heart stopped and they
had to resuscitate him.
And they you know any time thatI've been exposed to a

(16:08):
situation like that what theytypically do is put Austin in an
induced coma to basically calmdown his body and they can have
his body heal a little bit aftera traumatic event like that.
And so it was the same withthis.
And when he came to it had beena couple days and I was in the

(16:28):
hospital room next to him and hewas little and he loved Barney
at the time.
Yes, I let my child watchBarney and regretfully now just
kidding.
So, anywho, I'm in the hospitalroom and laying next to the bed
and I kind of hear Austinstarting to stir and he was
always such a sweet, sweet boyand he thought that the nurse

(16:51):
was being too loud because hesaw that I was kind of sleeping
and he's like my mommy'ssleeping.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
As a four-year-old.
As a four-year-old.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
And I pop up, pop up, nobody, I'm here Like, yes,
meanwhile tubes and a chest cutopen.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
He's worried about mommy sleeping Well, not chest
cut open at this point.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Okay, but he nonetheless, the kid has just
been through the war zone andhe's, you know, four-year-old,
thinking about his mommysleeping.
But I jumped up and you knowI'm here with him and I just was
asking him hey, buddy, how youdoing?
And he proceeded to tell me, atfour years old, that he met

(17:32):
Jesus.
Now, my house was not a housefilled with faith, even after
everything I went through, evenup until this point, with Austin
, I wasn't chasing the Lord, Imean, I needed a brick to hit me
in the head.
But Austin, so Austin, I sayall that to say Austin wouldn't
know to say that, to say Jesus,sure, because it wasn't our
normal vernacular in our house.

(17:52):
And he's like yeah, I met Jesus.
And he told me that I reallywanted to stay with him because
I liked how I felt there, it wasnice, and I'm paraphrasing for
a four-year-old, right, sure.
And he's like but he told me itwasn't my time and I needed to
come back to mommy.
And so he took me.

(18:14):
He was sitting on Jesus's lap,he put him down and he kind of
tugged his butt.
He says you got to go back toyour mommy now, but he came back
to tell me about that and it'sjust incredible, right, yes,
just incredible, right, yes.
And then telling all thesestories, because it's not just
Sometimes.
The thing that I've experiencedin my walk with the Lord is I

(18:37):
haven't had one miracle happen.
I have literally watchedmiracles unfold for 30 years,
over and over and over again.
And the thing about it is, astime can fade and go, the
further you get away from amiracle, you can start to say
did that really happen?

(18:57):
Sure, and all of a sudden, nextthing you know, I'm walking
through another miracle and it'slike no, I'm not crazy, I'm not
imagining things.
The medical community will sayit over and over as well these
are true miracles that arehappening to him.
What?

Speaker 2 (19:11):
do you make of that over and over again?
I mean, do you feel like Godwas chasing you, trying to get
through to you, or do you feellike it was because you
continued to walk closer andcloser to him, you were seeing
these things more?

Speaker 1 (19:24):
I think it's a couple of things.
One God used it.
God didn't create the illness,but he has purpose in Austin's
life that will not be thwarted.
Any weapon formed against Austinis not going to prevail.
Now I get a first-row look atsome of the things Austin's had
to live and fight through andit's certainly been a faith

(19:46):
builder for me and it's had melean into my faith and activate
my faith as a mother when I'vebeen in desperate situations.
But Austin is a walking miracle.
He still is a walking miracleand the last episode that we had
was in 2018, which I'll talkabout in a little bit.

(20:08):
But I remember, even after thelast major miracle that I
witnessed with Austin, I said tothe Lord.
I said Lord, I was literallydriving up 77 in Charlotte
northbound and I said Lord.
And I said Lord, why won't youheal him?
I mean, you've literally savedhis life more times than I've

(20:31):
seen others.
He's like a cat.
He's got nine lives.
It's crazy.
I'm like you keep saving him.
Why don't?
You just heal him.
I want him healed.
I don't want to keep goingthrough the mirror.
I love the miracle but you gotto go through the pit and the
sludge and like why?
And he literally was like hejust shook me he goes.

(21:03):
If I heal him, it will takeaway my sustained glory.
He goes.
Austin's not a one-time miracle.
He is my walking miracle.
And he's a carrier of my gloryand my power.
And I was like who am I tochallenge?
Like whoa, who's to say to themaker right?

Speaker 2 (21:20):
It was one of those moments, yeah because even you
said a moment ago that you might.
When time goes by, you forgetthe miracle, so it's a reminder
of the miracle, every single dayit is, and even just factually
so.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Austin has congenital heart failure and he, in 2018,
he had an ejection fraction of22,.
Which what does that mean?
It means that his heartcontracts about half as hard as
yours does An average humanbeing's around 50.
Okay, so your heart contractsand it squeezes, and then 50% of

(22:00):
the blood is ejected out tofeed your body the blood that it
needs.
And Austin's 22%, which is 50%of a normal adult, and so that
means his body is starving forhealthy, oxygenated blood flow
and it also means that he's acandidate for a heart transplant

(22:22):
.
Okay, okay.
So I got two medical diagnoses.
I got one at a hospital, aheart clinic, that said he
needed to be on a hearttransplant list, and then I'll
give Duke credit.
I got a second opinion fromDuke, and Duke said the medical

(22:43):
data would show that he wouldneed a heart transplant A
hundred percent.
If you're looking at the data,he needs a heart transplant
immediately.
Okay, but if we were to givehim a heart transplant,
rejection risk, all the thingsthat wrap a transplant I mean
his life expectancy would be oneto five years.

(23:04):
Okay, at this point in time,he's 22 years old and they're
like we can understand from adata-driven perspective I'm a
data geek why someone wouldrecommend that.
But if you look at his qualityof life, which we don't
understand he's normal, he'sfunctioning.

(23:26):
You can't even tell he has anejection fraction of 22%.
He should be bedridden, heshould be laboring for air,
laboring for oxygen, and he'srunning around like a normal
22-year-old.
He has no impact on his qualityof life.
It makes absolutely no sense.
Yeah, but don't mess with it.

(23:46):
If he starts to have a qualityof life issue, then you get him
on a transplant list.
Okay, okay.
And, by the way, the odds ofhis heart getting stronger over
time not going to happen andit's only going to get worse.
So heart transplant today?

(24:06):
No, but let's watch, let's see.
Do you know what his ejectionfraction is now?
Okay, we're talking seven yearslater.
Right, it's in the mid-30s.
It's gotten better.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
Wow, can they make medical sense of that.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
No, we just take the blessings as they come.
Yeah, Like this kid has acongenital heart degenerative
disease and his heart isrepairing itself.
It's like wild, but he'scarrying the glory of God.
It's a miracle.
He's a miracle.

(24:43):
And so I want to share twoother really, really impactful
stories.
When it comes to Austin, In 2011, he had an open-heart surgery
here in Charlotte and he had anincredible surgery.
It went fine.
It was very long, of course.
I mean, these surgeries arehours and hours on end and he
gets to the other side.

(25:03):
The medical team was verypleased with the outcome and we
were starting to communicatewith Austin.
They were weaning him off theventilator and he was starting
to communicate by.
He would write with his fingerletters in my hand.
So, for example, he wrote H-U-G.
Hug me in my hand, and so I'mhugging him and things like that

(25:27):
, and he's starting tocommunicate.
And then, all of a sudden, hisblood pressure dropped out from
underneath of him and he crashedLike right there, he just
crashed into cardiac arrest andit was just pandemonium.
The blue cart comes in, crashcrew comes in and immediately

(25:49):
they start to work on Austin,resuscitating him, and my
husband and I were in there andthey pushed us to the back
corner.
It's a miracle that they let usstay in there.
Yeah.
And at first it's like one ofthe first questions I asked the
Lord why would you allow me towitness something like this?
This is incredibly traumatic towatch my son go into cardiac

(26:12):
arrest and then just watch themedical team do what they do to
help him, to resuscitate him andwe just stood there and it was
just this traumatic moment andI-.
Were you in shock.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
Were you yelling crying.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
Just paralyzed, not knowing what to do.
Just inward panic, just panicup in me, but still paralyzed
watching.
And they're bringing in IVpulls and just bags and bags of
medicine, and they have the AEDmachine.
They're shocking them and justcrazy pandemonium.

(26:52):
And one of the nurses justturns in the middle of
everything.
She just turns and looks at meand she says if you want to pray
over your son, you can.
And I'm just like, ok, yes, andthis is 2011.
I've been walking with the Lordnow for almost a decade and my

(27:13):
faith is strong, and now I'mlike Mama Bear prayer warrior in
action mode.
I go to the front of Austin'shead and I lay my hands right on
his collarbones and I juststart to pray over Austin.
No idea what I said, but I'mjust praying over my boy.
And then, next thing, you know,boom.
His heart starts.

(27:34):
And then they were able to gethim back.
They were stabilizing him, andthen they said Mom, listen,
austin is going to have to goback in for surgery, because
when we resuscitated him, wetore his valve, wow.
And so the tricky thing, though, is this we can't just take him

(28:00):
back in for open heart surgery,because of the tenderness, the
fragility of his heart.
He had already been under theknife, his heart had already
been operated on for hours.
It just went through trauma,being resuscitated.
If they go right back in, thefear was they weren't going to

(28:22):
get his heart started becausethey have to put him on a bypass
machine to do these surgeriesright.
Sure and beyond that, they saidwe can't wait, you know, five
plus five days, because if wewait too long the scar tissue is
already going to be forminginternally and then he'll be at
risk for bleeding out.

(28:43):
Okay, so we got this reallydelicate situation in our hands
and they were like so we thinkthe window is on day five, not
any longer.
But we have to kind of measurethe health of his overall body
and making sure that his bodycan sustain another open-heart
surgery.
So close together.
So he goes into induced coma.

(29:05):
They do this cooling of hisbody because he went through
traumatic cardiac arrest.
They actually cool the bodydown to next to freezing to
preserve all the organs.
It's the first time he Iremember anyway he could have
gone through it before but itdidn't register.
But this is the first moment intime where I remember them
cooling his body and five daysgo by and he's just sleeping and

(29:30):
you know it's one of thosemoments in time, the period of
waiting.
You don't really know what'sgoing to happen.
It was the first moment in time,too, where I could see my
family rallying like I've neverseen all his siblings.
I mean, of course, my husband,john, been there every single
day, you know, praying with me,praying over Austin in the fight

(29:54):
.
But the kids I mean the waythat those kids came together.
John and I were really marriedto the hospital and the kids
were at home.
They have the younger brother,john John, at the time and John
John was incredibly close toAustin.
They've always had thisincredibly connected
relationship.
So John was young and tenderand worried, sick, about his

(30:15):
brother, but they all justrallied around each other and
loved each other.
Our church community camearound us.
We were at Five Stones Church atthe time down in Waxhaw and
they just came around us, madesure our children were cared for
and they were the hands andfeet of Jesus Christ.
And so we were in this periodof five days of waiting and day

(30:37):
five they started to wake Austinup and the most critical
milestone before they could takehim back into surgery was they
needed him to do laps around thecardiac unit Physical movement
to build up his cardiovascularstrength.
It's wild when you really thinkabout all these nuances.
So that was the goal Wake himup.

(30:59):
Don't tell him he has to goback in for surgery because you
don't want to deflate him,stress him, yeah, and it's
incredibly painful.
Think about, not only was hecut vertically down the pectoral
muscles here, but they also cutthrough the side to get to

(31:22):
where they need to get to to doheart surgery on him.
So any sort of movementincredibly painful for Austin
and we have to have him gothrough that pain to get up to
do the laps.
And it's part of in his mind ashe's starting to do this he's
like this is just part of myrecovery.
But then after the day's over,it's like sitting him down and

(31:45):
saying Austin, you have to goback in for another surgery.
And it's like this devastation,what?
And even at that age he wouldhave been 16 at the time, elisa
I remember telling him that hewas going to have to go back
into surgery and he was justfrustrated as any human being

(32:12):
would be, but not in an angryway.
But he's like well, god has apurpose in this somehow.
And it was just this faithreaction that his strength has
just never ceased to amaze me.
Incredible, it's just amazing.
And through this period of time,though, as we woke him up and

(32:33):
we got him moving around, wesaid Austin, do you know what
today is?
And he goes yeah, I just had mysurgery.
We're like yeah, well, it'sreally been a week since you had
your surgery.
Because he has the surgery.
He got into trouble day two andthen he was sleeping for five
days.
And we're like it's been a weeksince you've had your surgery.
He goes a week.

(32:53):
And we're like yeah, you gotinto trouble and we're leading
him up to you have to go back infor surgery.
And we're like do you rememberanything?
And he's like nope, don'tremember anything, don't
remember anything.
And finally he goes mom, wait,I remember, and it was very slow
and lethargic because he justcame out of the ringer and was

(33:14):
communicating in half sentences,so it took a while for him to
tell us this story, over a fewhours.
And he actually told the storyto myself and he would then tell
my sister, layla.
It was like bouncing backbetween the two of us as we
would come in and sit with him.
And he said I had a dream.
He goes.

(33:36):
I had a dream that I got intotrouble in this hospital and he
literally started to retell meeverything that I witnessed with
my own eyes when he wascompletely out, that his heart
stopped, that the crash crewcame in, they started working on
him and he was very intentionalto describe the IVs and the
bags and just everything.

(33:57):
And he said I was laying in thebed and I was outside my body
looking down, and I knew I wasin trouble.
He described where me and myhusband, john, were in the room
and he said and there was thislight, you know the famous light
tunnel that people have talkedabout.
And he says there was thislight tunnel.
And I'm like, okay, tell memore about the light tunnel.
He goes, you know, like the NewYork subway system, the lights

(34:21):
when you're on the train andit's like blinky, blinky, blink.
And if you've ever been on theNew York subway you know the
lights kind of blink as you gothrough various station stops
and he's like that's what it waslike.
But I knew that if I got closerto it because it was pulling me
, if I got closer to it, that Iwas going to die.

(34:41):
I knew I was going to die.
And I'm looking at my body, I'mlooking at you, you know, and
John, where we were standing,he's looking at this light.
And then he saw this cloudthing hovering about above his
body like a sheet, but it's likea living, breathing thing

(35:01):
hovering over his body.
And all of a sudden he said inthe dream I come around and I
lay my hands on his, hisshoulders and I start to pray
over him.
And in that moment he said heknew he was dying and he cried
out to Jesus and he says Jesus,I don't want to die today.

(35:22):
Wow, save me.
Next thing, you know, I'm backin my body.
Wow, I'm looking up at thatbreathing cloud thing.
And it came into my body and hesaid it was God, the Father.
And he said don't worry, austin, I'm saving you today.
I'm OK.

(35:43):
And that was it.
He said my dream was over.
Now go back to me saying whydid God allow me to be in that
room?
Because I was an eyewitness,and so was my husband, who's a
skeptic when it comes tomiraculous things.
He's like the naysayer ofeverything.
He and I were both eyewitnessesto this miracle that God was

(36:08):
doing right in front of our eyes.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yeah, and you had to be in that room to lay your
hands on him and pray.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yes, yes, and the other thing that I still wrestle
through and I still I mean it'sbeen that was 2011,.
So it's been 14 years.
I still wrestle with thisquestion how is it possible that
I was in the hospital roomphysically looking at my son and
he was in the same room and hisspirit was out of his body and

(36:34):
we were in the same spacetogether?
And when God talks about thatveil like if we could just peel
back the veil to see, it's likea taste and a moment in time
like wow, this stuff is real.
I mean I still haven'treconciled that notion right,
that here I am physicallypresent in a hospital room again

(36:55):
with my son's spirit in theroom.
But eventually God's going toteach me and show me more on
that.
But is that not powerful?
Amazing, yeah.
And so now here we are again.
Crazy miracle.
That in itself, theseexperiences that I've described,
in and of itself you wouldthink, well, that's enough to

(37:15):
last anyone a lifetime.
And that's like the shortversion.
I mean, I've left out so manystories along the way, but those
are some big moments.
The biggest one, I would say,for me would be in 2018.
And this week is kind ofinteresting because seven years

(37:36):
ago this month, in July, austintraveled back to Illinois, where
he was born and my family's at,and his dad is still there.
He traveled back to do a visitand he did the exact same visit
this year.
He just got home two days ago.
And it's just so wild how wetalked about doing this episode

(37:59):
and Austin was on the sametravel journey.
He was seven years ago.
But seven years ago Austin wastraveling through Illinois and
it was July 11, 2018, and he wascoming home to Charlotte from
Illinois and I happened to betraveling in the Midwest as well
for work, and so we were in thesame geography at the same

(38:20):
point in time and I had landedin Chicago O'Hare Airport.
I was in a taxi line, I wasgoing to hop in and go to my
hotel.
I had client meetings inChicago that week and next thing
, you know, my phone's ringingand I look down and it's my
ex-husband.
And at first I was like, do Itake it or do I ignore it?

(38:40):
Just kidding, love you, chris.
Just kidding, ex-husband, do Itake it?
And then I was like, oh wait aminute, austin's traveling back
today.
I wonder if Austin's on O'Hare,maybe I can see him.
And I answer the phone and againit's Chris, my ex-husband, on
the other line and he's likehe's in full blown panic mode.

(39:01):
Ang ang, austin's down,Austin's down.
I go.
What do you mean?
Austin's down, he's down, he'sdown, he's having seizures.
And he just was panicked.
He didn't really know what'sgoing on and you know I've been
through enough of these now toknow Austin's not in a good way.
Yeah, and excuse me.

(39:37):
It's all right, you'recompletely powerless in an
airport in another state.
And you know, you just kind oflook around and you know, when
you watch a movie and the camerajust quickly spins the
landscape around you, that'swhat I felt.
I was spinning around and I waslike, oh goodness, Is he here?

(39:59):
Is Austin in O'Hare?
And I just couldn't make senseof anything.
And I'm like, wait a minute,Chris Is Austin in O'Hare
Airport, I'm here, I can get tohim.
And he's like, no, he had aconnection.
He actually flew out of alittle airport called Moline and
he went through Minneapolis.

(40:19):
He's in Minneapolis.
And I was like, okay, now I'min, Get myself together.
And I'm in you know what can Ido?
Mode.
I immediately call Austin'sphone and I'm greeted by this
woman who's on the other end,who's literally doing CPR on my

(40:40):
son, along with this othergentleman who happened to be
okay, first miracle, the womanon the other end.
She was a PA who worked inemergency rooms, so she was very
much used to trauma-informedsituations.
And she quickly she watchedAustin collapse in the airport

(41:01):
and she ran to him and quicklyassessed him and knew that he
was in cardiac arrest because helost control of every function
in his body and she started tocall out for help, started to
call out for AED, call 911.
And then she was joined by thisother gentleman who happened to

(41:22):
be a paramedic out of Atlanta,Georgia, Again one of the
biggest cities in our nation.
He's exposed to some of themost traumatic situations life
can offer and he is first onscene along with this woman to
help my child.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
These perfect strangers with these skill sets.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
And then there was this other gentleman who was in
technology, who he was a leaderin technology, out of all things
, and he comes up to thesituation.
He sees Austin's cell phone andhe takes Austin's thumb while
his blood was still warm andputs his thumbprint to unlock
his phone.
Talk about thinking on the spot.

(42:04):
And that was you know.
He called my ex-husband, whowas the last in Austin's call
list, and that's how Chris wasable to call me.
But the point is is you know,I'm on the phone with this lady,
I'm giving her the download onAustin's medical history, and
then a policeman comes up andhe's like ma'am, we got the

(42:24):
paramedics almost here.
We really need to be focused onyour son.
I'm going to call you back whenwe know what hospital we're
going to be taking him to.
So I start invoking prayerchains literally across the
country.
I'm finding my way to theAmerican Airlines ticket line
and I'm greeted.
I get up to the counter and I'mgreeted by this beautiful soul.

(42:47):
I can't even describe it to you, but I am an absolute mess.
I'm crying, I can't articulatemy sentences, I'm just saying I
need to get to Minneapolis.
My son's in cardiac arrest andshe just felt so bad for me and
basically the FDA regulationswould not allow me to get booked
on a flight because therewasn't enough time you know,

(43:11):
with all the things time to bookthe flight.
Anyway, long story short, shegets me on the next flight,
which is leaving in minutes, andI'm like I don't even know how
to get to the gate.
She ushers me through securityand she literally carries me
onto the airplane.
Okay, meanwhile I had alsocalled my husband and I'm like

(43:36):
John Austin's down, he's inMinneapolis.
You need to get to Minneapolisas fast as possible.
There's one flight left out ofCharlotte and it's leaving
within like a two hour window,not even maybe an hour and a
half tops.
We live 30 minutes from theairport and he doesn't have an

(43:59):
airline ticket.
So my brother-in-law works forAmerican Airlines.
He's calling him, literally gethim booked a ticket.
He makes it to the airport andhe gets on that flight.
So John is in flight toMinneapolis from Charlotte.
I happen to make a flight.
I mean just the chances of allthat working out.
You don't believe it'scoincidence?
You can't believe it'scoincidence.
And you have airline agentsbreaking FDA protocol.

(44:22):
That just doesn't happen.
And so God is moving mountainsand next thing.
You know, I'm on that airplaneand then it's less than an hour
flight and it's the darkest hourof my life.
You have no idea what you'regoing to get on the other side
of it.
Is he going to be alive?
When I even get there, likewhat, what, what am I facing?
What am I walking into?

(44:42):
And so I get there, I get tothe hospital it's United
Hospital in St Paul and, uh, Iam greeted, I'm, by this woman
in the ER and I tell her who Iam and who I'm here to see, and
you know, it's just this verysomber look on her face and in
that moment I was like my son'snot here.
This is it.
This is it.

(45:02):
And I'm then greeted by fourdoctors who take me to a family
consultation room and they startto tell me everything that had
happened to Austin, that he hadbeen without oxygen for over 20
minutes.
They were trying to resuscitatehim.
He was shocked you know sixplus times and not really sure

(45:24):
how many, but it was just,really just a dire situation.
And they asked me if I knew thedifference between a heart
attack and cardiac arrest.
And I thought that was theoddest question and I'm like,
well, yeah, your heart stops.
They're like no, technically,heart attack, your heart doesn't
stop.
Cardiac arrest your heart doesstop.

(45:45):
And then immediately your bodyis being starved without oxygen
and within minutes your brainstarts to decompose and things
just start happening veryrapidly.
And when you go into cardiacarrest outside of the hospital,
they start to run through thestats with me less than 5%

(46:05):
survive and if they do survive,they're going to be a paraplegic
for the rest of their lifeBecause of the lack of oxygen.
Right, exactly, yeah.
And then you know they start toask me do you have power of
attorney?
And I'm like what do you mean?
Do I have power of attorney?
He's my son, yeah.
And they're like well, he'sover the age of 18 and in the
state of Minnesota we canactually make medical decisions

(46:25):
for him, et cetera, et cetera,et cetera, wow.
And so I'm just facing thisjust incredible situation where
they basically got his heartstarted but they communicated he
had zero brain activity andthey even prepped me to say,
when you go in to see him, we'restill working on him, we're

(46:49):
still stabilizing him becausehe's fresh off the ambulance on
him.
We're still stabilizing himbecause he's fresh off the
ambulance and because his brainis not controlling his body,
because he has no brain activityhis body's prostrating, wow.
So they basically had him cuffeddown to the bed, but his body
was jolting off the bed.
Okay, just a horrible situation.

(47:10):
And I share all these detailsbecause this is the glory of God
, this is just the only thingthat's going to save this child
is by the move of God.
And so I go into his ER roomand they basically tell me I

(47:33):
have to stand in this littleitty-bitty spot in the room
because they were still tryingto stabilize him.
And I went up but I saw hiseyes and Elisa, he has brilliant
green eyes and when I lookedinto his eyes they were cloudy
and they were gray and I knew myson was gone.

(47:53):
And I literally just panicked,ceased my heart and I looked at
the doctors and I said, listen,I don't have a moment to lose.
I need to pray over my sonright now and I need to do it
like now.
And I did it with such forcethat I'm telling you like the
whole room just went into shock.
I mean, they were like amedical team working on this boy
.
And then they're like thedoctor said let her get in and

(48:13):
do what she needs to do, and Iwent in.
So wait in this moment you'relooking at him with gray eyes,
feeling like he's not in hisbody, and yet still laid hands
on him and launched into prayer100%, because I mean, we've seen
the resurrection power in thegospel right, lazarus is our

(48:35):
prime example and we just hit myspirit and I'm telling you it
was more than just me.
It was the Holy Spirit in methat took over, because the
words that came out of my mouthwere not from me.
I literally just startedmarching down His body,
literally like a soldier, fromHis head to His toes, boom, boom
, boom.
Saying Holy Spirit in me, raisemy son.

(48:59):
I wasn't crying out, sayingheal him, or whatever you would
say in the moment.
Who says raise my son?
It's not from me, oh gosh.
But I knew, and those are thewords that literally uttered out
of my mouth.
And after I was done, theybasically escorted me out of the

(49:19):
room because they needed tofinish getting him set and then
they were going to transitionhim to another floor.
But again, I said John made itthere that night, the kids
immediately went into action.
They again swarmed their littlebrother.

(49:40):
They all came together and herewe are.
We're in this waiting seasonBecause, just like in 2011,
where they had to cool his bodydown, they had to do that for
Austin.
They would cool his body downand on the third day they would
start to heat him back up andtake him off life support to see
if his body would respond.
So we had this period ofwaiting again, so induced sleep

(50:02):
waiting, and then we hadliterally these caregivers
coming out of the woodworksaying, or I should say,
reminding us of Austin'sprognosis, meaning paraplegic If
he wakes up.
The likelihood of him notwaking up is, you know, very
slim chances, just obviously adark few days.

(50:23):
And on the third day I'll justit's obviously something you
never forget John and I went outto a prayer garden and we were
walking around and we werehashing through what do we do?
Like what if this does happen?
What if, what if, what, if?
And then I was like I can'teven let my head go there, I
just have to stand and believethat God's going to do something
.
And you know, I was justresolute that I had to believe

(50:48):
in the Lord.
And I'm in this prayer garden,though, and I'm feeling very
defeated because on the thirdday, they were heating his body
up and they were starting towean him off life support and to
see if his body would naturallykick into gear.
And then they go through allthe motor tests, you know wiggle
your toes, wiggle your fingers,open your eyes and there's just

(51:10):
nothing, there's no brainactivity on the brain monitor,
and it was just not a goodsituation.
And so I'm just talking to Johnand I'm just crying and praying
and I had to get to the pointwhere I said to the Lord I said,

(51:32):
if you're going to take him,just let me know so I can say
goodbye to him.
But if you are going to raisehim, you also have to let me
know, because I have to standfirm.
Okay, and there was so muchanti-faith coming around me that

(51:57):
I just needed a good dose ofthe Holy Spirit to strengthen me
.
And it was just one of thosemoments in time where you heard,
like Moses at the burning, bush, do you trust me?
And immediately I thought aboutPeter after Christ rose Do you

(52:18):
trust me?
Do you trust me?
Do you trust me?
Do you love me?
Do you love me?
Do you love me?
He literally asked me do youtrust me?
And I said yes, I trust you.
He goes, no, do you trust me?
And I said yes, I trust you.
And then the third time, and itwas just this impression on my
spirit that was like no, if Ireally do bring him home, are

(52:43):
you still going to think I'm agood, good God?
Wow, and I said, even if it'shis time to come home to you, I
will still think you're a good,good God.
And then he said, as I raiseLazarus, I'm going to raise my

(53:07):
son today.
It wasn't my son, it was hisson.
And I just knew it was justthis whoosh that hit me and I
was like he's going to raiseAustin today.
Holy cow, he's going to do it.
And I was like he's going toraise Austin today.
Holy cow, he's going to do it.
And I literally went straightback to Austin's bedside and I'm
sitting there and it's gettingcloser to the decision hour,
which was 3 o'clock Central Time, and everyone's you know, every

(53:32):
denomination of faith is comingin to pray with us or, you know
, give us words ofdiscouragement because it was
speaking against the outcome Godhad just promised.
And then I finally said listen,if you do not believe that
Austin is coming home with mefully intact, with no brain
damage, nothing, you need toleave this room right now,
because I only need people whocan stand in faith with me to be

(53:56):
in this room.
That is such strength.
In that moment.
It was God.
And so John and I just keptstanding there we were praying
over him and I kept goingthrough the wiggle of the toes,
doing all that and there wasnothing, nothing, nothing.
But then, literally it was justout of the corner of my eye.
I saw movement coming fromAustin and I said he just moved,

(54:24):
he just moved, he just moved.
And they came in, they weredoing a full assessment on him.
They're like no, it's just theparalytic weaning off and his
body is going to start toprostrate again because he
doesn't have brain activity.
I said no, no, no again becausehe doesn't have brain activity.
I said no, no, no, he's myson's waking up.
And I was squeezing his hand.

(54:45):
And I said Austin, squeeze myhand.
And I mean his eyes are fullyshut, the monitor is showing no
activity.
And he just slightly squeezesmy hand.
And then I said, austin, wiggleyour toes, rip back the blanket,
looking at his, his toes.
And it was just this slight,ever so slight movement of the
toes and I'm like austin, openyour eyes.
And he's like starts to stress,to kind of open his eyes.
But he couldn't open his eyesand I said, austin, do you know

(55:08):
your mother's speaking to youright now.
And he, literally his head justwent like this, and then the
entire brain monitor lit up.
Wow, it was wild.
And then everyone what happenedin the room in that moment?
Yes, it was wild, it waspandemonium again.
People are coming in.

(55:29):
They're like, what's happeningright now, oh my gosh, and I'll
have pictures, we'll sharepictures of this.
But within a couple hours,literally Austin's off the
ventilator holding his own glassof water, drinking his water,
and literally I'm washing hishair with a shampoo cap.
I mean, it was unbelievable,wow.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
Unbelievable.
You know, what did that do tothe people in the room who
witnessed this?

Speaker 1 (55:59):
Well, they said they never seen anything quite like
it.
Sure, I mean, it truly was amiracle.
He had this cardiac doctor.
They call him St Peter, Hismother called him St Peter and
he said I got one answer for youhow this happened.
He says the man upstairs that'sright, and I'm like you're

(56:25):
right, St Peter, the manupstairs.
And we were in St Paul,Minnesota.
Wow.
But not only did it just.
I'll go to show you how farthey did not believe that Austin
was truly going to wake up.
They had no medical plan forthis kid.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Well, sure, because the only person expecting them
to come home, to the naturalhome, was you, yes, and I'll say
John was believing for it too,and my family.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
We were all rallying around Austin, but they did not
have a medical plan for him andso he resurrected on July 13th.
We sat in Minneapolis for twoweeks.
We didn't fly home.
10 days later, july 23rd, weflew home, but we waited because
they didn't have a medical plan.

(57:10):
They had no idea what causedthe cardiac arrest.
They didn't know what couldhappen if they sent him home
from the hospital.
They didn't know what to dowith him, and so, obviously, we
went on this exploration of howdo we actually find out what
happened to him.
But beyond all that, I'm justgoing to finish with a couple
more crazy if that wasn't enough, just a couple more crazy

(57:33):
things that God did.
Okay.
And so we had to wait 10 days togo home.
And, as we're getting to thelatter part of it, austin this
is just Austin Go back to Austin, four years old, saying my
mommy's sleeping.
Austin, he'd just been throughthe ringer, he's still in the
ringer and he says to me Mom,you need to go to church.

(57:55):
This was a Saturday and thenext day was Sunday.
He goes go to church in themorning.
You don't have to just sit hereby my hospital bed and,
whatever he goes, go to church.
You need to get some fuel foryour soul.
I'm like, austin, I'm notleaving you.
He goes, mom, I'll be okay, youneed to go to church, go to
church.
I'm like we, we're in Minnesota.
Where am I going to go tochurch?
We don't live here, yeah, andthis is God.

(58:28):
So in June of that year 2018, Ihad gone to Minnesota, st Paul,
for an anti-trafficking, justfaith conference at Bethel
University.
There I had met a pastor.
Her name was Amanda and she wasthe sweetest soul, and so I
knew she was connected into thechurch community in Minneapolis,
and so I emailed her and I said, hey, I happen to be in the

(58:50):
area Long story, but I'm lookingfor a church tomorrow.
What church do you go to again,and is it near me?
She says I go to AwakenCommunity Church.
Awaken is also resurrection.
Yeah, okay, awaken CommunityChurch.
And we're not actually hostingchurch in our building tomorrow.

(59:11):
We do this thing once a yearwhere we do baptisms in the
Mississippi River, off ofRaspberry Island, of course, of
course.
And that happens to be a mileand a half from the hospital.
And so guess what?
Sunday morning I get up, I walkto the church, glorious day.
And what do they teach on?
Psalm 23, though I had walkedthrough the valley of the shadow

(59:35):
of death, I will fear no evil.
And Ezekiel 37, dry bones rise.
And then I proceeded to watchcountless people and I have it
on video get baptized in theMississippi River.
We die to the old self andwe're resurrected to the new
self Wow, self.

(59:55):
And were resurrected to the newself.
So God took me to AwakenCommunity Church on Baptism
Sunday in Mississippi, which isthe heartland, the heart.
It's the heart of our country,the river that runs to the heart
of our country.
Think about that.
It's so symbolic, it really is.
So then I get home and I'm likeyou start to process everything

(01:00:16):
and I'm like God, did I imagineall this stuff?
Like literally same week, Ifeel like the people in the
wilderness.
We just saw the Red Sea partand then we're saying, god, are
you really going to provide forus?
Are you really going to take usinto the promised land?
That was me Within two days ofbeing home.
I'm literally crying out to God.
God, did you really do themiracle?
Like, am I crazy?

(01:00:36):
Like, ah, and he goes open yourBible to Ezekiel 37.
And I opened it and I startedto read it and the Lord said to
Ezekiel Ezekiel prophesy overthe dry bones.
Dry bones, rise, he goes.
Who did I have in the ER room?
Who was the first person Iplaced in that ER room?
You, what did you prophesy overyour son?

(01:00:58):
Holy Spirit in me, raise my son.
And it was just like thisillumination of Ezekiel 37 in a
way that I've never seen before.
And I just knew that.
I knew that I knew.
And my husband, who I said Ijokingly say he's my New York
skeptic I went to him and I'mlike John, I was just crying to

(01:01:20):
him and I'm like we justwitnessed this miracle.
Did we imagine it?
He goes.
No, I was there, I witnessed itwith my own eyes, and so it was
just oh, the medical communitysaying it, my husband saying it
and I'm like God, show me.
And he was so faithful to showme.
But, yeah, it's just thisincredible moment and we started

(01:01:40):
with.
It's been seven years, sevenyears.
We came home July 23, 2018.
That day, I cried out to theLord and said was this real?
Was on July 25th 2018.
It just so happens to be theseven-year anniversary of me

(01:02:03):
crying out to the Lord.
Two days ago, austin came homefrom Illinois it was July 23rd
and I looked at him.
I said I'm going to do thisrecording on Friday.
Are you still OK with it?
And he said absolutely, I'm OKwith it.
So God is in every singledetail if we're willing to slow
down and we're willing to look.
And why do I think there's abeacon, call for me to slow down

(01:02:25):
and be intentional, to kind oftake listeners through the
detail, because I could havetold this story in 15 minutes
and given highlights.
But God is in the detail,because we are in a season of
resurrection power.
I believe that with all mybeing.
We started on, is atheism dead?
And part of that we wereconnecting to the Sean Ryan.

(01:02:50):
Was it the Sean Ryan show thatwe were referencing?
Yeah Right, where they were LeeStrobel and John Burke and John
Burke and John Burke I forgothis last name again.
Sorry, john.
We're talking about the powerof the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, and here we are.
We're in this resurrectionseason.
We talked about peopleawakening across the land, and

(01:03:13):
it's so true when we see justthese modern day miracles that
are unfolding before our eyes.

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
How can you help people make sense of that?
God, he doesn't create thesekinds of situations, right, but
he can actually orchestrate allof the details, the divine
appointments, if you will.
That maybe sometimes seem likecoincidences, but they're not
like the people that were in theairport, the right people at
the right time.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Yeah, I mean, I think it goes back to his sovereignty
and his will and his purposes.
These are some of the mysteriesthat I don't know that I'll
ever fully understand on thisside of heaven.
But there's this notion thatGod doesn't create the bad
things.
We can even look at the life ofJob and we can see that God
didn't create the trials, theafflictions that Job had to walk

(01:04:09):
through.
Satan actually thrust that uponJob.
God allowed it to happen forthe testing of his faith that
Job would prove faithful andloyal to the Lord, and that it
actually created even moreblessings on the other side of
it.
It doesn't erase the pain, itdoesn't erase the suffering, but
there is this notion that Goddoesn't create the evil in the

(01:04:32):
world.
We fell in the garden with thetempter, but God will use the
evil that can happen, the ashesthat are created in our life,
and he's going to leverage it tobuild our faith.
Because as our faith increases,his glory increases.

(01:04:53):
And in Romans I believe it's5.8, it says as sin increases,
grace increases.
And so there's this notion iswhen sin, as things get dark or
as the trials and tribulationscome, and that darkness is there
, his grace gets more and moreilluminated in His glory and His

(01:05:16):
power shines through.
So it doesn't matter what I'vewalked through, whether it be
the medical miracles that I'vewitnessed with life, literally
and death, or if it's my ownsanctification, where God is
illuminating something in myheart that needs to go away.
The fact that we can—let mejust say it this way Eight years

(01:05:39):
ago, god knew, because all hisdays are preordained and written
in his book.
He knew that you and I would besitting here in this moment.
He knew that the same day Icried out to help, cried out to
him for help seven years later Iwould be testifying of his
goodness.
I didn't make up that timeline.
We just started brainstorming apodcast, q4 of 24.

(01:06:03):
This wasn't on my radar, but Godknows every detail and that's
why I always say if we areintentional to slow down and
journal, I'm a broken record.
I will say it every singleepisode.
If we are not journaling, it'shard to remember, and that is
one of the greatest commands inthe Bible.

(01:06:24):
God constantly points Hispeople back to remember,
remember, remember, remember,because we're so quick to forget
His goodness.
So, going back to your question, I don't fully understand the
mysteries of the Lord, but I doknow that if we slow down and we
start to call on His name andseek His face out, we will see

(01:06:46):
that he's always at work.
God is always at work around us.
The question is are we havingthe eyes and ears to hear and to
see what he's doing?

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
Yeah, and you spoke, too, about the moment in the
hospital.
Well, actually, after prayingto the Lord and when you heard
clearly from him that he wasgoing to raise your son that day
, and then you marched back intothat room with complete and
total conviction that we neededto get everybody out around us

(01:07:17):
that didn't have that samebelief.
What role do you, how importantdo you think that was in Austin
, coming home with you, and howimportant do you think that is
for our listeners who might bewalking through something in
terms of having the people whobelieve with total faith that

(01:07:38):
they will come through whateverit is that they're walking
through?

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's critically important.
If you do not have people likeAaron lifting Moses' arms up, if
you don't have people who arestanding firm in belief with you
, then those people shouldn't betaking up space in your life.
When you're facing a truecritical moment, whether you're
believing for a miracle, forsomeone you love, for yourself,

(01:08:03):
whatever the situation is, youhave to be surrounded by faith.
And I love the man in the Biblewhere he says I do believe.
Jesus says if you have faith,if you have faith, the miracle
can happen.
And the man replies to Jesus Ido have faith, I do believe, but
help my unbelief.

(01:08:23):
So there's this real fleshresponse there that belief and
unbelief coexist at the exactsame moment in time.
And when we confess it, whenwe're pure of heart and we just
follow God at His word he saidit, he'll do it when we're truly
in that moment of belief.
And if there's any sort ofunbelief, lord, help my unbelief

(01:08:46):
.
That's what we're called to do.
And in that moment, that's whatstirred up in me.
I mean it's like Austin in theER room Holy Spirit in me raised
my son.
It's the word that's in me thatcame out.
And so, studying God's word,eating it, making it be a part

(01:09:07):
of who you are.
So when you're in crisis moment, you can call on God's truth in
you and you speak it out.
He says I send my word out.
It will not return void.
And so our words have the powerto speak life or death.
And so what are we thinking?
What are we speaking?
And then, whose voices are wealigning to?

(01:09:28):
And so the unbelief that wascoming against Austin at the
hospital, from the medicalcommunity, the care community.
I had to push those voices outbecause it wasn't aligned with
the Word of God.
It doesn't matter what themedical data said, it doesn't
matter that they said Austinshould have a heart transplant.
That's not what God said,because God still gave him
quality of life, still doestoday.

(01:09:49):
He still has quality of life,his heart's actually healing,
and so my experience has been,and what I try to do and I don't
get it right obviously 24 by 7,but lean into is your heart and
your mind truly aligned withthe Word of God?
Because if it's not, you'redelaying the fulfillment of the

(01:10:12):
promise.
Yeah.
It's a weird spiritual thing.
Now I want to be careful too,because we kind of start to get
into this territory.
Why does God allow bad thingsto happen to good people and not
everyone gets the outcome thatI get?
I mean I have incredible,faith-filled friends who have

(01:10:34):
gone through tragic situations,and I don't fully understand all
of that, except for we are insuch a small sliver of time.
Okay, so if we had eternity,that, you know, was mapped up.

(01:10:56):
What's his name?
Francis Chan.
He does this thing about.
He has this rope and he tiesoff some duct tape, tapes some
duct tape at the beginning andhe says this is your life here
on earth, and it's this littlepiece of tape on this really
like miles of rope.
And he goes and this is eternity, yeah, and he just goes like
this and he's sweeping and hegoes people, this is eternity.

(01:11:17):
And he just goes like this andhe's sweeping and he goes people
want to erase hell.
And he's like but you realizethat if you erase hell you're
erasing heaven.
You really got to make sure youget your faith right.
And so I say all that to saythis pain and suffering that God
does allow to happen, meaningpeople don't get the outcome
that I get and they have to walkthrough that trial with a

(01:11:38):
different outcome.
It doesn't erase the fact thatGod is good.
It just means that God'spurpose outlives our small
moment in time and whatever thefruit of that situation is bears
fruit for generations to come.
Case in point Austin reachedover 20,000 people just through

(01:12:02):
a CaringBridge site that myfriends stood up to keep.
You know, family and friendswanted to keep abreast of what
was happening with Austinthrough those dark days and over
20,000 people got connected toAustin's story, no idea whose
lives were forever changed justby hearing the testimony of the
Lord.
And if Austin got a differentoutcome and I've seen it happen

(01:12:23):
with other people the testimonyof the trial and the people's
faith through the trial.
It brings other people to faith, regardless of an outcome,
because the outcome is this iswhat I had to reconcile.
I knew that if the Lord tookAustin in 2018, I knew that
Austin was in heaven.

(01:12:43):
My son is a faith-filledbeliever.
He loves the Lord with all hisheart, mind and soul and he
chases the Lord.
I mean, he has some of thestrongest faith.
I knew, and I had peace that myson, if he were to be taken, he
would be sitting at the feet ofJesus, and why would I not be
okay with that?
And so the question for me isdid I really believe that?

(01:13:05):
Did I really believe that'swhat the Word says and that I
actually believe in that promise?
I believe in the resurrectionpower of Christ?
Do I also believe that ifAustin passes, or anybody in my
life passes, that they're goingto be sitting with the feet of
Jesus and they're a lot betteroff there than they are here?
I'll be a painful for thatlittle moment.
Sliver of eternity, yes, but ifit bears fruit for eternity,

(01:13:29):
for the purposes of God, it's avery long way to say I don't
really understand all God'splans, lisa.
Yeah, but he's sovereign andhe's good in all of it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:38):
Yes, he is.
I have so many more questions.
We're probably going to have todo a part two on this and
probably take some listenerquestions as well.
But I'll ask you one lastquestion how do you think all of
our lives would change if wehad resurrection kind of faith?
Wow Well.

Speaker 1 (01:13:56):
I think that we would see demons cast out, we would
see the dead come back to life,we would see Acts coming alive,
and I think that's the beaconcall to the church right now,
god is calling up believers.
If your faith doesn't mirrorthat of the book of Acts, then
we're falling short.
And so increase my faith, lord,increase my wisdom, increase my

(01:14:19):
ability to be obedient to yourcall.
We're all called If we call onthe name of Christ and say he's
our Lord and Savior.
We're all called to makedisciples of the nations it's
not just for the pastors and thepulpits on Sunday Our feet.
We are to be the messenger ofthe good news.
Feet, we are to be themessenger of the good news.

(01:14:41):
And so my challenge is pray foryour faith to be increasing.
Take steps to increase yourfaith, live it out with the Lord
and ask for the gifts of theSpirit.
It's all chronicled out inCorinthians.
He will give it.
You don't have because you donot ask.
Would be dreams, would beresurrected.
That's right.
I mean, god put dreams in ourhearts.

(01:15:02):
Our dreams can be asleep anddormant.
He's calling us to resurrectthe dreams.
Yeah, and if we put our faithin ourselves, that's what we're
going to get, not a lot ofnothing, but if we put our faith
in christ and his power, we'regoing to see the impossible
become possible.
I couldn't agree more Right.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
Yeah, that's the call to truly believe that nothing
is impossible and nothing is toofar gone with Him.
That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:15:26):
And that's the encouragement to all of our
listeners.
What do you think is impossible?
What do I think is impossible?
Right, just for our listeners?
Yeah, just that's the questionI'm asking the listeners Like,
what do they in their hearts?
What's impossible?
Let me back it up first andforemost Are you trying to build
your kingdom?

(01:15:47):
Are you trying to build God'skingdom?
Yeah, if you're trying to buildyour kingdom, then you may not
be aligned to the will of God,but if you have a desire in your
heart and a dream in your heartthat's about building his
kingdom, which means winningsouls for Christ, then you start
to lay that at the feet of thecross.

(01:16:07):
What's impossible becomespossible, and that's what we
need to do.
So good, it's that simple, butthat's what we need to do.
So good, it's that simple, butthat's what we have to do.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:16:22):
I am so glad that God trusted you and Austin with
this story.
Thank you for sharing it withall of our listeners today.
My pleasure Incredible.
Well, I'll close us out andpray yeah, okay, father God,
thank you for trusting Angeliqueand Austin with this powerful
testimony.
Thank you that you raise him.
Every single day, lord, we askfor the kind of bold, unshakable

(01:16:47):
resurrection style, strengthfor each and every one of us.
We love you, we praise you inyour heavenly name, amen.
Amen.