The miracle of a woman pursued

What more could happen to a young woman who was bullied and outrageously abused in school? What else could happen to a 15-year-old who left home to marry a sailor only to have her marriage end in divorce? How much more trouble could descend on a young mother who was told her newly born baby boy would never leave the hospital?

Actually, a lot more could happen. Just ask Kimberly Gomes who was told a year ago that she was going to have to consult an oncologist to deal with the life-threatening masses that had been found in her presacral space.

Kimberly was born in Fresno 46 years ago but was raised in the Madera Ranchos. As a child, she enjoyed the semi-rural life her parents provided for their five children, but when she started school, she became the object of jealous ridicule from the other kids who made fun of her big, blue eyes. They called her “fish eyes” and “cow eyes.” The bullying intensified as she grew older, until one day she was lured away from the school grounds by another girl who had helped lay a trap for her to be frightfully abused by two boys.

At the age of 15, Kimberly left home to marry a sailor, and for the next few years, they were on the move a lot. In time the young couple became parents, and in 1993, she gave birth to her second son. However, the specter of death raised its ugly head. The baby had serious pulmonary issues, and the doctors said the baby could not survive.

Kimberly then, in an act of faith and perhaps of desperation, placed a Bible beside the baby. A few days later, much to the surprise of the doctors, she was able to take her son home.

Kimberly had not been raised in a particularly religious home; she had not attended church regularly, but she had early expressed a spiritual awareness. At the age of 10, she asked for a Bible for Christmas. Looking back on those early years, Kimberly believes that God was reaching out to her, and He was doing it outside of a church.

In time, life got better for Kimberly. After her divorce, she married again and found a rewarding career in real estate. Then in November of 2020, the bottom fell out.

It began with a CT scan to deal with a routine, congenital, intestinal issue, which turned out to be not so routine. Kimberly received a call from her doctor that stunned her. The physician told her the scan had revealed multiple masses that were consistent with lymphoma. She was informed that she would have to prepare for another test, a biopsy, and a session with an oncologist to discuss the treatment that would follow.

Kimberly’s thoughts bounced all over the place. She had the normal “what if” questions. What would the fight be like? Was this disease going to kill her? She shed a river of tears, especially when her children came over to sing Happy Birthday to her. Was this the last birthday she would celebrate?

For the next couple of weeks, Kimberly spent a lot of time walking and thinking. She concluded that she wanted to have nothing to do with fear. It was a liar; it had to go, so she began to pray fervently for a miracle. She asked God to destroy the masses that were trying to destroy her.

They scheduled Kimberly for more tests to determine exactly how they were going to treat her disease. Meanwhile, she turned to God and asked that the next CT scans show nothing where once something had been seen. Then she began to thank Him!

Kimberly went in for the scan and then went home to await the results. When the inevitable call came, she began to laugh with an excitement that only joy can bring. The doctor was perplexed. He couldn’t find the masses; they were gone!

He told Kimberly that he didn’t discuss religion with his patients, but in this case he thought it was a “God Thing.”

Kimberly agrees. Her miracle brought her back to what she knows is truth. “Our God is greater than this. Trust in Him. Let us live like tomorrow is not promised but rather like tomorrow is a gift, because the love you show and feel when you live like that is amazing.”

Kimberly has been embraced by God’s grace, and that grace is more than leniency and unconditional acceptance. God’s grace has come to her in the form of His relentless pursuit of her to bring her to Himself. Her life bears this out.