Trust

By Joyce Olivier

The surgeon said, “It’s really bad.” I refused to hear those words. He added, “But she is still breathing, so there is hope.”

On December 18th, 2018, my 37-year old daughter, Mariella, was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Amsterdam suffering from what presented as excruciating pain in her arms and was diagnosed as a heart attack. Once in the hospital, an angioplasty procedure resulted in an explosion of her aorta.  All medical staff on call, 27, were called up. There was no time for proper preparation nor to put her on an operating table. During the operation, she was given about 70 electric shocks and her heart was restarted 20 times. She underwent four more open-heart surgeries in the next three days as her heart kept bleeding.

Just before she was taken in for the first operation, she asked me, “What does Spirit say?”

The answer I received was, “You’re going to the light.”

Her immediate response was, “And back again.”

Though a few times during this crisis I felt the pull into fear, those moments were fleeting. For the most part, I could put A Course in Miracles principles to work keeping me peaceful and trusting. After all, I didn’t know what was in her highest good.

I had been on a path of unconditional love since 2007 in which ACIM has been a great help. Mariella had joined me as well. When her husband wanted to start a business, we pulled together our ideas and turned them into reality. We opened a café we called TRUST, which was an acronym for To Rely upon Source (something bigger than ourselves) Totally. To develop our own trust, we decided to operate on a ‘pay as you feel’ basis. The money always showed up exactly when we needed it.

Now in this dire emergency with my daughter’s life on earth hanging by a thread, I was being challenged to trust yet again without any expectations as to the result. I felt deeply that I was asked to hold on to nothing and let Divine take charge.

In the meantime, I started a What’s App group, “Miracle Workers,” to invite anyone to join us in putting together a virtual container of unconditional love for Mariella. Some 50 people brought their loving thoughts to this container. Every time Mariella was taken in for another heart surgery, we asked people to send a thought of unconditional love and light.

Miracles seemed to appear one after another. Mariella had given birth to a son, Noah, a few months before this medical crisis. She had found wonderful childcare for her daughter, Verenique, and now this woman stepped in seamlessly to care for the children.  My son arranged for me to stay at the hospital, which is quite unusual—both at the ICU and CCU departments.  A big reclining chair was delivered to the CCU so I could sleep next to her every night. Continuous Divine Interventions. Everything surrounding this emergency just flowed effortlessly.

Mariella was transferred to a hospital elsewhere, where a bed suddenly became free in the ICU.  Here a new team of specialists was finally able to stop the bleeding in her heart. She had been in an induced coma and placed on a heart-lung machine. At last, the doctors thought there was enough progress that they could bring Mariella out of the coma. This happened on the day after Christmas, her favourite time of the year.

But there was yet another emergency to face. Mariella couldn’t move her arms and said, “Why are all your noses so crooked?” A scan revealed a blood clot in her brain, causing a blind spot. She overcame this challenge as well, all the while sending out blessings to all those around her even that first night out of the coma, which she said was hell.

Her daughter had earlier sent a voice message to the Miracle Worker’s app “Hello mama, stay in the Love Bubble all the time. Listen to the people, they get sweeter and sweeter and sweeter. See you soon.”

During our time in the hospital, Mariella and I would join whenever her mind would go off Divine track a little. We would join in trust; we continued to bless everyone around us, whether a doctor, nurse, patients, and other helpers.  Our Miracle Workers continued to send thoughts of love and light every morning and night.

After two weeks, she was transferred back to the hospital in Amsterdam mainly to gain her strength back again. During her recovery, the two surgeons who operated on her came to visit.

The first surgeon said, “I heard you were back, but I had to see you for myself.”

The second one showed up a day later; it was only then that he explained the severity of her condition that first night. When he saw her, his eyes teared up. He kept staring at her and said, “This is a miracle that hardly ever happens.”

After three weeks, Mariella was back home. She began walking short distances to build up her strength.  The medical check-up at three months revealed her heart functioning at 100%. The prognosis had been at the most 70%.

The Miracles Principles in ACIM guided our journey through this medical crisis and we learned first-hand the truth that Jesus promised: “You will see miracles through your hands through me.”

Into the holy home where fear is powerless, love enters thankfully, grateful that it is one with you who joined to let it enter. [CE T-22.II.11:7]

__________________________________________________________
If you enjoyed this story you might enjoy this one!
To learn more about our community of A Course in Miracles students, visit Course Companions.