I have shared my entire journey from beginning to end on my Facebook page. But I wanted to share on my blog as well. My blog is meant to “Find Joy” in the journey of life. And that is exactly what I did while we battled one of the most deadly viruses on Earth…..I Found Joy!

This all began on Monday, July 5. My husband and I spent the day at Garner State Park. We had no idea that back home, our two older sons had woken up with headaches and congestion.

Tuesday, July 6, I was barely even home. I went to work, had dinner with my daughter and a friend, and then my daughter and I spent the rest of the evening together, visiting our church building and my parents. I did not get home until 11pm that night. By this time, my older son had a headache and body aches, but he was working out and trying to push past it. My middle son had a fever of 101.6, chills, and body aches. I had no idea that they had been exposed to someone who was sick. So I naively went into his room and immediately anointed him with oil and got on my knees, praying over him. I did not wear a mask. It wasn’t until I spoke to my older son that I found out one of their friends tested positive for the virus, and they had been with him that past Friday. Another one of their friends (who was also there that night) had similar symptoms to them.

Wednesday, July 7 – both of my sons went to get tested, and they both tested positive. Their friend also tested positive. And now a 4th person was feeling sick. When they had no idea they had been exposed, they hung out with someone else on Monday. And now he was also feeling sick and tested positive. I was at work when I found out, so I immediately let my boss know that I needed to leave work and start being quarantined since we were now exposed, and I didn’t want to compromise her health. From that point, the 4 of us were completely quarantined and did not go anywhere. Our youngest son was already at camp this week, but we knew he had also been with the group on Friday. I contacted the youth pastor to check on our son, but thankfully, he felt perfectly fine. I continued to check on him daily because I didn’t want an outbreak to start at the camp as well. But by God’s grace, our youngest son was kept protected through it all. He never got sick at all. When he returned from camp, we did not let him come home. We sanitized his car and delivered it to him, and he had to go and stay with our daughter in her home.

By that Saturday, my husband and I wanted to get tested for peace of mind. We took a home test and both came out negative! But by Sunday, July 11, we did have fevers and body aches. With the exception of the day that I prayed over my son, we were very cautious. I was the only one who went into their rooms to take them food and medicines. I wore my mask, and they wore theirs. I took another home test on Tuesday, July 13 and tested positive. My husband’s results were also eventually positive.

I think the worst of it for me was the weekend of July 17-18. The fever wouldn’t seem to go away, and the cough made my head hurt. I felt sluggish and just wanted to sleep or lie down. In the midst of it all, I prayed and I worshipped. I played music all the time and did all I could to sing praises to God. I was sharing my journey on Facebook, and I already knew I had many friends who were not believers in my God. I had many doubters who only believe in the science and don’t share the faith. I prayed the boldest prayers I’ve ever prayed in my life, and I had faith that God was going to pull through for me. I kept telling God, “You HAVE to heal me! You just have to! You will only make yourself look bad to all who are watching. You must heal me and we must make a fool out of the enemy. Make him walk away with his tail between his legs, and make him regret that he ever attacked us.”

I only had the thought of death one time, and that’s the only time that fear crept in. It was a day that I woke up to my oxygen level reading at 81. I had already been told that it needed to stay at 90 or above to avoid being admitted to the hospital. I did not want to be another number for the hospital to report to the media as another unvaccinated person being admitted. I hate the liberal-based mainstream media, and I would not give them the satisfaction. I hit my knees and began praying and playing the song “Great Are You Lord.” In that song, there is a stanza “It’s your breath, in my lungs, so we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise!” And that’s what I kept holding onto. I kept praying and asking God to fill my lungs with His breath. Within less than 5 minutes, I checked my oxygen level again and it was now at 93, Praise God!

I never feared death at all. I believe that in my life, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The only thing I feared was not seeing my daughter and youngest son again before breathing my last breath, if it came to that. And more than anything, I did not want to die, only because I didn’t want the negative watchers to think “I told you so” or “what happened to her God.” Maybe it was a pride thing, but I wanted my God to shine! I wanted Him to once again kick the enemy’s butt and drag him back to the pits of hell where he belongs.

Our sons went through the virus smoothly. My middle son only had that one day of feeling really bad. After I prayed over him, his body began sweating profusely and the fever never returned…..all GOD! He continued to have some congestion, mild cough, and achiness. My older son never had bad symptoms; he only had the achiness and some congestion.

Our last day of fever was Monday, July 19 and it began on the downside of the mountain after that. All symptoms began to go away. I praise God that on Friday, July 23, my husband and I tested NEGATIVE!! We are still healing and I don’t feel 100% normal yet. My cough still makes it hard to feel normal, but I have known many people that have that lingering cough for weeks or even months. I am just praying that goes away soon.

What did I learn? I’ve always had a strong faith, and I’ve never taken life for granted. But those feelings have definitely skyrocketed. My faith is unshakeable and stronger than ever, and my life is precious and valuable. My family is everything to me. I saw so much goodness and kindness in people, as there was an overflowing of people who sent us meals, sent us supplies, sent us groceries, and sent us prayers and encouragement. And I equally saw the ugliness in people who just couldn’t keep their negative comments to themselves. Good and bad – people were there. And I am grateful for all those precious angels on earth who took care of my family when we needed it most. We had meals and supplies brought to us every single day through the dark journey, and I am forever grateful! I am so grateful for all the army of family and friends who held hands with us from afar and stood right there in the battle lines for us and with us…the army of prayers that reached the ceiling of heaven on our behalf was the best thing ever! I love my life, and I love the wonderful people in it; I love my family and most of all, I love my Jesus! I will forever praise Him and thank Him for our healing!

If we are not connected on Facebook, and you would like to read my daily posts of what we were going through, I have made all of those posts “public” for anyone to read. https://www.facebook.com/monicarobles07/