This week I am sharing snippets from a year in the life of one of my friends Joanne. Her story is one of triumph and faith through crazy disasters. She is truly one of my heroes. I am so excited to share her story. Be sure to read her story in her own words here.
Joanne is one of the most carefree spirits I have met in my life, a true hope-bringer in the clearest sense of the word. Whimsical. Full of life and joy. Willing to trust God for anything. Even when logic would say stop, she goes anyway. “God’s got my back, and nobody’s bigger than Him,” I remember her telling me when I suggested she shouldn’t be giving away food by herself at dusk in the middle of the downtown slums. Refreshing, childlike faith. But Joanne’s faith in the goodness of God and her hope have been earned through trial after trial. She remains committed and faithful to God through it all. For this, she is one of my heroes. This is part of her story.
Laurel
Joanne heard shuffling feet in the hallway halfway through her shift. “Probably Laurel,” she thought to herself. Laurel often woke up in the middle of the night to pour herself some milk, so Joanne didn’t think much of it. Then the glass fall to the ground, so she went to check on Laurel. Laurel was on the ground having a seizure.
Joanne watched for a few moments as Laurel seized, uncertain what to do. Her training at the group home included seizure protocol, but she never expected to use it. She called her supervisor at home and explained the situation. Joanne was told to wait five minutes to see if the seizure passed. She waited the very long five minutes, then called 9-1-1.
Laurel would be okay, but things were just beginning for Joanne. She was shaken with the reality that an epileptic fit could potentially kill someone. Her brother Ricky had seizures, so Joanne couldn’t stop from thinking, “What if?” Six weeks later, Laurel would come back to her mind in a stark and painful way.
Ricky
Joanne was awakened in the early afternoon by Ricky’s screams again. He didn’t communicate well, so he resorted to screaming a lot. “Probably wants to take a shower,” Joanne mumbled to herself and tried to go back to sleep. It was the quiet that awakened her again. Ricky was never quiet.
Her dad was lounging on the couch, still half asleep from his night shift. “Daddy, where’s Ricky?” He looked up at her with his head cocked to the side and said, “I just finished helping him in the shower. He is in his room now.” Joanne walked over to his room, but no Ricky. She checked the bathroom just to be sure, but he wasn’t there either.
Confused, she walked back over to his bedroom. She saw Ricky stuck between the frame of his waterbed and the wall! Joanne yelled for Daddy, and he came rushing in. They called the paramedics, Joanne knew in her heart Ricky was already dead. Blue lips. Not breathing. His fingers were ice cold to the touch. The EMTs came, but Ricky was gone before they arrived.
Daddy
Six weeks later, Daddy finished some simple repairs on Joanne’s car, and she jumped in to leave. “Bye Joanne! See you later. I love you.” She was in a rush and just drove off. No good-bye. No I love you. Just drove off. Unaware she would never talk to him again.
The call came around 2 am the next morning. Daddy had a heart attack, and was rushed to the hospital. Joanne and her mom rushed to the hospital. Daddy was in the hallway, laying unconscious. The beeps and lines and numbers didn’t make any sense, and Joanne couldn’t handle more tragedy. She ran outside to the parking lot.
Joanne burst into tears as she cried out to God. “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?” A gentle drizzle started falling from the sky, and she heard God whisper, “I feel your pain. I am crying with you.” When Joanne walked back into the hospital some time later, her Daddy has passed.
Joanne didn’t lose hope in the God bigger than anyone else though. She earnestly prayed that, like Lazarus, her Daddy would rise from the grave days after his death. When he didn’t, she was confused. Why wouldn’t God answer her prayers?
Cushing’s Disease
Things didn’t get better for Joanne. The migraines she experienced occasionally increased, some lasting nearly a week. Joanne began to rapidly gain weight. Her mom told her it was just depression from the tragedies of Ricky and Daddy. Joanne knew she wasn’t depressed. “I’m too much of a Tigger to be an Eeyore,” she said.
She went to the doctor to have some tests run, convinced something was causing the weight gain and the migraines. A short time later she was diagnosed with Cushing’s disease, in which a tumor grows in the pituitary gland. She was devastated. When will the bad news end?
She went to her small group Bible study and asked for prayer. The young small group leader told her that God was GOING to heal her. He prayed confidently, claiming the name and power of Jesus, commanding healing to begin that instant.
Nothing changed. No miracle cure. No profound sense of God’s presence. Just nothing. Joanne moved forward with medical options. The best treatment was brain surgery, given the location and size of the tumor. Joanne had a successful removal of the tumor, and her weight gain and migraines lessened.
How Did You Do It Joanne?
Through this all, she managed to hold on to her hope in God, though some days were better than others. Most of us will never experience the trauma Joanne had in the course of a year, but she kept her hope in God most days. To this day, I am amazed by her story and her heart, but I had to know: How did you do it Joanne?
I will be sharing the answers she gave me, and that I have watched her live out, on Wednesday and Friday this week.
These stories are so important to share Chris, what a woman you are blessed to know. We need to see more examples of faith lived out.
I can see why Joanne is such an inspiration to you, she obviously has strong faith, the kind you really want to acquire but is hard won through trials.
Kathleen, I wish there were shortcuts, don’t you? Unfortunately, it’s in the fire we learn who we really are, and what we think about God.
Joanne continues to inspire me to this day. She’s facing a potential recurrence of the Cushing’s symptoms, but her faith in God is undeterred.
I am so excited that she has started to write her story. If you pop over to her site and read some of the other stuff she has experienced, it’s even more amazing.
Indeed! It feels more real somehow to see this type of faith walked out before me, rather than in the pages of Scripture from thousands of years ago, right?
because Christ lives – an everlasting hope was born in her that astounds so many. It is the grace of God at active work. I am blessed to call Jo my friend. I love that girl. God is so faithful, and He’s still doing amazing work in her life. I know HE will continue to be faithful to her. Thank you for sharing this story. She’s an amazing woman after God’s heart.
I have to admit that this kind of trust in God did not occure overnight. There were many nights that this fire of hope within only glimmered a low glow of a dying ember; however, if it weren’t for my dear dear friends here near and far weekly breathing upon and fanning that ember so it wouldnt die…. This story is actually the pennacle; the crossroads in my journey where I had a choice to make- I chose life!
Marvia, I am blessed to have you as my dear friend. Thank you for breathing on the embers in my heart with your life songs when it seemed like the little glow would die
Chris, in all honesty, if it werent for you and Barbara consistantly fanning in to flame and blowing and encouraging like the “croods” in the movie that just came out… even when you were probably tired of me going around the same issues over and over again; What can I say but I love you two more than words can say.
Joanne,
I remember many a night when we’d talk on the phone or at small group where you were struggling to find hope in God. The fact you chose to push into community rather than isolate yourself is one the things you that made a difference.
I am so glad you chose life!
I am thrilled to have the chance to share her story. People need to hear it!
I never got tired of you Joanne. Your world was getting rocked to the foundations. I was thrilled you trusted us enough to share your story, your struggles, you pain…and to let us love you.
I am so thankful, and blessed beyond words that I have had faithful real friends such as you and Barbara! I am realizing through my own story and writing it all out that the foundation of a relationship is trust. If that trust isnt solid then anything built upon that foundation will be weak…. And I didnt trust my own judgements or the friendship of others nearly as deeply for a long long time because of my childhood;
love this story cause it just shows the goodness of God and how He moves through people to accomplish His good will. love you Jo!!!
Awwww. you know i heart you always!!!!! God is so faithful !
one foot in front of the other. day by day by day. that’s all we do to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony – one step of faith at a time!