Miracle Wife

My pastor husband, Abel, and I had talked excitedly for months about our plans to attend a large ministerial convention in Austin, Texas, United States of America, and afterward drive to San Antonio, Texas, to attend our denominational church’s sixtieth General Conference session, which is held every five years.

We count it a great blessing to belong to our worldwide church family, and it is always a pleasure to see many acquaintances during the week of meetings.

A special joy came from the gracious invitation of friends to stay with them at their spacious San Antonio home. The night we arrived, I took note, even pointing out to Abel, that the guest bathroom was close to the stairs.

That knowledge should have guided my feet to the bathroom during the night, but it didn’t. I took a misstep and tumbled down the entire flight of fourteen steps, landing in a heap at the bottom. Abel heard the terrifying noise and rushed down the stairs to find me lying awkwardly in a pool of blood. His first impression was that I was dead, and he was now a widower. Even when it was determined I was, in fact, alive, everyone in the house anticipated the accident would have caused broken ribs, a hip, an arm, a leg, or all of them. After an ambulance rushed me to the hospital, the doctor determined that I had broken only my left wrist and ring finger.

He put my wrist in a cast and stapled the lacerations on my head. I was kept at the hospital for a couple of days for observation.

When the staff technician tested my cognitive skills the next day, he was happy to congratulate me for passing the thirty-minute interrogation.

Nothing was wrong with my brain, although I did need some therapy later to regain wrist and finger mobility. When tragedy strikes, many people question God. They wonder whether God truly cares about them.

Even I have questioned God, and I’m a follower of God —a pastor’s wife! However, the fall down the stairs during which my life was spared reminds me to thank God, daily and profusely, for showing me that He truly loves me and protects me.

That is why Abel calls me his wife with a new life, his miracle wife.

Ofelia A. Pangan