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Stroke Gives Man An Incredible Story to Tell

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AM 4:08

“I put my hand on the counter to steady myself,” said Maurice, “And that's when it felt like something was happening in my head - like a transformer explodes, it felt like something exploded in my head.”

May 3rd 2019, Maurice Hilliard was going back to bed after using the bathroom, but then…

“Felt sparks coming all through my head and I was totally out of control,” Maurice said. “I screamed and I fell to the floor.”

Maurice’s wife Earlene remembers. “I woke up and I looked toward the bathroom, there was my husband Maurice on the floor. And I noticed he couldn't speak, he couldn't move. Immediately I started praying I prayed the word of God for healing.”

Losing his ability to speak, Maurice knew he was in trouble.

“And I said, ‘Ca-ca-ca-call 911.’"

AM 4:29

Paramedics rushed Maurice and Earlene to nearby Chesapeake General Hospital in Virginia. Maurice was disoriented, had slurred speech and chest pains.

“The main concern that the doctors had when they first brought me in, they thought I had had a stroke,” Maurice recounted.

Earlene said, “I prayed that he be completely healed from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, and that he would have no, side effects or anything like that.”

Maurice continued, “I was beginning to just to say, ‘God, you got to help me.’”

AM 4:44

Maurice was wheeled back immediately for a CT scan. Then as the technician was injecting an imaging dye into his brain, Maurice felt something change.

“I began as that dye went in to feel like, ‘Hey, I'm coming back again. The dye is washing,’” he said excitedly. “And I felt myself getting whole again.”

Of course, he knew it wasn’t the dye at work.

“I just said, ‘Lord, you've done this,’” Maurice proclaimed. “Whatever happened to my body, I'm healed."

The preliminary CT scan was inconclusive, so doctors kept Maurice at the hospital for observation and ordered an MRI for that afternoon. Meanwhile, Maurice’s speech and mind continued to clear, as he began telling everyone about his miracle.

“The nurses and people who came in to clean the room. All I could just say what a good God that I served and how He'd healed me so,” Maurice said.

The next day, the MRI results confirmed Maurice had a stroke.

MRI Technologist Ashley Bassinger said, “It was on the left side of his brain, so that will affect the right side of your body typically. When he came for his MRI, he really didn't have any deficits. They had all subsided.”

 “When I got the results,” Maurice said, “I just rejoiced so much. I was so thankful that God had healed me. I even told the doctor, that God had healed me.”

Then, someone else found healing, but not in the physical sense.

As Maurice talked about God’s goodness, Ashley began to share her pain, the pain of a troubled heart.

Maurice said, “She (Ashley) began to say, ‘You know, I'm angry with God. I lost my father. God took my father.’”

“I was really unhappy with my relationship with God because I didn't understand why my dad got taken from me,” said Ashley. “I almost was so angry, like I could feel it every day. Like I was carrying it with me.”

“And I said, ‘Oh Ashley, your father is still alive. He still in you,’” Maurice told her. “And I just told her how much love God had for her.”

After months of anger and resentment… 

“Like it just all washed away,” Ashley admitted. “This man is here, this is your angel. He's been sent to you to let you know that God is all around and everything has happened the way it's supposed to happen. It was amazing.”

“She says, ‘I'm not angry anymore,’” Maurice recounted, “she said, ‘God must've sent you here for me. God must’ve sent you here for me.’”

That afternoon after several more tests, Maurice was discharged, with a clean bill of health.

“And the doctor says, ‘You're good to go,’” Maurice chuckled. “I walked out of the hospital that I had gone in 35 hours earlier.”

Today, Maurice is symptom free and healthier than ever. He thinks back to his time in the hospital, as he continues to try and be an encouragement to others.

Earlene said, “He's still here, he's still able to walk, he's still able to talk. And that's what's so great about God, that you can give your testimony and encourage others.”

“I know that God is with me every day,” Ashley said, “And you just never know when something's going to happen to you to change your life. By me talking to Mr. Hilliard for a half hour, maybe, you know, I helped him, but he changed my life forever.”

“If Ashley could say, ‘God sent you by here from me,’ And I had a miracle,’” Maurice paused, then continued tearfully, “And if it took that, God, for You to get the glory, God it was worth it all. It was worth it all.’"


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