Pillow Talk

My husband and I are very close in heart and mind, and have a wonderful marriage.  I am so thankful to God that He has always led us simultaneously along the same spiritual path; our peaceful, love-filled home is such a blessing to me. 

Before we go to sleep at night, we tie up some loose ends from our day, and pray together, heads on our pillows, facing each other.  We pray for our children and grandchildren, that they would always love the Lord, love the Word of God, and always have a soft heart to be led by the Holy Spirit.  And we recite the following Scriptures declarations as a prayer over our entire family:

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: He forgives all our sins, and heals all our diseases.  He redeems our life from destruction, and crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies.  He fills my mouth with good things, so my youth is renewed like the eagles.’  He works righteousness and justice for me when I’m oppressed. 

“No evil shall befall me; neither shall any plague come near my dwelling.  For He gives His angels charge over me, and they keep me in all my ways.  With long life He satisfies me, and shows me His salvation.”

(Online photo)

On Saturday morning of January 9, my husband was working on a job by himself in Annandale, VA, when he was suddenly unable to stand up or keep his balance, and became extremely nauseous.  He lay down on the carpet of the town home he was prepping to paint, and reached for his cell phone to call me to ask for prayer.  Even that took a great, slow effort, as the slightest movement of his hand and head brought nausea and vomiting.  I prayed for him, and also immediately e-mailed our family and life group at church and asked them to pray as well.  My daughter and I agreed on the phone that God would send His angels to help Dave.

Long story short, Dave was eventually able to direct the EMT's to his remote location, and the first technician on the scene introduced himself to Dave: "My name is Gabriel."  That really touched Dave as he thought of how often we'd prayed that phrase from Psalm 91: "He gives His angels charge over me."  Dave was taken by ambulance to Fairfax Hospital, where they ran all sorts of tests on him.  Our daughter and oldest son took me to the hospital and were able to be there with me, but our youngest son couldn’t come until the next morning when he got off night shift work.

Dave’s blood pressure was very low, and he was in A-fib, unable to walk or even move without becoming quite nauseous, and vomiting.  His heart rate was erratic, soaring from 109 to the 180’s, then dipping into the 150’s, back and forth, on and on.  At one point he had to be given oxygen. We watched the monitors above my husband’s head as he lay there on the gurney in the emergency room.  The beeping was constant, and red numbers would flash now and again.  It was a somber time for me and my children, but it was also a time to declare the promises of God!  We encouraged each other in the Lord and declared blessing and healing over Dave.   

Doctors and nurses were in and out all day, and finally toward evening, Dave was moved to a spacious private room on the 6^th floor.  A cardiologist came in later to talk to us, and said if they can’t get the heart rate stabilized and synchronized in beating by morning, they would have to use the paddles to shock his heart back into rhythm.  They had given him meds all day to try to get him out of A-fib, to no avail.  His monitors were hooked up to the nurses’ station where they would watch him all night.

At home that night, I turned down the covers and looked at Dave’s empty spot, but I chose to be in good spirits, relying on God to fulfill his promises we had quoted together so many times as we did “pillow talk” at night.  I crawled into bed around 11:30 p.m., and prayed for Dave, thanking God for His care and protection over him.  And I prayed for our children and grandchildren as we always did, and spoke the scripture declarations aloud by myself, placing my hand on his pillow as if he were there. 

I settled down to sleep, but around midnight, I felt an authority by the Holy Spirit to address an evil spirit and declared: “You spirit of death, I rebuke you in Jesus’ Name!"  I pointed my finger into the darkness and ordered,  "You will NOT have my husband!  You take your hands off him, NOW!  He is healed by the stripes of Jesus!  He will not have a heart attack; he will not have a stroke.  And furthermore, I forbid you to bring on him any genetic heart condition suffered by his father, or anyone in his family line!  I also declare that you will not afflict anyone in our family line: our children or grandchildren, through all their generations!  Now, be gone from my husband, in Jesus’ Name!” 

I fell asleep, and when I checked my e-mail in the morning before setting off for the hospital again, there was a message from Dave, saying the A-fib quit around midnight!  His heart rate was steady and regular, and he’d eaten a good breakfast!  I was filled with praise and thanksgiving to God, and also thankful to all the family and friends who prayed for Dave.

The doctor wanted to keep Dave in the hospital yet on Sunday, because he wanted him to have a stress test before releasing him to go home.  And the technicians who do the stress test weren’t working on Sunday, so he had it early Monday morning.  He aced it!  He told me he didn’t even break a sweat, or get out of breath; the treadmill incline got fairly steep and he was almost trotting as the speed increased, and his heart rate went to 170.  The heart monitor and blood pressure showed good health, so the doctor released him to come home. 

His family doctor diagnosed him with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, and gave him head positon exercises to do; he also bought some Meclizine for motion sickness.  He’s been able to work again for almost two weeks.  There were times when the BPPV symptoms would get worse, and Dave said to me, “I can choose to continue to agree with God’s promises that I am healed, or I can choose to say, ‘I guess I’m not healed after all.’  I choose to stand on God’s Word regardless of what I see or feel!” 

Dave is fully on the road to recovery from the BPPV, and pillow talk is more precious than ever.

* Scripture quotations from Psalm 103 and Psalm 91. 

Copyright © 2016 Elaine Beachy