¶ Story of Israel and Gospel Preaching
It seems to be just a little bit of missing information here . So the blood didn't go to your hands and feet , they gave you drugs .
That I was on five pressers just to keep the blood flowing .
What's a ?
presser .
Epinephrine is a . You've probably heard of epinephrine . It's a vasopressor .
It's designed to raise your blood pressure . Because her blood pressure is so dangerous she was going to code . They're just trying to keep her alive , okay , and that stuff .
So they don't worry about my arms and legs , because they're trying to . My heart was at 20% , and so it needed all the help it could get .
So they probably suspected that that was going to be the result . They did .
Most people die when they get sepsis , and the sepsis protocols are so advanced now that I think if this would happen to me , even maybe 10 years ago , I wouldn't have served .
Over 50% of the deaths in hospitals historically have been septic shock Going into sepsis . It's an infection . It's an infection that just ravages your body uncontrollably and you have no real defense . But you lose all the flow of blood to your hands and feet because all the blood's kept in your major organs to keep those major organs alive .
Remember , your heart's only working at 20% , so very little blood's flowing and hence it's kind of like having frostbite .
Yeah , they were black . By the time I got to Orange County they were black . Wow , Like a product tissue .
Was that I mean faith in God and heavy , was that terrifying to look down and see , because your hands are special .
Oh yeah , I had my toenails painted , all beautiful , yeah , were you able to even move your hands at this point .
No , so they were . Yeah , wow , what happens when a Christian Arab and a Christian Jew preach the gospel in the open air to Orthodox Jews in the heart of Jerusalem ?
Oh , they get beaten up or spit upon .
Or they almost get turned into a falafel sandwich with a side of hummus Ray . We've told the story before about Israel , but I do have to say I am still traumatized to this day . All thanks to you , because , look , we didn't know better . Right , we go to Israel , we're on this tour and we go hey , let's go , oh , let's go . Preach the gospel .
Well , it's their friend Dan Arnold's fault , who's now with the Lord . He caused it . You were asleep , you were knocked out . Dan says to me let's go to Galilee and preach the gospel . I thought , whoa , I tried to wake you up and he said what are you doing ? So him and I went to Galilee and it went really great .
There was just people listening and it was nice . And then , I think Dan said let's go to Jerusalem . Yeah , no , that was .
We sauntered over there Like we're going to Huntington Beach or something you know , and everything started out just . It was nice , just swell . Yeah , you got a girl to interpret for you . You told her you'd give her like five bucks or something .
She was interpreting it , and she wasn't a believer , though . No , no .
She was just a girl , that was just there . Hey , interpret , for me it's five bucks . Get me , all right , get me , that's when , five bucks was .
That was my ex-sister , yeah by the way .
That's when five bucks was worth a lot more money . And so the girl starts interpreting and it was all going great . You were doing trivia , like you normally do , but I'll never forget the second you said Jesus said , if you look at a woman at last half hour , the second you said , jesus , no interpreter needed . The entire atmosphere changed .
I remember that right when that happened , the girl goes give me my money .
She took off .
She didn't even finish it out . Oh , that's funny , yeah , and so yeah . But then I was filming and it just it turned hostile . I remember the guy started looking around to see if there were any police or anything , and then that guy starts spitting on you , ray , and Ray's ducking . He missed me .
Yeah , probably Bouncing up and down the prison chains . Excuse me , that was Mickey Mouse . That was not my ex-sister . You missed me .
Yeah , and then , but the greatest part of all was Ray jumps off the box , Like I mean they were going to kill us . He said , I mean it was God's grace we didn't get killed . Ray jumps off the box and he's still . Did you get one of these ? Yeah , probably he's giving tracks out .
I'm like , ray , they're going to kill us and it was God's grace because the Arab was going to get out and preach the gospel after . Ray , they might have , since you had some Jewishness in you , but they would have , yeah , barbecued easy .
Did you notice any of the prison shanks ? I mean , were they like they were probably ?
hiding .
We've got that on film on YouTube . I don't know what it's called . Yeah , when things go wrong . Yeah , there's , one but there's a late .
We did another one , yeah , and they kept trying to get the camera from me , remember ? Because they told me filming it's all passing it , passing it around , and so , moral of the story , never go to Israel with Ray Comfort .
And the other moral story if you're going to preach anywhere , make sure there's no stones .
There was no stones there , which was just great Ray cleared the whole area of stones ahead of time . All right , friends , here's a comment . This is from Willi C . Kf , JSI , JSFIF these names get crazier and crazier . Love this podcast . Heard about this podcast from the YouTube channel and now I listen every Tuesday and Thursday .
Love the humor and camaraderie that you guys have . You guys always make me laugh and whenever I've listened all the way through , I come away feeling encouraged and challenged in my walk . Keep up the good work , brothers . Also love EZ's voice and think that he needs to audition for a character on adventures in Odyssey . Yes , Barry Comfort .
No , I don't believe you wrote that yourself . I'm like a villain .
Thank you , that encourages me to keep singing Villain . Yeah , all right , friends , this podcast is brought to you by the Vault , the Vault Ray .
We haven't mentioned the Vault in a while During COVID , I believe yeah the Vault , yeah the Vault , it's the Gospel of John , which looks like $100 million bills
¶ Miraculous Healing From Severe Sepsis
stacked .
I can't explain it Not $100 million , but $800 million At what point ?
did you use .
I'm throwing in the towel . I can't explain it .
No , it's just . It looks like a bundle of money but it's actually the Gospel of John and it's in a vault and when people are going through it there's a little car that says don't forget to revolt .
Yeah , so it's in these . They're the size of a bill and they have on them our most popular track , the graphics from the Million Dollar Bill . And they're small , they're conveniently sized , but they have the Gospel of John and a Gospel message in there .
And so many people say I don't want a Gospel of John , I say , let me just show it to you , and this I'll take it Wonderful .
Yeah , and what's cool is the it's called the vault because the box has graphics on it . It looks like a vault and when you get low , has a card that says don't forget to revolt , don't forget to revolt , and then you order more and fill them up , and you keep doing that .
So make sure to check it out , friends , along with the Living Waters Mug , the evidence study Bible , all at livingwaterscom . Wow , keep improving , ray . Thank you . Well , we miss Oscar today , of course , oscar is not with us . He's still gallivanting out and about , but we miss him . Wish he was here .
But today we have something very Well , if he was , there'd be a room for him .
I know there wouldn't be put him under the table , but today , friends , we have a special episode , and you may have heard them giggling at my brilliant humor .
Well , I saw them . The facial expression says what's going on , what are we ?
doing here ? Yeah , it's true , but we have with us today our brother Mike and our sister Vicky Zorati . Did I say it right ?
You did good .
Mike Maserati . Absolutely .
I'll never forget that Maserati there you go Such a blessing to have you both with us , and Ray and I both first met you guys when we spoke at Compass at the adult Bible fellowship that's led by our brother Kellan Allen , who is here with his wife Chelsea Hurray .
Yeah .
Six foot , yeah , whatever .
Ray's only met his knees , as we've mentioned , but it was fascinating for us to just briefly hear your story there . But it's a story that was so touching and moving and important that we wanted to let our audience hear it , and so , first of all , welcome .
Thank you .
Thank you for having us . Can I leave the cat out of the bag ? Actually , why they're here , let it out . Yeah , about six weeks ago I saw a very short clip of a lady in Texas who had a kidney stone , a wyncepsis , and then they amputated her feet in her hands and I was horrified .
And as I watched it I saw her just lying in bed and she looks up with a smile on her face and says I'm just praying that something like this if this helps someone come to Christ , then praise the Lord . And I thought what College ?
I thought this is amazing , so I actually downloaded the video , put it in the timeline of my laptop to create a video that talked about the perfect will and the permissive will of God . God allows things to happen that are horrific , but for His purposes and always for the good of the Christian .
All things work together for good to those that love God and according to His purposes . So I had that sitting on my timeline . Spoke at the campus men's study or Bible study , sorry .
APM .
Yeah , and then suddenly there's this couple in front of me and a lady shaking her hands with a prosthesis , and then he said hi , I had my hands and my feet removed because of a kidney stone , and it was a different lady .
I saw your face .
Yeah , you did . It was like and I got that quite a bit- and now I thought this has got to be God's hand . But God leading us and guiding us , so that's why you're here . I thought we just got to hear this story .
Yeah , the timing of that was just amazing . And so , vicki , mike , we would love for you guys to sort of give us a summary of your life and what happened and what God has done , and then we'll go back and kind of break that down and dissect it a little bit .
That'd be great . I'll start because it was my 60th birthday and we were celebrating at a family cabin up by Tahoe , off of Khyber , so we're right on the river . It's a beautiful place and it was 4th of July my birthday's the 5th and I was sitting in a beach chair .
What year was ?
this 2018 , so five years , and I was teaching full time . I had just finished , I think , my 22nd , 23rd year . Mike was working full time . We had grown children at the time that Tiffany was with us , with her husband vacationing , and little did I know I had a kidney stone .
I had never had one before , but my back was hurting and I thought , well , it's got to be that beach chair . Four years ago . After the day was going on , it was getting worse and worse and the kids went off to go to Tahoe for the fireworks display .
I just didn't feel like going and I put myself , you know , just on the couch and Mike was with me and we just kind of hung out . Do you want to go to bed ? Now it's 10 , 30 ? Not really , but when I went to bed that night the pain shifted to the front . Wow , and what did you say ?
Yeah , I thought it was a pinnix because it went from her back to her front right and so I was like it's 1.30 in the morning , but this sounds like maybe your pinnix is rupturing .
Wow . So off we went to a little tiny hospital in Placerville which is about a half hour away . Yeah , and they said , oh , good news , it's just a kidney stone , Go home and pass it . Yeah , 30 hours later I was back in that hospital . My my can give you . I was out , I signed my name and she said great , it's your birthday .
I said , oh , yeah , this is a bummer .
Yeah .
And then , all of a sudden , I was out and I don't remember anything . For two weeks you were passed out .
Basically yeah .
She became and they put me in a coma . Was that from the pain ? No , no , my blood pressure was 50 over 25 .
So so that's a danger . So that's 120 over 80 is normal .
Right , right , right . And so yeah , and for me , all of a sudden , there was a doctor there , four nurses around putting IVs in both arms and I've got a healthcare background and I was like , wow , this is a look good . Is this life threatening ? He said , right now , it's life threatening .
So you know , immediately , from my perspective , I'm going wow , I ended to bring God into this immediately . So I I started , I walked out for a second , I said I got to pray , I got to get away from this .
It was a very small thing and really the basis of the beginning of the journey was this journey of prayer and depending on other people to pray and the body of Christ coming around us . And it was . It was amazing what we saw happen from there .
Now how long after you went into the hospital did , did they tell you was that serious ? You said it was . It was like immediate .
I went home and about 30 hours later I started being delusional at the cabin and Mike said you know you better answer me or I'm going to take you right back . Something's wrong . And the and both our kids said yeah , she's not acting right .
I walked to the car by myself , got in and they said if I had gone down just a half hour more to the trauma center in Sacramento I wouldn't have survived . That's how quick it was , wow .
So what was the uniqueness of the kidney stone ? Because people get kidney stones all the time .
What ?
was it that happened that led to that ?
It was a perfect round marble shape and usually urine can pass through it or around it . This was a perfect block and toxic I had . E coli was pushed back up into my kidneys and then it spews all over the body . So it's called septic shock , severe septic shock . And you don't remember any of this . I don't remember after signing my name . Wow .
They put you in an induced coma , then yes , I take it Basically . Yeah .
But tell them my situation .
Yeah , I mean it was really serious she had . She had a 20% cardiac output , which you know normal is about 65% . She had a . Her kidney was completely failing . So the kidney circulates behind the heart , the second most blood around the body , and so this kidney that's failing , that's heavily infected , it's spewing all this infected blood all over the body .
She had a clot on her liver . She had two liters of fluids on her lungs . So every major organ , with the exception of brain , we knew was failing , desperately failing .
The doctors told Mike that my pH balance was not able to continue life .
What's the pH balance ?
It's what you need in order to function . I don't know the technical term behind it , but it needs to be about . It needs to be about 7.45 . When it gets below seven , generally it doesn't sustain life . Hers was 6.75 .
And even the atheist ICU doctor that had been there 30 years he said I haven't seen these kind of blood assays and failures in every major organ in 30 years ever . I've never seen anybody live through it . Wow . So he says your faith must be real . I go well , it's the same faith that you can have , you know . I mean , it's real faith .
Wow .
It's really amazing , you know , to hear some of these things that these people were saying , wow , they virtually gave her no chance to live , basically .
So you're there in the hospital , Mike , and you're basically facing the reality that you're going to be a widower .
Yeah , pretty much . I was thinking through that whole thing of what's the funeral going to look like . I mean , literally that was going through my mind . And at the time you know one thing that happened on a Friday night on Saturday I said , lord , nobody's going to question if you decide to step in yeah , nobody's going to question .
It was you , because the doctors have no answers and they say she's going to die . On Sunday it got worse and they said okay , basically this is out of control . We're amazed that she's still alive , but she's alive , but she's haughty on by a thread .
The crash cart was out there , yeah . And then I transferred to the trauma center in Sacramento because I needed continuous dialysis or I would have died . But they said to Mike , the trouble with that is she might not survive
¶ Miraculous Healing Through Prayer
the transport , right , wow , right , but she's going to die if she stays here .
So you're going to make a decision . Yeah , and then they made it pretty obvious for me that there was no other decision made because she died in that hospital , and soon .
So , yeah , and then the vascular surgeon came in on Sunday because they couldn't find a blood pressure or pulse for 12 hours and they go in the growing area and the vascular surgeon say you can always find it in the growing area . I mean it's the place where you're going to find it .
And the first vascular surgeon says I've always been on a blood pressure and pulse I can't . He said I don't know what's happened going . He spent an hour and a half .
The next guy comes in this on the shift An hour and a half , an hour and a half trying to find it , because they go in surgically into the , actually into the growing area to get to that main artery , the femoral artery , and the next guy comes in and he says , oh , he must have been doing something wrong , the new vascular surgeon , and he can't find it in
an hour and a half . So they say it's time to say goodbye . Wow , and I mean at that time it was like when the doctor said no , god said yes , you know . He stepped in at that point and said wait a minute . You know now that everybody has said they can't do anything for you , you're going to die . The crash cart's there , it's not a matter .
If she's going to die when she crashes , what do you want to do ? And I said , well , I want to try to resuscitate her . So , anyway , we go in and we have 15 people praying for about four days , three days , and we had our whole church family and two or three other churches that we had a line with praying and literally thousands of people .
And family lived in town Right , so that was a blessing .
Yeah .
So there's 15 people praying , another thousands of people praying in other places , and , you know , is that James 516 , the fervent prayers of the righteous , you know , veiled much , and so we saw a change . We spent an hour saying goodbye , because that's what they said we needed to do , basically , and then they left and she didn't die .
Well , let me interrupt for a second because when I was out but I heard music , so they were singing hymns , my favorite hymns , let's sing mom her favorite hymns , and I could hear it and my family is musical , so they were in four part harmonies you know , and the whole hospital the ER was , you know could hear this ICU area In my room because I was the
sickest at the time . The family lounge was just on the other side of my room and I sensed tons and tons of medical equipment around me and Mike said you could barely fit people in but they all crowded in all 15 of them and I could hear the music . So I was just like I was belting it out in my mind even though I couldn't talk . I couldn't speak .
It's amazing , isn't it , that you don't remember anything except that , and I think this is really good place to just pause for a moment , because , you know , my father just passed away a few weeks ago .
And I'm sorry to hear that .
He was . You know , he was in that kind of state where he was in a coma , basically near the end there . And yet I was reminded of stories of people saying who did revive , saying I was able to hear and I was like because you know you're deceived they're not responding , they're not reacting and they look like they're just , they're out of it completely .
But there is that , there's that hope , yeah , yeah , wow .
And so for me , you know being out , I think of First King six , where Elisha is talking to a servant boy and the Amalekites are all around them and he said you know , god , open their eyes . Open this little boy's eyes , because you are protecting us . And all of a sudden , his eyes are open and he looks on the hill and he's wow , there's angels of fire .
You know , surrounding us , we're going to be fine . Well , for me , I saw an angel tower , which was really amazing because the , like I said , the lounge was just on the other side and I always thought , well , angels will escort you to heaven . These angels were not next to me at all .
They were actually on that wall and I had the privilege of seeing what was going on and they were praying fervently for me for three days on just the other side of the wall and what I saw was the top angel was a warrior angel and he was wielding this huge sword and I just looked at him and I don't even know how I saw him .
It was a vision , because my eyes were bandaged shut , but what I saw was he kept warding off death . I kept thinking why isn't he ministering to me ? He's not ministering to me he's way over there . And then I saw the next angel down and that angel was praying and my first thought was the prayers of the saints . The prayers of the saints .
And that's what I felt just this peace . Like God is in control . I don't have to worry , I don't have to fret . I'm just here , god , whenever you wanna heal me , I'm fine , and I was fine if I wasn't gonna go , and Mike even said that to my family . Is he any less God if he takes her or if he heals her ? So follow me into the ICU .
Wow , Mark , that's pretty profound , huh .
It reminds me of that quote from John Sayle If I had the power of God , there are many things I would change , but if I had the wisdom of God , I wouldn't change a thing . Cs Lewis , inside of his book the Problem of Pain , he said God whispers to us in our pleasures , speaks to us in our consciences , but shouts in our pains .
It is his megaphone to arouse a deaf world . And it's interesting because when he says this in chapter five the title of this chapter , where he says this , is called divine goodness , that there is a goodness to God in what he does inside of our lives . We're familiar with Johnny , eric and Tata in our story on July 30th 1967 .
Yes , we are , we're friends .
I heard that there was some connection . And she dove headfirst into the Chesapeake Bay , misjudging the shallowness of the water , and she said we are all pilgrims who are walking on a tightrope between heaven and earth . We feel trapped in time , yet we have eternity beating in our hearts . Our unsatisfied sense of exile is not to be solved .
We're fixed while we're here on earth . Our pain and our longings make sure that we will never be content in this world . But that's good . It is to our benefit that we never grow comfortable in a world that is destined for decay
¶ A Test of Faith and Miracles
.
Wow , that's beautiful , so powerful . We had Johnny on one of our programs before and I've just always been blown away by her dedication to the Lord .
I remember the first time I ever saw her it was at a CBA Christian Book Salters Association convention and I remember she was there next to Dr John MacArthur and they had written a book together and she was signing books with a pen between her two .
Yeah , is that crazy .
I just finished a book myself and I wrote about that . I talked about her in there and just about her determination to press on in the Lord . And , ray , really , that's really the Christian life is that determination to recognize that God is not only sovereign , but God is good , he loves us people and if he allows suffering , he has a purpose in it .
It's hard to explain . There's a lot of things we don't understand , but we do know that the wise man built his house on rock and the foolish man built his house on sand . And as I listened to you and what you went through , we haven't even got to the part where your hands and your feet might happen with them . But how do the unsaved survive ?
I mean , how do they handle something like this without faith ? It horrifies me to think of them being under the same storms that Christians are under and having no foundation , Absolutely .
All right . So Mike , now take us further into the story . So then she begins to rebound . They're blown away . Her blood pressure goes back up and what happens ?
We call it Miracle Tuesday . So , out of the blue , I was spending the night there . I slept in the family lounge and , like I said , we had about 15 family members and friends that were praying for three days and then , of course , the body of Christ praying all over .
And so , out of the blue , at four in the morning , the nurse comes in and wakes me up and says do you want to be wake up if anything was going on ? And I said yeah , and he said I don't know what's happened , but her blood pressure has returned to 120 over 60 . And there's no medical reason for it . And I go , I know what happened .
It was very clear what happened . So it was at that point we realized that , okay , this is the ninth inning , we're down by 10 runs and there were two outs and there were two strikes , and God jumped in and took over the game Absolutely , and so we had really seen the power of prayer in this whole process .
I mean , we really knew at that point that it was just God intervening and that it was also at that point where we thought all the seriousness we took in prayer was really critical . I mean , one thing God gave me was pray , pray , pray and get people involved . The fellowship of believers needs to know about this and you need to keep on in tune .
So I was literally texting people and calling people and doing everything every hour , giving them updates what's going on . These are things we need to pray for . They say her belly rubens 28 and her liver's gonna die . And the liver doctor says her liver's got no chance . Why ? So what needs to happen ?
She says , well , it needs to come down below 20 within a day or two . And so I put out a fleece Guys , this is what we need . This is what he says is gonna die Within two days . Her liver numbers are 18 . So we had that happen over and over and we really saw what was going on .
But it was really the body supporting us and praying for us and , in fact , I've got a book that somebody in our church did and you can see this is a three-ring binder and these are all the communications between me and people at the church . And then she took all this and printed all of it . It just goes to show you what our church got around us .
Compass was amazing and for us that's where we thought maybe this is why we're going through this kind of stuff , maybe we're going , why we're going through this is for everybody to see that this is what it is to be a Christian . This is what it is to fall the Christ .
And , like Grace said , I just am amazed , when I was laying there in the hospital , how I thought how can people do this , how can people do this and we'll get to my amputations in a minute but people were just crying and screaming and yelling , cursing , cursing , and you mean patients , patients were and I felt like I've got the peace of God .
But God , really , I want to talk a little bit about the providential plan of God , because he knew this was going to happen since the beginning of time . Right , what we had Mike had . His mom had really , really bad migraine headaches and he was the last child and became her caregiver , so he already knew how to care , give before I needed him .
The next thing was I was a teacher and was put in public speaking all the time . All the other teachers said you do it , you do it . They'd be scared to death . And I'm like , oh , this is great , I get to tell my story and I get to weave in the gospel , so this is great . And then we were just going into our 40th year of marriage . We got married .
We met at 17 at a church camp and then got married in our 2021 . And and God just led him to me , I think , because I needed him and God knew I needed him more than anything . So we were talking about a foxhole situation . Two no , our anniversary is May 26th and this happened on July 5th , so six weeks before .
And we said you know , people talk about faith , but until you go through something , you really don't know , you know . So I said to Mike what do you think it would be like if we were in a foxhole , spiritually , physically , you know , financially , whatever ? We didn't even know , because life was so good for us .
So foxholes in the middle of a battle where you just don't know where to go . Right , you're hunkered down and you're desperate .
And I asked Mike that question . I said well , what do you think you know our faith would be like ? And he wisely said I don't know what our faith would be like until we get there . Wow , and we were there six weeks later , in this foxhole . And so God knew that . And Tiffany , our daughter , tiffany Washburn , she became an OT , an occupational therapist .
What did I need the most ? An occupational therapist . Wow , and so . God , just you know .
That's amazing . You know how he works all that out , and I think about eternity . You know when we'll be able to see so many other details that we couldn't even perceive , you know ? Okay , so then , vicki , you wake up , and what were you thinking ? I see my hands .
First of all , I can't move . I have a trach . I can barely move my head like this . So they're caring for me in the hospital in ICU . I was in ICU for 35 days , wow , and then . So I was in four different hospitals . I was transferred from that little community hospital to Sacramento Trauma Center 63 bed ICU , so it was huge .
So I had the top of the top doctors . But a nurse said to Mike , get her home , like get her home , which is Orange County , and this was up in Sacramento area . So I transferred in a huge ambulance for nine hours all the way down and I said could you please put your sirens on so I can get her ? And they said are you an infant ?
I said , well , I will be if you want me to be .
I'll identify as anything at this point .
And they said you're not in trauma . But anyway I was , the only place that I could get to was Westminster and it was this tiny little hospital and I thought , god , why am I here ? Why am I here ? But little did I know . God was behind the scene .
Every single one of my doctors , my surgeons , were coming out of that hospital and they were teaching professors in the area , so I had the top at the top , wow . And I was only there for two weeks .
Yeah , now was this before after the amputation .
This was before , so I saw my hands . When I woke up , I saw my hands were gray .
And that's kind of a story in itself , because I had told the doctors and nurses that , like this is something a husband needs to tell wife . A doctor doesn't need to tell my wife that she's gonna lose her hands and feet . So the vascular surgeon had told me this . I had an ICU . I had several doctors confirm this , so we even prayed about that .
I mean , I had people praying for her mental health a lot about our mental health Because I think how would you feel if you were waking up and you find out , hey , guess what you lived , but you're gonna lose your hands and feet . I couldn't imagine .
So the day I was told that this is how our God shows up in amazing ways that she was gonna lose her hands and feet , I remember walking out of the hospital I was crying , as I think most people would my wife's gonna lose her hands and feet .
And I got back to Vicki's sister's house where I was sleeping that night and about three o'clock in the morning I generally woke up , or God would wake me up and I would pray for 10 or 15 minutes and I'd go back to sleep . Well , this night our great God gave me this dream and my dream was made it all clear . You know what was this ? Ordained by God ?
I mean you kind of struggle , what's going on here ? And the dream was we were in the grocery store and Vicki was there and there's a long line , and this lady was looking at her hands because she could visibly see these hands , and Vicki said do you wanna hear my story ?
And she said yes , and Vicki told her story and then gave the gospel and I went bingo , this is not about the here and now , it's about the then and there . This is eternal . It's not about what's going on today . And from that point forward he set me straight . I mean , I was all in .
I was all in that this was by God or ordained by God , Kind of the . Johnny Erickson taught a comment that sometimes God permits those things that he hates and uses them to accomplish those things that he loves . Right , and I went wow , I mean , but that's our God , you know it was amazing .
So , vicki , what was it like for you when you heard the news ?
Well , it was funny because I felt like God just had given me so much peace beforehand , and Mike was worried about my mental health . Of course , you know telling someone that they're gonna lose their hands and feet . But I said to him you know , well , I guess what you're telling me is it's a miracle that I'm alive . So God did this amazing feat .
Yeah , but I think I guess my ministry will be that I won't have hands and feet . Wow .
And he said I looked for like an alien . I went . Did you know what I just said ? It's one of those kind of things that I go and I said mirror flesh and blood and I give that to you Much like .
Jesus said to Peter when he said who are you ?
And he says you're the son of the living God . And Jesus said mirror flesh and blood and I give that to you Because it was just so bizarre , right .
Yeah , yeah , you know . It reminds me of the words of Nancy DeMau . She said that an evidence that our will has been broken is that we begin to thank God for that which once seemed so bitter , knowing that his will is good and that in his time and in his ways , he is able to make the most bitter waters sweet .
Wow , wow , wow . It seems to be just a little bit
¶ Miracles, Faith, and Healing
of missing information here . So the blood didn't go to your hands and feet , they gave you drugs that I was on five pressers just to keep the blood flowing . What's a presser ?
Epinephrine is a . You've probably heard of epinephrine . It's a vasopressor .
It's designed to raise your blood pressure . Because her blood pressure is so dangerous , she was gonna code . They're just trying to keep her alive , okay , and that stuff .
So they don't worry about my arms and legs because they're trying to . My heart was at 20% , and so it needed all the help it could get .
So they probably suspected that that was gonna be the result .
they did Most people die when they get sepsis and the sepsis protocols are so advanced now that I think if this would happen to me even maybe 10 years ago .
I wouldn't have served . Over 50% of the deaths in hospitals historically have been septic shock going into sepsis . It's an infection . It's an infection that just ravages your body uncontrollably and you have no real defense but you lose all the flow of blood to your hands and feet because all the blood's kept in your major organs to keep those major organs alive .
You remember , your heart's only working at 20% , so very little blood's flowing and hence it's kind of like having frostbite .
Yeah , they were black . By the time I got to Orange County they were black .
So that must Like a product tissue . Was that I mean faith in God and heavy . Was that terrifying to look down and see , because your hands are special .
Oh yeah , I had my toenails painted .
All beautiful , were you able to even move your hands at this point . No , so they were yeah , wow , okay so , vicki . So then Mike gives you this news , you respond in this . I still can't believe it .
It's a God thing . I'm away .
Yeah , it's a God thing and then the amputation happens . You come out of surgery , you have no hands , no feet . What was that like ?
No , I have to tell you the story the night before because this is very powerful . So my son David , my son-in-law , mike and Mike would always be reading to me from the Bible because I couldn't move and they would read the miracles of Jesus and because I was walking miracle .
Yeah .
And I remember just bathing in those Just like this is unbelievable . So the night before amputations , it was the long weekend in September of 2018 . And the very next morning I was gonna be prepped at 6.30 . Our church family , my family , there were 60 , some people downstairs and they said they had never heard this .
But the night before , when everyone had left and I was on my own , that's when the peace of God is just so powerful and I still remember it to this day . So , hearing the miracles , I said , jesus , it's not too late , you can heal me right now . Please heal me . And I was crying and I thought , god , I just need you so much .
And as my tears are flowing , my heart said , no , that's not what I have for you . And I stopped and I was very quiet before my Lord and I said , god , I can't do this without you . And all of a sudden , in my mind goes to Hebrews 11 . And it's all the faithful of the gospel .
They didn't even know the gospel because Jesus wasn't even there yet , but Abraham , isaac , jacob , and he said you will be one of these , you will have to walk by faith . And I cried some more and I said , okay , god , but I can't do this without your strength . I am so weak I cannot even turn over in bed . I can't even move my head To get cleaned up .
I have to tap this button by my ear . And all of a sudden , our gracious God gives me a vision again , and we've all seen it this little girl dancing on her daddy's feet at a wedding . She's all dressed up . She's dancing on her daddy's feet and Jesus said I will be here , hands and feet , don't worry about this , I've got this .
And I peacefully went off to sleep and I said okay , god's got this .
And when she came out the next morning , they're rolling her out and we've prayed and there's been people that are praying and everything , and they're rolling out , there's people and they're waiting for her to come through the double doors and she could barely move , but she could have enough strength of her arms are like in concrete .
She raises her arm up like she's rocky or something , like she's going to succeed at something . I go honey , you're getting your arms and legs amputated . You know he really has what the today is and I went wow , okay , that is peace . You know , that's just amazing , wow .
That's amazing , and so you get through that . What was it like coming out of surgery ?
Horribly horrible pain , pain like no one's ever felt . Staples all around both , both my legs . I'm called a quadrilateral amputee , so my legs are at the same exact point , mid calf , and then my arm , this one . They were able to save my elbows , which was huge , oh wow . And I was able . I talked the doctors into doing all four at the same time .
Oh really , they were not going to do it , they did not want to do it . You know , it was a pride thing . And so I said please do it for me , because I you know I want to be put out once . Get the pain over with and move on , because this is going to be painful . My leg surgeon decided to start unwrapping it .
What , 24 hours after surgery , my arm doctor didn't . He said , well , if it's infected , we know by your blood work . And so pain was excruciating , and I loved what Mike said he was so funny . So they started to unwrap my legs and I was not fully medicated yet , and so it was like jumping through the roof .
I was going to bounce off that bed and Mike said stop , stop what you're doing , stop . And this older doctor looked and said well , what do you think ? Are you the doctor today ? And Mike goes today , I am .
Wow , I'm not doing this , I'm not doing this , and so he goes you need to medicate her better .
So that was , and I thought , yay , my husband's there with me .
That's wonderful . Your courage just so humbles me . I'm just amazed at your attitude and your courage and your faith in God . Only If I stub my toe , it's the end of the world . Yeah .
And so you get past all of that , and we'd love to hear now about what the Lord has done in your life and through your life since that point .
Well , I'll tell you about phantom pain , Because I mean I have these prosthetics that are just unbelievable .
Yeah .
And I can spin it , which is unbelievable .
OK , I'm jealous right now I wish I could put my hand at that angle . So for those of you obviously listening , you can't see this .
You can't see it , but I'm spinning my left hand and that's how I can eat . I put a fork in . I co-contract , which is all up muscles in my forearm that are still there . I can count my fingers . I can feel my old fingers , which is amazing , isn't that crazy ?
So you're able to open and close and .
But then I co-contract and then if I open now and hold it open with a wrist open , then I can go to a pincher and pick things up and wow , so you put your makeup on in the morning . Yes , I put my makeup on . I can toilet . The only thing I can't do is get them wet . So I can't do dishes , I can't .
Oh honey , I can't water the plants . One of the perks , that's right , that's right . I told her she did 90% , 94% . It's my turn to do 90% .
But I have to share with you the Phantom Pain story because God is so good . Mike went to take shower one day . We're home by this time in our new home . It's probably about six months after . I have my legs at the time , but I don't have my arms and I'm laying in bed waiting for Mike to get out of the shower and the pain in my hands are excruciating .
So you have pain in something you no longer have , but it's because of all the ligaments that they took and all the wiring . I call it the wiring , but what it is is the pain . I even feel it now , just a buzzing , all the time my brain has gotten used to it .
This is
¶ Trusting God Through Severe Pain
severe pain .
This is severe pain 0 to 10 . This is off the charts , like 11 or 12 . And somebody asked me my brother asked me what does it feel like ? And I said take a gun and shoot your fingers off . That's the intense pain that I was feeling at that time and I started to cry again and I said God , this is unbearable .
I'm on these pain medications , but this is insane . And I started to kind of tear up and the love of Jesus went through my heart and he goes where are you feeling this ? My hands and feet . And he said what did I do for you On the cross ? My hands and my feet took those powerful nails that were driven in my hands and guess what ?
I know what you're going through . And I just humbly started praying and praising God that he took my sin away on the cross and I thought , thank you , god that I am . A very few people get to experience a glimpse of what he did on the cross .
Wow , that's so powerful , Mark . Oftentimes people don't consider that pausing for a moment to identify with the sufferings of Christ on our behalf to get just a brief glimpse into what he endured , and for him , not just the physical pain but bearing the sins of humanity .
Yeah , and it serves a purpose for us , doesn't it ? I read a quote from East Stanley Jones . He said don't bear trouble , Use it . Take whatever happens Justice and injustice , pleasure and pain , compliment and criticism Take it up into the purpose of your life and make something out of it . Turn it into a testimony .
Don't explain evil , Exploit evil , Make it serve you . Just as the lotus flower reaches down and takes up the mud and the mire into the purposes of its life and produces the lotus flower out of them , so you are to take whatever happens and make something out of it .
Slightly different from Sinclair Ferguson here , where he says do I learn through dark providences or simply seem relieved when they're over ? Here is a living testimony right , Because there's no getting out of it . No , right , the trial's not over . Ezy and I . We have her in Ray as well , who has cancer .
And she says you know , I don't wish cancer upon anyone , but the effects of cancer and what it's done to me I wish upon everyone . Because it's at that moment you recognize in the fire that Christ is with you . And since you have to go through the fire , you might as well dance , Exactly .
Yeah , and you know . That's so contrary to the false modern day prosperity gospel that tells you real Christians should never suffer . And that's just so false . You know , and you look at the scripture . I mean in Acts 14 , 22, .
It says strengthening the souls of the disciples , exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God . John 16 , 33 , these things I have spoken to you , that in me you may have peace in the world . You will have tribulation , but be of good cheer . I have overcome the world , amen .
You know the scripture is full of these things . I mean 1 Peter , 419, . Therefore , let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him and doing good as to a faithful creator . Philippians 1 , 29, .
For to you it has been granted , on behalf of Christ , not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake , and so I'm sure that has been eye-opening to you personally , like realizing wait a minute , I know we're in a fallen , broken world , so there's gonna be suffering , right , the sun rises and sets and the rain falls on the just and the unjust ,
but in the midst of it God can work for his glory .
Well , it's funny because you just said that I have gotten calls from all different people all over the country . I have a friend now and she is in Wisconsin .
She heard me on a different podcast and she said I've got to talk to Vicki , her story is my story and she is exactly two years behind me and I know God has allowed this to happen to Mike and I because he's gonna use it . We don't want it to be in vain .
And now , just this week , I found out there's a lady up in Roseville , california , lost her hands and feet . So I'm like , bring it on , I just want to minister to them .
Still rare , it's like one in three million people . From what ?
I find statistically that this happens to , but God is using it you want to speak and conferences and in churches . How can people get hold of ?
you . Well , I have a website , vickizerotticom , that's a hot book .
Can you spell your ?
Yeah , V-I-C-K-I-Z-I-Z-B-R-O-R-A-D-Icom . I have an eight minute video that Compass Bible Church did when this happened .
Very powerful .
Very powerful . So , if anyone is ever in need of just seeing my story in person or I'm sorry on video , go to vickizerotticom . And then , because of COVID , I was able to kind of write this down in a book called Tested by Fire , Field by Faith .
Love that title .
And I love cars .
I love cars .
And I used to be really mean at a stick shift , but anyway , so you can get that on Amazon .
Yeah Well , we really want to encourage our friends to check that out . And I was thinking of our sister Johnny again and I'm sure you're familiar with this quote when she had cancer on top of her quadriplegia . She said cancer is such a wake-up call to remind us how high the cosmic stakes really are and how short and brief and frail life really is .
And that was just so powerful . And she said life becomes inspiring not in spite of the problems and the hard hits , but because of them .
Yeah .
And this one here she said , my weakness , that is , my quadriplegia , is my greatest asset , because it forces me into the arms of Christ every single morning , when I get up . Yeah , and that's- . I can testify of that for vicki .
Mike puts my arms and legs on every single morning first thing when I get up Wow , yeah , and it makes you depend on the Lord and cry out to him .
and look at him . Johnny's amazing , you know .
Johnny . My brother knew Johnny and so he got an introduction to her when this happened . And so Vicki had lunch with her and she was just fantastic and they've become friends and whatnot . But she said one thing . Vicki said what do I do with this ? What do I do ? What do I do , what do I do with this ?
And she goes Vicki , you tell your story and you let God do the rest . You weave the gospel in you , weave in the word of God and let God do the rest . Amen , and he will .
Yeah , and he said , what do I do ? And it was a great advice Amen .
And she's been an amazing person .
So we speak at her disability camps .
Oh it's wonderful .
So what's your website again for people who VickiZeraticom ?
V-I-C-K-I-Z-O-R-A-D-I .
Well , friends , make sure to check that out . What a delight it's been to have you both here . I wish we had hours , because I know there are so many more details to your story , but we've been inspired today . I know our listeners have been as well , and thank you .
Thank you for shining for Christ , thank you for living for his glory , because , at the end of the day , that's all that matters . And one day in the resurrection we're gonna have new bodies . Ray's is gonna be six foot six with Harry Chess .
That's right , he's gonna take on Kellen , right ? Yeah , yeah , he's gonna take on , I'll pet him on the head . Yeah , johnny said Vicki and Harold take runs on the head . Yeah , they're gonna run really fast .
That's great . Yeah , on that day , the Lord will make us whole more than we could even dream of , and so we wait and look forward to that day . So thanks again for joining us .
Can I just leave my Gmail , please , vzorati at gmailcom . If somebody is listening right now that needs instant help . You can reach me that way .
Oh , that's wonderful . Yeah , make sure to reach out to Vicki and thank you , friends , for listening . We wanna encourage you to continue to press on in Christ and to follow this example . Oftentimes , we make excuses as to why we can't share the gospel with others .
Our sister , vicki , has shown us that we really have no excuses , so let's let the Lord work in and through us for his glory . Thanks for joining us . We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters podcast MUSIC .