She Died and Came Back With a Story

“She has been a rock for me throughout our marriage. I'd always said if something happened to you, I just don't know what I'd do. I guess I'd just give up and quit.”

Robin Battles of Boaz, Alabama was fighting for her life. Doctors at Marshall medical center discovered she had several blood clots in her lungs and, most troubling, a large one in her heart. Her husband, Phillip, a former pastor, followed the ambulance as she was transferred to Huntsville hospital.

‘“I was still in my mind thinking maybe a couple of days in the hospital, IV antibiotics or something other and, you know, it’ll be taken care of. But when the doctor come out and started saying blood clots, lungs, and I think when somebody said pulmonary embolism, I was like, ‘Okay, I've heard that term.’ People die from that.’”

As he drove, Phillip prayed, though he wasn’t sure he was the man for the job. God didn’t seem to be listening to him anymore.

‘“I'd prayed for things to get better, and I'd prayed for situations to work out and they seemed to be going in the opposite way. I was like, ‘God, I, I know that I'm not perfect, but have I gotten away somehow that you can't even hear me? Because that's where I was at.’"

In Huntsville, a team assembled to remove the clot in her heart. However, by the time Robin arrived, the clot had moved.

“‘And I said, ‘What is it, baby? Is it not good they're gone?’ And she said, "They're going to my lungs.’”

Suddenly, Robin couldn’t breathe.

“I happened to look up at the monitors and her pulse had skyrocketed. Her blood pressure the bottom had fell out, and her oxygen sat had fell through the floor.”

The clot had indeed moved to Robin’s lung, putting her in cardiac arrest. 

She was rushed to the cath lab.

“I mean, I'd already been praying, but I started praying, praying.”

The medical team worked to try to clear the clot and bring her back. Before he went in, Robin’s cardiologist asked if Phillip wanted extreme measures taken.

“Don't you dare stop." I said, "Until you've done everything humanly possible." And he said, ‘I understand.’"
In the waiting room, Phillip continued to pray.

‘“I just collapsed, and I started praying out loud. The more I prayed, the more distressed I got. Things flashing through my mind about what life would be like without her. And I just started saying no. I said, ‘God, if there's anything in my heart that I need to get out of the way, I want to know.’ And the Holy Spirit just spoke real softly into my ears and said, "If she doesn't make it, are you gonna quit? Are you gonna give up on me if I don't bring her back?" ‘Lord Jesus,’ I said, ‘I don't know how I'll make it. But I promise you that I will do my best to keep pressing on. I will not quit on you. I'll keep standing, I'll keep testifying, I'll keep preaching.’ And after I said that I got kind of like a strange calm.’” 

Meanwhile, Robin had been without a heartbeat for fifteen minutes.

‘“I coded. Next thing I remember is I'm standing in front of Jesus. No concerns. Total awe, joy, peaceful when I was in front of him. I mean, the words here on earth don't explain how bright and how white it was. I could not see his face it was so bright. There was a dark place right over here. But he turned towards it. And he said, ‘Okay, Satan, show me what you think you're going to do.’ And then he turned back to the dark spot. And he said, “Okay, Satan, I AM is going to show you what I AM is going to do.” And then he just went, I mean, you couldn't even hear the breath. It was just, and when he did, his breath went into me and filled my lungs. I came up off the table. I heard them saying, ‘She's back! She’s back!’”

Robin’s heart and lungs began working. A few minutes later, the doctor told Phillip that even though her heart was beating again she was on a ventilator, and they weren’t sure how much damage had been done to her brain.

‘“I'm still thinking worst case scenario, I mean, that I'm gonna walk in and she's gonna be on a breathing machine, eyes shut, and them say, you know, ‘We'll wait and see what happens.’ When I see her turn her head and smile at me, that's all I needed. I could've run through the wall.’”

Soon after, Robin was taken off the ventilator and quickly made a complete recovery. One week later, she went home.

“I definitely believe that me and my husband had a divine appointment that day. He healed not only my body; he healed my spirit. He healed my faith,” says Robin.

“It saved my spiritual life; nothing really scares me anymore,” agrees Phillip.

“I know what God being the I AM is,” Robin says. “He's your everything. He's what you need at that moment. He comes to you, and he gives you what you need.”

‘“You may feel like, ‘God, where are you and why are you not showing up, and do you even care?’ Let me promise you, Jesus sees you and he hears you, and he's on our side,”’ Phillip says.