Two Babies in Diapers and Two Months to Live: A Woman’S Journey to a Promised Miracle

By Marilyn Billingslea Hogue

It would be easy to say Marilyn Hogues book is so wonderful its almost unbelievable. But I personally know every word to be true...BELIEVE IT. It is a great must-read. READ IT! No book has more personally enriched my life in a long, long time. ENJOY IT!

Dr. John Bisagno, Pastor Emeritus,

First Baptist Church, Houston, TX

Marilyn Hogues challenges facing certain death are replete with vital insights for victorious living. I recommend any book that she writes, but especially this precious one filled with nuggets of gold and rare pearls in place for todays women.

Ann Platz, Atlanta, GA Author and Founder of

Women in Leadership

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512756166

Marilyn Billingslea Hogue

Marilyn Hogue is Co-Pastor of Citychurch in Oklahoma City with her husband Richard, mother of two sons and the proud “Gigi” to seven grandchildren. While at OU, she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority, and was graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University as Magna Cum Laude and Outstanding Senior Woman. Following a highly successful ministry during the Jesus Movement, in which more than 120,000 young people received Jesus as Lord and Savior, Richard and Marilyn birthed two great churches, MetroChurch, in Edmond, OK, and later Citychurch in Oklahoma City. With their pastorates, television programs, mission work and writings, the Hogues remain on the leading edge of ministry.

Book preview

TWO BABIES

IN DIAPERS

AND

TWO MONTHS

TO LIVE

A Woman’s Journey to

a Promised Miracle

Marilyn Billingslea Hogue

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Copyright © 2017 Marilyn Billingslea Hogue.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-5618-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5617-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5616-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016914842

WestBow Press rev. date: 1/25/2017

Contents

Chapter 1 Something Is Wrong

Chapter 2 The Return To Houston

Chapter Three The Question That Saved My Life

Chapter Four You Will Not Die

Chapter Five The Bad News

Chapter Six I Must See My Husband

Chapter Seven The Medication

Chapter Eight Nothing They Can Do

Chapter Nine A Huge Mistake!

Chapter Ten An Angel Named Joe

Chapter Eleven The Battle Against The Hemorrhages

Chapter Twelve The Doctor Wants To See You

Chapter Thirteen Living With The Threat Of Hemorrhages

Chapter Fourteen You’re So Fat

Chapter Fifteen Reaching Out For A Miracle

Chapter Sixteen Will I Ever Walk Again?

Chapter Seventeen I Am Healed!

This book is lovingly dedicated to the two precious ones who walked me through a terminal blood disease, Joe Lowry and Deana Ross Williams. Officer Joe Lowry, the Houston Policeman and physical therapist at Saint Luke’s Hospital, was the one the Lord Jesus used to fight each hemorrhage and restore my body to life. Deana Ross Williams is my wonderful daughter in the Lord, who gave her life to care for my sweet baby sons as if they were her own, and at the same time kept them close to me.

CHAPTER 1

Something Is Wrong

E arly on a typically humid Monday morning in Houston, Texas, I left our home on the west side of the city to keep an appointment at the prestigious Houston Medical Center. That appointment would radically change my life. As I drove alone through the morning rush hour, my arms were black and blue with bruises that extended from my shoulders to my wrists. Following the detailed directions I was given, I found a parking space in the huge complex close to the Medical Office Building, made my way to the elevators, stepped in and pushed the button for the eighth floor. Leaving the elevator, I began my search for the office of one of the most respected hematologists in Houston.

When I entered the doctor’s office and checked in with the receptionist, I was wearing a sleeveless dress so the doctors could easily see the bruising on my arms. As I took my seat, I could hear the voices of person after person in the waiting room, whispering,Leukemia, leukemia, leukemia, as they noticed all my bruises, and I wanted to shout back, I can hear you, I can hear you, I can hear you.

My name was called, and I followed the nurse to the examination room of Dr. Jerome Barry Bart, a Harvard Medical School graduate and a specialist who had developed the reputation for being the leading hematologist in Houston. I was there to show him the bruises on my arms in hopes he could tell me what was going on with my body and what I could do to stop the bruising.

How Did This Happen

To explain how I ended up in the doctor’s office and what led to this Monday morning, I must share with you a little background about me and my husband, Richard. We were both born and reared in the military city of Lawton, Oklahoma. For us, two things made Lawton a great place to grow up: our schools and our church, First Baptist. Under the leadership of an extraordinary team of pastors and teachers, we knew in our teens that God was calling both of us into the ministry.

As soon as we were graduated from high school, which was also about the time we started going together, we wasted no time in answering that call. Although we did not marry until the summer after my junior year in college, we entered the ministry as youth pastors during Richard’s freshman year at First Baptist Church in Chandler, Oklahoma. Two years later, we took the youth pastor’s position at Oak Avenue Baptist in Ada, Oklahoma, and a year later we joined the staff of First Southern Baptist Church in Del City.

First Southern was a fabulous, fast-growing church under the leadership of the man who would become my husband’s mentor, Pastor John Bisagno. The youth ministry at Del City exploded in growth from a handful of kids to hundreds attending each week. As the youth pastor at First Southern, Richard was constantly asked to preach for youth rallies and at other churches where he could bring his large youth choir. Everywhere we ministered, many made decisions to receive salvation through Jesus Christ. It was a wonderful time!

Because of the success of these youth rallies, churches started asking Richard to conduct revivals for them. On the way to our first revival, Richard asked me to develop a program for the children, and God gave me the idea of using a puppet to show the children how God makes us come alive in a brand new way when we invite Jesus into our lives—and all we can then do through His power.

Our first revival was in the small Oklahoma town of Laverne. During one week, over one hundred and sixty young people and adults made first-time decisions to surrender their lives to Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. The word quickly got around to other towns and cities and then to churches throughout the entire state. Overnight, we began receiving invitations to hold church-level and then citywide crusades, with many churches participating.

About that time, the Jesus Movement exploded, and we found ourselves in the big middle of it. From Florida to California and from Texas to Ohio, all sorts of places and people were calling, wanting us to come.

The crusades got bigger and bigger, being held in major places like the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis and the Sports Arena in San Diego. One of the most important crusades we held was at First Baptist Church in downtown Houston. More than four thousand young people made first-time decisions to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. It was at least