‘Healing: Heart, Body & Soul’

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by Tracey Fryar

On January 16, 2022, I went to Cracker Barrell to eat around 5:30pm. My husband, Terry, and his daughter were at home spending time together. Terry did not know that the day before, I made the decision to leave him and our marriage. I had so much anger built up from my past and I had brought it into our marriage. I was ready to give up. I felt like I had failed at every relationship I had been in. Why would this relationship be any different?

Sitting in Cracker Barrell, I was talking with my daughter as I started to eat. Suddenly I had this really sharp pain go through my belly button. It wouldn’t let up and so I finished eating and went to my parents’ house. I was still in pain when I got there. I stayed there for several hours doubled over in pain. My dad finally called Terry and asked him to come take me to the ER.

Terry came and got me and we headed to Crossroads Hospital in Mt. Vernon. Once there, they did a CT scan and the results were that I had a bowel blockage. They immediately put an NG tube down me and admitted me. Terry stayed by my side the whole time. With the NG tube, they cleared the obstruction temporarily. 

Before I went home, a man popped into my room, sat down and introduced himself as surgeon Rodney Miller. Dr. Miller told me that I was going to need surgery. He felt that I had adhesions from a prior surgery done in 2014. I was so scared because we really didn’t know what to expect. My birthday was coming up on February 4 and I asked if we could wait until after then. He thought that would be okay so surgery was scheduled for February 17. God was certainly watching over me for that month because when the surgery started, Dr. Miller realized that it was worse than he expected! I had adhesions all over my bowels and my small intestines were twisted due to the adhesions AND I had a hernia as well! I was pretty sick! Dr. Miller repaired all of it and I was in the hospital for a few days on a liquid diet. After a few days, they sent me home. I hoped that the worst was over.

After being home for a couple of days, I got really nauseous. I was resting on the couch and suddenly started vomiting everywhere…all over me, the couch, the rug…everywhere!! I couldn’t stop throwing up and I was so weak I couldn’t even hold my head up. At this point, God decided to not only heal my body, but my anger and how I felt about my husband as well.

Terry came in and carried me into the bathroom, puke and all. He undressed me, put me in the bathtub and bathed me. He dried and dressed me, then carried me to the recliner. I just couldn’t believe how sick I was. Terry cleaned up all of the mess I had made (without getting sick himself) and even washed my clothes. We both thought it was the anesthesia from surgery that had made me sick. Calling the doctor or going back to the hospital didn’t even enter our minds.

The next morning, when I stood up, the left side of my abdomen was distended the size of a volleyball! I was in so much pain! I yelled for Terry and we immediately went back to the ER. I had an Ileus, which is fairly common after a surgery like mine. Basically, an Ileus is where your bowels go to sleep. I couldn’t keep anything down; it just came back up. I got another NG tube and was admitted again. I was in pain and still very weak, but the nurses kept telling me that I needed to walk and keep moving. It was so hard, but Terry pushed my IV stand and continued to be by my side.

My healing process continued as we walked out of my room. God showed me that my husband Terry was my Simon. See after Jesus was bruised and beaten and was so weak, Simon carried the cross for Him. Even though my pain was not as severe as Jesus’ was that day, God knew I couldn’t bear to push my IV stand that day, so Terry stepped up and became my Simon. As we went out of the room to walk, my eyes filled with tears, I was amazed at what God started showing me. God said to me, “I know the pain you are in, my daughter, and I will help carry you through this.” 

As my husband and I walked the hall, God began to show me the pictures on the walls. One of the pictures I saw was a tree at that looked like the tree at Rend Lake that Terry and I had met under. The next picture was birds. I love watching birds at home. I have many bird feeders and could not wait to get back home to feed and watch them again. The next picture was the sign above the Nurses Station that said, “Keep Going!” The last sign was the Exit sign. I felt God showing me that I would exit out of there when the time was right!

Terry never left my side, day or night! While I stayed 6 days in the hospital, he was there. He prayed for me the whole time. He showed so much love and compassion. And God was showing me the man HE had brought into my life in a new way! I had been willing to throw it all away because of the anger I had carried from my past into our marriage.

The nurses finally talked Terry into going home and taking a shower. They promised him that I would be ok. He was worried to leave me alone in the room, but while he was gone, my parents Face-timed me until Terry got back. What a blessing to have a family like mine to care enough to watch out for me until Terry got back!

They removed the NG tube on day 3 of my hospital stay and I finally got to try some solid food. Terry and I prayed over every meal I ate to make sure it stayed down! My bowels slowly started waking up and things started returning to normal. I finally got to go home on the sixth day and my life has changed so much!! God has shown me what kind of husband I have, and it took a hospital stay to realize how blessed I truly am!

I told Terry, with tears flowing, how much God had humbled my heart and healed my anger. I told him how sorry I was that I had brought my past hurt and anger issued into our marriage.

Terry has been my rock through my illness, and even to this day he prays for my healing each night before we go to bed. I have nerve damage from the surgery and I truly believe God will heal it.

I have shared my testimony at three different churches and each time I share, it truly blesses me that I feel healed and whole with no past anger. I believe this is just the beginning of what God is doing in my life. God is working on part two of my testimony as I write part one. I am so thankful for the work God is doing in me!