Do you know just where you were 12 days before Easter in 1979? I do. I was in the first day of a 12 day coma at a local hospital. I had gone into the hospital with an asthma attack. My visits to ER and admissions to the hospital were routine by this time and no one thought much of it. I knew the day was different when they admitted me. I don't know how I knew, I just did.

My husband stayed long enough to get me settled and went home to go to work. After he left, my breathing began to worsen and I was in and out of consciousness for a time. The next thing I knew, my husband, my brother and my youngest sister were in my room and I was begging them to pray for me because I knew I was dying.

I wasn't a Christian at this time and I knew I wasn't ready to die. I begged my husband and my brother and my sister to pray with me. They couldn't. My sister was a new convert, and at a loss for words, so she called a lady from her church who came and prayed. I don't remember this woman's face, just her hand holding mine as I lapsed once again into unconsciousness.

That unconsciousness lasted 12 days. I had gone into respiratory failure and then into a coma. The days preceding Good Friday and Easter were going to be my last ones on earth according to the doctors. They said that if I lived, I would be in a vegetative state for the remainder of my life. On Good Friday I was aware that my brother and my husband were in my hospital room. My brother was reading a card to me and holding a rose.

I was transferred to a larger university hospital so they could do a CT scan on my brain I and began to regain consciousness on Easter morning. As I became more and more awake, I learned I couldn't move my body. I was paralyzed from the neck down. Once I was fully awake, I was put into rehab and began physical therapy. They were training me to live life as a quadriplegic.

There is so much more to this story and perhaps I'll tell all of it one day. It's a story of God's providence to a sinner who had no redeeming value in herself. It's a story of God's mercy and grace. It's a story about me and where God allowed me to find Him. In the deepest, darkest time of my life, He allowed me to find Him.

This is a special time of year for me and my Fred. Not only did I live, I also walked again and regained corrected vision in my right eye. I didn't stay in the wheelchair or on the crutches. God gave back what the enemy of my soul was determined to take.

He's done that for all who know Him as Savior and Lord. He's given us new life and allowed us to see His mercy and grace each day we're here. We have such glorious reason to celebrate this Holy Day called Easter because our Redeemer lives! He lives and He reigns and He rules to the glory of God the Father!

May you find Him anew this week. May He be all you need for whatever you might be facing in this life. May you come to a place of rest and refreshment in the knowing that He knows you and He cares for you. He has called you by name and you are His if you have accepted His gift of new life in Christ.

He reigns! Hallelujah to His Name, He reigns!