Our Investment Project

Evelyn was two years old when she started gasping for breath from what we thought was a simple cold. After calling her doctor, we were told to take her immediately to the hospital. The nurses scurried around as they connected her to an IV tube, put her under an oxygen tent in the ICU, and placed her on the critical list.

Asthma attack! Who knew? We were clueless and felt like terrible parents! After being told that she might not live through the night, all we could do was pray, cry, and call everybody we knew. Telling her brothers, ages seven and nine, that their little sister might not live through the night was one of the hardest things we had done in our marriage. By morning she was still hanging on —thank You, Jesus! By day six, she was taken off the critical list. After two weeks, we left the hospital with a very thin little bundle and a bag filled with medicine and instructions. We were told to strip Evelyn’s room of anything that might collect dust: books, pillows, wool blankets, rugs, curtains, stuffed animals, and pictures on the wall. Her life was filled with medicine, allergy shots, and breathing treatments. We learned to watch for signs of the beginning of an asthma attack.

Frequently, she was too sick to attend church, so one of us stayed home with her. I talked to many parents with asthmatic children and read health books that suggested eliminating dairy and sugar from her diet.

One particular Sabbath we were impressed to make Evelyn our investment project for the year. We promised the Lord that we would give a certain amount of money for a mission offering every Sabbath that Evelyn felt well enough so that that all five of us could attend church together. We kept our commitment all year and the Lord blessed. It was the best investment project we ever made.

Evelyn is grown now with children of her own.

We praise the Lord that she has not been in the hospital from asthma since that time. When she sings, people often mention how powerful her voice is for such a small frame. My heartfelt response is, “Thank You, Jesus, for healing her lungs!” She knows that her life was spared that night for a purpose —“to God be the glory, great things He has done.”* Don’t be afraid to invest and watch the Lord work.

Shirley Sain Fordham