In 2010, my husband and I were visiting some friends in Didsbury, Alberta. It was our second trip to Canada and we were greatly looking forward to being with our hosts, Pastors Richard and Beth Kope. We were excited to be visiting them again and also looking forward to ministering in their church as well.  However, our well-laid plans for a summer vacation turned into nothing short of a nightmare. On Sunday morning, I had left Prit at the house and gone ahead with the Kopes to pre-service prayer. As we left the prayer room and the sanctuary began to fill up with other church members, my husband was nowhere in sight and he was supposed to preach! Having grown up in a military family, the Adamses were not only on time for events, but usually early.

Pastor Richard decided to swing back by the house to see what was keeping my husband. What he found was Prit sprawled out on the bathroom floor. He had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage from an aneurysm and was immediately flown by helicopter to Calgary, Alberta. Having to follow behind in the van, we had no idea what we would find when we arrived. It would be the first of two back-to-back brain aneurysms and the greatest trial of our lives. You can read that story in my book, ”Into the Storm.” 

However, I would like to share an excerpt from Chapter 14 of my book concerning those two unlikely companions mentioned in my previous post. During this horrendous time, fear and faith were my companions. Fear rarely left the room while faith, at times, was nowhere in sight. While fear asked dozens of questions, usually beginning with ”What if…”, my faith fought to keep treading water.

Chapter 14: Fear and Faith

I have a little figurine that sits on my nightstand in Haiti which was a gift. It is a statue of a little lamb dressed up in armor. The lamb has a helmet on his head and is covered with a breastplate. It also brandishes a sword and holds a shield with the other paw. His armor represents that which we as believers are told to take and put on in the sixth chapter of Ephesians. Unfortunately, my little lamb fell on the hard concrete floor, thus breaking his shield in half. At times, I have felt like that little lamb, trying to stand against forces of darkness with a broken shield. There were times when I would open up God’s word to read to Prit, all the while feeling such a sense of hopelessness. My lips would tremble after I read chapter after chapter to him and my heart was gripped with a gnawing fear. I have heard others say that faith and fear don’t mix. Many have said that one cannot operate in faith if they’re gripped with fear. I beg to differ. Like that little lamb, no matter how fearful the believer, if he moves forward in faith, even a trembling faith, God honors his prayers. From eternity’s perspective, the spiritual powers ”that be” regard even the weakest prayer as a threat. And all the armies of Heaven stand poised to come to the defense of the pitiful cry of one of God’s lambs.

Is there something in your life that keeps you from moving forward? Does the thought of it make your hands feel clammy and your heart race? Welcome to the majority of the human race! Watching my husband breathe with the aid of machines, my fear of a future without him in it threatened to paralyze me. It would be a long, upward battle before we saw any rays of hope break through our darkness. Not only did the Lord bring my husband back to me, he brought us both back to the mission field.

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