Living Fearlessly

Hey guys, Syd here! A couple of days ago I was blessed to be able to witness the glory of the Lord and the incredible miracles He performs in our lives right alongside of one of my best friends and her family. Her name is Staci Sanford and she has a story to tell you all! Below is a blog written by her telling her story. Hope you enjoy!

---

I woke up at 9 this morning with the biggest pit in my stomach. Even though I knew it was the discernment from the Lord that something wasn’t right, to be honest I just brushed it off as it just being the combination of allergies and the tiredness of sing and test week.

Following this, I went about my morning and my classes like normal. Each day I talk with my mom on the phone in the mornings about our day ahead and just catch up on life.  So it was strange when I called this morning around 9:30 and she didn’t answer. I never heard back from her or anything until about 1:00 in the afternoon.

I thought back to my conversation with my mom the night before. We had talked about how she was incredibly upset because she had to call in sick for work for the second week in a row because of a random ear infection. My mom has been a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines for 35 years now, and with fluid in her ears there was no way they would let her fly so she had to stay home.

After class I finally heard from my mom. I got a text from her telling me to call her whenever I had a chance, and suddenly, the pit I had in my stomach appeared again.

———

    Before I explain further, let me give you a little bit of a back story about my dad. Jim Stanford or as I like to say Jimbo is one of the most selfless humans with the biggest heart. He always puts others before himself, radiates Christ’s love like no other, physically is as healthy as a horse, and also happens to be my best friend.  On December 15, 2016 dad had a 4-hour heart surgery to repair a mitral valve and repair a ruptured leaflet. It was a very extensive and intense surgery.

———

  When I finally was able to call my mom, she had called to explain that my dad had gone to cardiac therapy that morning, passed out, was taken to the hospital, and they were doing surgery on him again to remove the blood clots.  My heart sank and a rush of emotions started to flood over me and I immediately got in the car to race to Dallas to see my dad.

Meanwhile, I’m about 10 minutes up the highway frantically and emotionally trying to drive myself to Dallas.. and all the sudden Sydney Pritchard calls me. She then goes on to tell me that the Lord very strongly told her 3 times that she needed to call me.  Once she heard how emotional I was on the phone she made me turn around so she could drive me all the way to Dallas.  This is when we learned the whole story of what happened:

———

            In the morning, my dad had gone into his regular cardiac therapy, which happened to be connected to the Baylor Grapevine hospital.  He has been going to therapy for about a month now, as has been recovering since heart surgery in December. Jimbo had been progressing so well that his therapists pushed him a little harder than usual today in his workout. Suddenly he started to have chest pain, so he grabbed the nurse and she took his heart rate and three times in a row. It was 179/157.  The nurse, Marla (the nurse in the picture above), even went to go get a different machine to test his heart rate and the numbers were still the same.

As the nurses started to tell my dad to sit down to help manage his spiked heart rate he collapsed, fell to the ground and had a heart attack.  Marla (the nurse) immediately called for the crash cart to perform an electrical cardioversion, which is a procedure where an electric current is used as a “shock” to reset his heart.

At this point his heart had stopped for two minutes before he was revived. We lost him for 2 minutes before they were able to revive him and then rush him in an ambulance to Baylor Grapevine hospital.  Once they were there, they immediately took him into surgery to remove the blood clot that had blocked the blood flow circulation to this heart.

When the doctor came in after removing the blood clot he said there was no way my dad would’ve survived if he would’ve been anywhere else but at cardiac therapy.  If he would’ve been at home, driving, or even just in the bathroom taking a break from the cardiac therapy, the ambulance never would’ve been able to get to him quickly enough to revive his heart and bring him back to life.

After a heart attack nurses or paramedics have less than 10 minutes to save a patient and by the grace of the Lord, He had placed my dad in the right place at the right time.  I am forever grateful for Marla the nurse that saved my dads life, took the initiative and didn’t give up on him. She has been trained for incidents like this for four years now and today was the first time she had ever had to put it to use.  Thats crazy! Jesus placed someone right there, right next to him, at the perfect time, who happened to know how to perform the exact procedure that he needed at that very moment!

Because of Jesus’ amazing grace, because of Marla, because of the Lord being so present in every moment over the past day and worked everything out in his amazing timing, we have our dad, husband, son, friend, brother with us today, and thank you Jesus we are so thankful!!

How can you hear that miracle of a story and not think there’s a God? 

As I sit in my house and think about the past 48 hours, the Lord was with my family during every step of the way.  My mom had to call in sick for the second week in a row and was so upset about it, but the Lord did that to keep her home so she could be here with my dad.  I woke up feeling so sick and not myself, already starting my day with discernment from the Lord about what was going to happen. The Lord then placed my dad in his cardiac therapy, ATTACHED to a hospital, with a nurse fully prepared for whenever his heart attack would strike. Not even 10 minutes into my emotional trip home, Sydney called and made me turn around for her to drive me home because the Lord had vividly told her multiple times to call me. She even woke up that morning with a random discernment to get her project done earlier that day and happened to have just finished it right when she had a prompting from the Lord to call me. The Lord also happened to work out my schedule perfectly so that my midterm week was the week before everyone else’s, so I’ve been able to miss school to be with my family this whole time.

There are so many ways that the Lord was not only faithful but SO present in this situation. These things are not coincidences, they are the Lord behind the scenes working out everything  and placing all these situations in our lives. A lot of the times when things don’t make sense and we don’t understand what Jesus is doing, He is molding us and shaping us and placing people in our lives to all come together for one grand bigger picture that He has already secured for our lives and is preparing us for.  This heart attack was happening this morning at 9 o clock no matter what, what if my dad was late to his therapy?  What if he decided not to go and stayed home?  What if… there are so many possibilities of things that could’ve gone so wrong.  But, the Lord had a plan, the plan of putting this scary situation into my dad and now my family’s testimony, that absolutely reveals to us and others that..

“… God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose .” -Romans 8:28

Jeremiah 29:11 it says “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.” I know the Lord has such big plans for my dad, and that has been so evident through this whole situation.  The Lord loves us so much, that he sent his son to die on a cross so we could LIVE.  So we could live… that hits home for my family.  My family has decided to live BIG. Life is too short to not trust in the Lord and His perfect plans for us. Everything leading up to my dads heart attack did not seem perfect… my mom being sick, me feeling bad with a crazy test week, but look at where we are today.  We have Jimbo in our lives.

My family and I just wanted to remind everyone how short life is and to never leave a conversation on a bad note.  Live big for Christ, live fearless. Go out and share His love, and radically trust in His plan, even when it doesn’t make sense. I cant help but smile and cry when I think about the Lord using Marla to be there at the right time to save my dad, wow. God is working everything out for His glory in our lives. God is so good y’all and we want the world to know!

 “This is the day the Lord has made, let us REJOICE and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24