It was about nine P.M. and I was answering one of my letters from overseas, and the bottom of my left foot felt cold and wet. But there was no pain at all.

I was in a head on collision eight years ago. My left leg rammed up into my hip socket. This causes continual pain. I'm disabled, on crutches, and I hobble along the best I can. I couldn't reach down that far to my left foot.

I thought, That's funny? How did my foot get wet?

I looked down and saw a pool of blood on the floor (about two feet wide, in a circle). My shoe and sock were drenched with blood! When I saw the desperate condition I was in, I immediately started praying.

I live alone and I'm practically helpless, but I know that the Lord Jesus Christ is with me. This gives me a calm assurance in times of trouble. I knew that nothing could happen to me that God didn't allow.

I called Brother Tom, who lives 19 miles away, and yelled, "Get over here before I bleed to death."

"Did you stop the blood?" He asked me.

"I don't know," I said, "I hope so. I hope you make it in time!"

Then, I called Brother Joe to pray for me. He was so concerned that he hurried over the 17 miles to get here. His wife, Ruth, and his daughter Minie also came with him.

By the time they all got here, the bleeding had stopped. Brother Tom took my bloody shoe and sock off. I gave it to Bro. Joe and he took them outside and hosed them down, and cleaned them off the best he could.

Bro. Tom, a gentle-natured man, was cleaning the blood off my left foot with a wet rag, when all of a sudden the blood started spraying again! It sprayed a foot high on to his shirt. He quickly stuck his thumb on the ruptured vein and the bleeding stopped.

I was really concerned, but I felt that the Lord was near me, so I acted calm. This kept the others calm, too.

Bro. Tom put a gauze pad on the vein, and told Bro. Joe to hold it still. Then he went in the other room to search for a rubberized bandage.

We didn't have any. Sis. Ruth tried to call several stores. But everything was closed. So we had to improvise. Bro. Joe couldn't move, because he had his thumb on my vein.

Bro. Tom found a roll of belt material about an inch and one half wide, that I had bought to sew belts around the tops of my underpants. It streched but was really too stiff for what we wanted. But it was all we had.

Bro. Tom and Bro. Joe wrapped the vein the best they could, and went home, because it was really late.

I didn't let that stop me from answering my letters from overseas. I continued answering them until about five AM. Getting tired, I needed some sleep. So I went to the bathroom and the vein started bleeding profusely again. That belt material, had given way.

I rushed to the stove, dropped three Nettle Powder Capsules in a cup of hot water, added more water, then soaked the rag in this, and dropped it on where it was bleeding. I used my crutch to put it in place and the bleeding stopped. Now I was really concerned, because no one was there to help me. I was so exhausted from the loss of blood and sleep, that I just had to get some sleep.

To keep the blood from getting on the bed, and sheets, I put some cardboard across the foot of the bed, and towels under my shoe to blot the blood, if it started bleeding again. I lay down on my back, with my clothes on, shoes and all. I prayed that I wouldn't bleed to death, and dozed for a couple of hours.

I woke up, and had to get up to go to the bathroom, and it started bleeding badly again.

I was so tired and too weak to drive, so I called Sis. Ruth and asked her to take me to the hospital emergency room. Now, it was about seven AM. I had lost too much blood to try to stop it on my own!

Sis. Ruth, her daughter Minie and I, headed for the hospital. On the way to the hospital, I was determined to mail my letters and Christian books to the brothers overseas, so I instructed Sis. Ruth to take me by the mail box first.

Here he is almost bleeding to death, Sis. Ruth thought, and he wants to stop and mail some letters and books first, before going to the hospital!

At the hospital, the attendant took the old bandage off and wrapped on a new white gauze one. Then a young doctor came in and took the new one off. He scratched the vein until it started to spray blood again. Then he put his thumb over it to stop the blood.

I thought, Is he crazy?

Then, like a hero, the young doctor got out a pink gooey bandage and wrapped it round and round and around.

I said, "Hey, you're cutting off the circulation!"

"Oh, no, it's just right," He said.

By now my foot was numb, but he pressed each toe and said that the bandage was perfect. I was too weak to argue.

Sis. Ruth and her daughter, Minie, took me home and then left. I was exhausted, because I lost a lot of blood, so I went right to bed.

They had wrapped my foot, so thickly, that I couldn't put my shoe on. That was aggravating, because my toes stuck out.

I took it easy, the first day, like the doctor said, and kept my left foot higher than my body, when I could. Still, I kept on answering letters to the brothers overseas.

The next day, my energy started coming back, so I set aside what the doctor said and went to town. One shoe was on, and one shoe was off, with my toes hanging out of the bandage, because I couldn't get my sock on that foot.

I was supposed to be in bed, but I loaded my truck with four bags of trash, and unloaded them at the dump, by myself (crutches and all). Then I went to the Post Office and mailed some letters I had typed. As I was rounding the curb, I cut too short and the tire rammed against the curb. I heard air gushing out, and quickly perceived that I couldn't change a flat here! I drove three blocks to the shopping center, and stopped, as the tire went flat!

Oh, my, no spare! I thought. Now, what do I do, Lord? Show me what to do, please.

I hobbled into the big supermarket, and called a friend. He wasn't about to fix a flat, but I finally talked him into taking me home, so I could at least get a spare tire. He took me home, but he made it plain that he had an appointment in Gainesville, and would not be able to stay to help me change the tire.

At the house, I unlocked the camper top, and reached in for a spare tire, just as a big wasp stung me on my wrist, and my wrist was on fire! Wow! Did it hurt! My arm swelled up with much pain. But, that didn't stop me! I got the tire and went back to the shopping center. My friend just left me there.

It was hot, and I was parked on that black asphalt! I got out the jack, put some newspaper on that hot asphalt to protect my toe, and bent down to turn the jack and the end of the jack handle was missing-nothing to turn it with. Wow, I almost burned my toe off, even thru that newspaper!

A man asked if I needed help and I yelled, "Yes!"

So he came over and helped. The jack handle didn't have the peg to turn it with, and we had to figure out how to get it to work. We finally found a small screw driver that would work, and we used that.

At last, we got the tire on and I drove the truck home. Then I went to bed, like the doctor said I was supposed to do.

I only went to the emergency room when I had gotten too weak from loss of blood. I had no choice, even though I didn't have the money to pay for it.

The doctor told me that I was to go to another doctor in two days to take that bandage off. His name was on the sheet he gave me. But doctors love money too much, so I went to Bro. Joe's trailer to have him take the bandage off.

That was a very scary event, because the vein could start bleeding again, and we'd have the same problem all over again. Then Minie, like a little imp, said she wanted it to see it bleed again. That didn't help my faith much, with her in the background laughing. I didn't know if Joe would faint at the sight of blood, or not, so I didn't want it to bleed.

"Be very gentle," I instructed him, "and take it off very slowly."

I prayed all the time he worked on my foot. Two veins stood out, like they were ready to pop and spray blood again. I was really sweating it out, because Bro. Joe insisted on being like a doctor and washing the gooey stuff off with alcohol. All I could see, were those two veins sticking out and ready to pop and spray blood. Bro. Joe did as well as a doctor could. He replaced the bandages with very large bandaids, the kind you can cover your whole knee with, and that seemed to work.

Every time we change bandages again, it's still a bit scarey, but the Lord is with us. In these times of trouble, it's good to know that the one that made the earth is concerned and caring for those who love Him and put Him first.

Determination kept me going when the times were rough. Having faith in God, and knowing He would pull me through, gave me that determination.

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