He Reigns, My Testimony of Deliverance from Fear

He Reigns!

By: Daniel Kennedy

He Reigns! My testimony of deliverance from fear

COMPLETELY HEALED OF ANY FEELINGS OF FEAR, ALL OF MY PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS ARE GONE AND I FEEL LIKE MYSELF AGAIN!

A true very recent and rather embarrassing story about myself. Something I really don’t want to share with the world but nevertheless I feel like someone else is going through or has gone through what I just did. I’m not a very good storyteller so bear with me if you’re interested and want to read until the end.

It started February 18th this year and resulted in an ER visit this last Sunday March 8th. I’m not sure how to describe the exact symptoms or feelings, but I’ll try my best. Starting from the top, December 31st, 2019 I was fired from my job at Lexus, I’ve since been unemployed but decided to play poker for a living.

Life was going great, I was making frequent trips to Tunica, MS weekly and winning! I decided to take a trip to Florida from February 16th - the 18th to catch the end of a World Series of Poker Circuit Event in Tampa. That event had never been to Tampa before, so I really wanted to be a part of the first. The trip was great, it was a daddy daughter trip for Samantha and I, as well as a poker trip.

When I arrived, I played poker, stayed at my Dad’s house, visited old friends, spent time with my Mom, I really squeezed a lot into such a short time of being there. The morning of the 18th it was time to head out but before leaving My daughter and I had breakfast with my Dad and his wonderful wife Arlyn, we went to the fishing pier that I grew up at and really had a great morning. After saying our goodbye’s Samantha and I headed out on the 12-hour drive back home to Alabama. About 3 hours into the trip home, I started feeling very weird. My mouth went dry, my legs felt like jello, my head became very foggy and unclear, my vision was affected also, but I really can’t describe how it was affected, it was just off. I started shaking as if I was cold (but it was still 75+° I hadn’t even made it out of FL yet) I became nauseated and it was difficult to swallow any food or water I was forcing down trying to hopefully get my symptoms to subside.

Well I pressed on for a couple more hours in hopes it would go away. I made a couple of stops to stretch my legs and try to get some blood flow going. It didn’t work. The last stop I made was at a Loves gas station with a couple fast food restaurants attached to it. I got out of my truck, went inside to use the facilities, and just couldn’t shake the feelings and symptoms I was having. Sam and I decided to get some food from one of the restaurants there.

While this is happening, I’m trying very hard to keep it from her so as not to scare her. I walked up to the register to order our food and I nearly passed out, I became extremely dizzy and hardly could understand the questions the cashier was asking me. There were many things going through my mind at that time, mainly what is going to happen to my daughter if I go down right now. It was scary to say the least. Thank Jesus I didn’t pass out and was able to order some food and a drink to try and get better. My daughter and I sat down to eat, and I decided to fill her in, that something just wasn’t right with daddy. I kept it to a minimum and just told her daddy doesn’t feel good and that if something were to happen this is where we are, and this is what to tell your mommy.

I called my wife and let her know what was happening and she was very worried and told me to go to the hospital. Of course, being a stubborn man who doesn’t like hospitals or doctors really, I refused. I walked around talking to my wife on the phone with Sam beside me and tried to alleviate the symptoms. They just refused to go away. After about an hour of being at the station, I decided it was time to get a hotel, I figured it must just be fatigue from such a big and fast trip that we had just made, plus I had gotten up really early for our goodbye breakfast. So, I decided to get a hotel for the rest of the day and night.

I called my Dad to let him know what was happening once I got to the hotel and to hopefully get some advice from my Grandpa that lives with him and is a retired pharmacist. My symptoms had calmed but not gone away at this point. My Grandfather said I was having signs of a stroke, but since my symptoms were going away, it probably wasn’t a stroke. He suggested I go to the hospital also, but I refused. I thought if I could just get a good night’s sleep, I’d be ok to make the drive home tomorrow. Before I got off the phone with my Dad, he prayed for me and Samantha, he prayed for healing and a safe trip home.

The following morning, I woke up feeling a little better, my head was still foggy, but pretty much everything else had subsided. Sam and I ate breakfast and we were on the road again for the remaining 6-hour drive. During the drive I had quite a few episodes (as I call them) of weakness in my arms and legs. I stopped frequently and mapped out the closest clinics and hospitals just in case. I was dealing with this myself as I was hiding it from the worry filled questions of my wife and family. I just wanted to get home. I stayed in the outside lane and made sure that if I felt very funny at all that I could immediately pull to the side and call for help.

Thankfully we made it home safely without any issues. I thought surely this was over and I could rest and get over that horrible drive home I had just endured. In the coming weeks until now, I just have not felt right, I’ve had some good days, but they’ve mostly been filled with some sort of variance on the symptoms I had on the ride home. I’d go a day feel ok, but then get hit hard the next day. Each time it happened I’d let my wife know about what was going on and how I was feeling. There have been some days that I didn’t mention anything just because I figured it would pass on its own and there was no need to concern Edie with it. However, as the days passed, it really wasn’t getting better, in fact it was getting worse.

This past Sunday, having the same symptoms I experienced on the ride home, I decided it was time to go to the ER. This time I had an added symptom though, chest pain with my rapid heartbeat. There was pain in my left arm and pain in my neck, I thought I was dying. We went to the ER and stayed for the day having test after test run on me. Blood tests, nerve tests, CT scan, ECG, X-ray, you name it I probably had it done that day.

During the stay, the alarm on the IV machine started going off. Now mind you, Myself and my wife have zero medical experience, we didn’t know what this alarm was going off for. Well it freaked me and Edie both out and caused me to lose it. Full on panic attack, however I didn’t know it was panic at the time (I only assume it was panic after the end of my stay). When this attack happened, they took more blood for more tests. Every test they did came back good, there were no heart attacks, no strokes, no high white blood cell counts, nothing that would explain what was happening to me. So, I was discharged with a clean bill of health and honestly I felt better after the fluid they gave me.

Next day comes. Different things happening to me now...this is where it gets hard to describe. I just can’t seem to wake up, the fog in my head has returned and now I have this immense feeling of fear. Fear of EVERYTHING literally. I was scared to drive, scared of this stupid coronavirus, I was scared I had contracted the virus, I was scared to shower, scared to listen to the radio, scared to read FB, scared of dying, I just had an overwhelming and intense level of fear that I can honestly say I have never dealt with in MY ENTIRE LIFE! Every day that passed it got a little worse. Now mind you I’m a man, I don’t cry, I try my hardest to hold my feelings inside and just deal with it.

Well Tuesday night I called my Dad and just lost it, I have absolutely no idea what caused me to break down on the phone with him like I did, but man did I break. I felt like a kid, I could not hold my emotions inside, I honestly can only imagine it to feel like what someone feels like when they have a nervous breakdown. I felt like I had lost my mind, that I literally must be going crazy. This intense fear that I had and the thoughts I was having in my head, I swore I had lost my mind and would not be able to snap out of this. It was the worst feeling in the world. Indescribable really.

Well, if you don’t know, my Dad is a Pastor. A God fearing and loving man that I love with all my heart. My Dad talked me through, listened and gave me what I now believe to be the best advice that both he and my Mom have been giving me all my life. Trust in Jesus, call out to him, tell him you come as you are right now! He is our Father in heaven! He loves us just as my Dad loves me! I’ve grown up with these same words being given to me all my life from both my Mom and my Dad but have never really put action to them, I’ve always questioned, wondered, and in some ways doubted.

Well I can tell you now, when you feel the way I felt the past few days, YOU WILL NOT DOUBT ANYMORE! I called out to Jesus, God, asked for forgiveness, asked for healing, asked for intervention immediately in the name of Jesus! And man was I surprised! God gave me a song by Kirk Franklin, “He Reigns” it played over and over in my head, I sang it aloud in my shower, and the thoughts and fears quickly disappeared!

Part of the advice my Dad said to me among many things was “You cannot battle a thought with a thought, you must speak it out loud!” And man is he right! The following days to now, my Dad has sent me scriptures to study and speak out loud, and I can tell you as of right now at this very moment, I AM COMPLETELY HEALED OF ANY FEELINGS OF FEAR, ALL OF MY PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS ARE GONE AND I FEEL LIKE MYSELF AGAIN!

Now I will be the first to tell you that I am not a picture-perfect Christian, never have been. I’ve been of my own understanding and views of this world, I’ve done bad things, I’ve never lived the life of Christ, but I always believed in God and thought for sure I had it figured out. I’ve been in church with my Parents all my life, played drums at my Dad’s church, but never quite grasped what I believe I’ve been introduced to in these last few days. I will never be perfect, and I know this, but Jesus loves me, cares for me and does NOT want me to suffer with sickness and disease and I want to know more of him. I want my family to know more of him, it’s time to start learning more together.

My family and I will be finding a church here in Alabama and learn more about what else we’ve been missing out on. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazed I am that there is not 1 thing wrong with me right now mentally or physically.

I have many things to work on in my Christian life, but I’m starting with one, and I’ll let God tell me what’s next as I move forward. In case you’d like to know my father and his Church, his Name is Pastor Chuck Kennedy of Faith International Christian Center located in Bradenton Florida (Ficc Bradenton Fl) they have a Christian newspaper you can sign up for, they have live Facebook services you can watch and be a part of or you can visit his Church anytime you’re in the area. He is the best Pastor I’ve ever had the privilege of listening too, and I’m going to have a very hard time finding anyone that compares here in Alabama. I love you Dad, thanks for helping me get through whatever this was that I just went through.

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