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I spent six weeks in hospital with a perforated bowel and nearly died

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

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‘I spent six weeks in hospital with a perforated bowel and nearly died. During that time I came across Psalm 33. It sustained me and kept me going. 

‘The first verse is about singing joyfully to the LORD. I like singing – I sing in church – and I've had a lot of singing in my life. That made me feel that things were going to be OK and if not, that didn't really matter because we're going to heaven.

‘It goes on to say that “the word of the LORD is right and true”. When I thought, “I've only just survived this, it's going to take quite a while to get better and I don't really know what's going on,” I needed to hear that God is faithful and that “the earth is full of his unfailing love”. 

‘The other verses I found very helpful were from verse 6 onwards about God's interactions with the earth and about how he “gathers the waters of the sea into jars”. That made me feel he's in charge of creation and of us, of our future and our present. “He spoke, and it came to be” – that's wonderful. 

‘I'm not one of these people who believe God will make everything fantastic and wonderful but I believe that he's with you in the problems. I think that's something you learn as you get older. “We wait in hope for the LORD” – that helped me keep going through the weeks and months of recovery. 

‘I never really liked the Psalms, perhaps because I don't like poetry very much. But as we get older we change; we appreciate different things, and I am now appreciating the psalms a lot more.  

‘I have to be very careful and it does restrict my life. I do find it difficult to remember, but my husband nags me. I did end up in hospital again but that psalm was there as my touchstone. 

‘Life isn't perfect, but it doesn't matter because I know that God is with me and that's the important thing.’

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