Loved Back to Life

Stanwood, WA

“I couldn’t BE perfect,” says Nancy. “I couldn’t be perfect for my kids or my husband, and I just, I felt so much shame about that.”

It was PAIN keeping Nancy Johnson from being the wife and mom she wanted to be.

At 24, just after giving birth to her first child, she developed fibromyalgia—a chronic, incurable disorder that caused widespread pain and fatigue.

“The muscle pain never stopped. And so, I was on this search, ‘What am I going to do?’” says Nancy.

Nancy had a second child, but over the years developed more health issues including severe allergies and thyroid problems.

By the time she was 40, she was a shut-in trying her best to take care of her family.

The medical community had few answers, suggesting she try meditation and relaxation techniques to ease the suffering.

"One of the doctors sent me away with, ‘It’s all in your head'", says Nancy. “And that was just devastating. That was truly-it was hopeless. Okay, ‘I’m just going to have to go home and live with this,’” says Nancy.

Over time, Nancy became allergic to more foods, severely limiting her diet. As she grew weaker, the responsibility of taking care of the kids, the home, and Nancy fell largely on her husband, Rich.

“So, we’re coming and going, and Nance is isolated in the house,” says Rich. “That was hard. That was really hard.”

Adding to the daily pain and frustration, Nancy also battled depression, and the voice constantly telling her she was a failure.

“I would worry in bed and thinking things over, and ‘You’re sick, you’ll never get well, you’ll never make it, you’re not good enough,’” says Nancy.

Eventually Nancy found meditation techniques from Eastern mysticism gave her a brief escape. It also led her on another search—beyond the pain and suffering—into her soul.

“There’s something empty inside of me. There’s some-there's a search for, who am I? What am I?” says Nancy. “And how could anybody love me because I felt like such a failure and so weak.”

Then at 49 years old, Nancy landed in the emergency room. She was unresponsive, had a temperature of 83, and weighed only 82 pounds. She was dying of malnutrition.

“I very nearly lost her,” says Rich. Her body had just depleted. She was literally hours away from her internal organs shutting down if we can’t get her stabilized. It was-wow. I did some real soul-searching that week.”

Soon, both of them would find what they were looking for. Within the week, Nancy was well enough to go home, but still needed constant care.

Then a few weeks later, while watching TV, Rich came across a Christian channel teaching about hope in Jesus Christ.

“I found that to be really uplifting, I really did. So, I listened to one or two of them, and finally said, ‘Nance, you’ve got to come listen to this guy. He’s got some pretty positive things to say,’” says Rich.

They had both gone to church as kids, but the Jesus and God they had heard about were distant and angry.

“I’m listening to him talk about, ‘Jesus wants to heal you,’” says Nancy. “And I’m listening to that and my heart is just pounding, like ‘Oh, my gosh, oh my gosh,’ you know, ‘oh my gosh,’” gasps Nancy. “I’ve never known a Jesus like this. Like, this is a God that really wants to answer your prayers and heal you.”

Drawn by this message of hope, they tuned in for weeks. One day, Nancy prayed with Joel, and asked God for his forgiveness, and accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior.

“I was astounded, I’m like, ‘Something huge just happened here!’ says Nancy. “And I just felt this flood come in of like joy, like, ‘Oh my gosh!’”

Then Nancy had a revelation.

“I was looking for an answer in every other religion, in every other avenue. I was trying to heal the soul, I just was going about it the totally wrong way,” says Nancy.

“When Jesus came in, He loved me. He loved me back to life. He didn’t care that I hadn’t taken a look at the Bible. No matter what, He loved me. No matter how disabled I was, He loved me.”

Within a few weeks, Rich also gave his life to Christ. 

“And it took me fifty long years to figure it out, that I can’t do it on my own. I tried,” says Rich. “So, I surrendered. I opened up my heart and invited the Lord in. And that’s when the journey began.”

Now watching Christian television and attending church when Nancy was able, the couple started going to healing rooms to receive prayer for Nancy’s health problems—and it was working.

“I could see breakthrough. I was able to drive myself. The allergies were breaking down, I was able to sleep,” says Nancy.

In time, every symptom had disappeared.

“The transformation was happening right before my eyes,” says Rich. “I mean, I’m-I’m seeing a miracle happen."

Nancy is grateful for the miracles in her life, but out of all of them...

“The miracle of salvation was really, you know what I was after all along,” says Nancy. “Uh, all of this trying to find my health, trying to find the answers, it was just Jesus. It was—He's what I needed. He was the answer to it all,” says Nancy. “That’s the real miracle is the salvation. Because when He comes in, He saves it all. He's the Savior of the health, He’s the Savior of the finances, He’s the Savior of the family, He IS love. And in that love everything becomes beautiful again.”