Pastor's Corner: Breathe again

As they rush me to the emergency room in the ambulance, I wondered how bad my situation was. The fear of not knowing was killing me. How serious was covid affecting me?

We get to the emergency room and it was a scene of organized confusion. A doctor asking each patient their condition and she starts pointing where to take each person.

“Take Mr. Gomez to the secondary E.R.” What does that mean? I thought. As they wheel me into the square shaped room I am surrounded by other sick patients, lined up like sardines against the walls and a woman in a chair by the bathroom. I can feel despair starting to come over me. A feeling of deep sadness and loss of hope for my situation. I thought, is this it, am I going to die? Chaos is around me, it looked like a scene from an outbreak movie, sick people everywhere. God was up to something, God was about to doing something.

I had remembered New Life Church was having a revival and so I grabbed my phone and tuned in. The worship music was hitting my heart, tears ran down my face. I lifted up my hands right there, I was desperate for God to turn my situation around. I didn’t care who was watching, I was going to worship my God. I balled my eyes out. I couldn’t get through a song without crying. I started feeling peace, peace had come over me.

As I sat in my hospital room I can hear a person pulling off their mask, “I can’t do this anymore.” The sounds that would echo off the hospital floors would bring fear at times. I was sitting in a chair during the fourth morning of my stay.

A doctor comes in the room, “Mr. Gomez your vitals look good and you are going home.” All I can do is cry, at that time I didn’t know if I was going to die in the hospital or go home. The doctor hugged me and I hugged her, she cried and said “You are my Covid Survivor.” We hugged again and we cried together.

I had felt a roller coaster of emotions, I had said my peace to God and my wife while I was in the hospital. God turned it around, my hope is in the name of Jesus. God is doing something right now, even if we cannot see it. He is healing, and saving someone. Be encouraged He is moving mountains, making a way for someone right now. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Mario Gomez is pastor of Shafter Christian Fellowship Church.