The following story is shared by Timothy member Laurie Milbrodt, an integral member of Timothy’s worship team. What an awesome God we serve!

“Dear Friends,

To say that our God is good is such an understatement. Today is Wednesday, and late last Friday afternoon, my husband, Matthew, was placed on a list to receive a heart transplant. He was listed as a level 6 which means he was at the bottom of the priority list. There is no way of knowing how long you will have to wait for a heart, but being at the bottom of the list meant that he would, most likely, need to get much sicker than he already was to move up the list . . . and from my perspective he was already VERY, VERY seriously ill. As I’m sure many of you know, it is awful to watch someone you love deteriorate and know there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it. So what do you do in that situation? You pray, and pray, and pray!

So as of Friday evening when he was “listed” we were to keep our phones turned on and nearby at all times so that if we got a call for a heart, we could respond within one hour to accept or reject the offer. Now Matthew gets LOTS of spam calls, so when his phone rang at 5:00am this past Sunday, in his “not quite awake stupor” he didn’t answer it. It immediately rang again so he picked it up, and it was the hospital saying they had a heart for him!! So roughly 36 hours after he was placed on the list, there was the gift of a “new” heart for Matthew. How could that be?! Only through our God.

We got to the hospital at 7:00am on Sunday, but by noon, it was determined that the surgery wouldn’t take place until the following morning. You see, when someone donates several organs, the heart is the last one to be taken, and that was the case here. So Matthew’s new heart was placed in his body early Monday morning and began beating on its own immediately. I am still (and always will be) in awe that such a thing is even possible. What a miracle!

Matthew’s surgeon told me that it was a textbook surgery. Nothing could have gone any better, and that Matthew received a “beautiful heart.” Because of the pandemic, I had to leave the hospital before Matthew woke up, and I cannot go back to visit until he is released. So, we video chat several times a day and every time I ask him if he is in pain, he says “no.” I said they must be giving him some REALLY good drugs, but he said no, that he wasn’t on pain medication, and the nurse confirmed it! How can you have your chest sawed open and your ribs spread apart and not have any pain afterward? Only through our God.

If all continues to go well, I’ll get to bring my husband home sometime next week. I would ask you for prayers that this is what will happen.

Of course, our happiness is someone else’s grief. Someone had to die in order for Matthew to receive that heart. Every time (which is multiple times a day) I think of the organ donor and their family, I am overcome with grief for them. I pray that they will be comforted in some small way, knowing that their loved one gave others the gift of life.
I am utterly undone as I contemplate the miraculous workings of our God. I cannot even fathom how much, or even why, God loves us. But I know with every fiber of my being that God orchestrated every step of this miracle. I stand in awe.”

Thank you, Lord, for continually showing your people what miracles are all about!