“I was terrified, the thought of her dying in an hour’s time, it is something to be concerned about,” said Kay Gwinn.
Her husband Dwayne, their daughter Tonya, and her husband Paul Morrison, have been attending church together for years. That Sunday, their pastor had an unusual and ominous message for Tonya.
Pastor Walter George recalls, “Suddenly the Spirit gave me Tonya’s name and said to Tonya, ‘The Lord was holding her in the palm of His hand. She was going to face some problems in her life that she really wasn’t even aware of.'”
Kay remembers, “We just couldn’t imagine what it was going to be. And we did not know that this would happen within 24 hours.”
Paul reflects too, “When I heard what Brother Walter said, I thought it was an amazing blessing for Tonya. I certainly didn’t think it was anything to do with a medical condition that she had.”
In 2017, Tonya was diagnosed with diabetes insipidus, an uncommon disorder that causes an imbalance of fluids in the body. The day after receiving the message from her pastor, Tonya woke up not feeling well. Her doctor was concerned about some recent lab results and insisted Tonya get another test. Then, on her way home she became very ill and could barely move. Her doctor called with urgent news.
Dwayne remembers Tonya calling him, “I heard the urgency in her voice. She said, ‘Daddy, I need your help real badly. The doctor just told me I have water poisoning and that I need to get to Murfreesboro Hospital within an hour. It is a matter of life and death.’ I remember her using those terms, a matter of life and death.”
Tonya’s father, Dwayne, lives nearby and swung into action and raced her to the Murfreesboro Hospital to get her there before it was too late. “I would look in the rearview mirror and see my daughter, basically unconscious. I was praying for her. And I’d say, ‘Lord, I know you’ve got her in the palm of your hand.’ And one of my favorite scriptures . . . was coming to me, ‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.’ We knew that the Almighty had our daughter in His hand.“
They made an hour-long drive in just 25 minutes, and when they got off the highway, they hit seven greenlights in a row before arriving at the hospital.
Her husband Paul had been waiting at the hospital, “They pulled up to the emergency room. I opened the back door, and she was unresponsive in the back seat.
It was completely scary to see her unconscious.”
Doctors determined that due to her diabetes, Tonya’s sodium had dropped to a life threatening 112, causing her brain to swell and lose consciousness.
Her mom Kay remembers how serious it was, “They told us nobody else had ever left the hospital with her condition alive. So we were really praying for her, praying for the Lord to take care of her, to bring her back to us. We were not ready to lose her.”
“We were depending on the power of prayer and knew that we were asking for a miracle. We knew we had a lot of people praying that could pray and that the Lord could answer prayer, that He had all power. He was going to keep her in the palm of His hand and perform that miracle. We needed one,” said Dwayne.
Paul recalls, “I immediately thought back to the words that Brother Walter had spoken over her Sunday, so I felt comfortable. I knew she was in God’s hands, and nothing could really be bad. But I was concerned.”
Over the next three days in the hospital Tonya’s sodium levels came back to a safe range and she began her recovery.
“When I came to, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt it was the hand of the Lord, and that He had spared my life. And that was what Brother Walter meant, when he had that Word of Knowledge the day before. I knew exactly that’s what it meant, and that God had spared my life,” said Tonya.
Her dad is very grateful. “He came through for us that time in such a magnificent way and we are so thankful that the Lord demonstrated His power by saving our daughter.”
Kay smiles and says, “It was wonderful seeing her, knowing that she was still alive. I mean she was a miracle. She was a miracle.”
“I think one of her favorite songs is, ‘I can’t even walk without you holding my hand,’ referring to the hand of the Lord. And Paul, her husband, had her one hand and the Lord had her other hand,” said Dwayne.
“I’m thankful that God carried us through that and that He gave me a life with Tonya,” said Paul.
Tonya remains thankful for God’s encouraging word that provided a source of hope during a terrible situation. Of God’s love she says, “It’s hard to describe the gratitude and the love you feel, just knowing the love He has for you. That He did this, He spared your life for a reason. And now He has your life in His hand. He had me in the palm of His hand. It’s a miracle. Because when you watch how it played out and that the day before, in 24 hours from the time that word was spoken by my pastor, I was in the back seat of that car hang-hanging on to life. He can turn that around and heal you. It brings glory to Him and that’s what is important. It was all for His glory. He had a plan and it was all for His glory.”
