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CBN.com – "All I wanted to do was make a lot of money. That was all I wanted to do," says Jacque.
Jacque McDaniel had made it. He had become the successful businessman he had always wanted to be.
"I had the big house, the big car," he says. "I was a mover and a shaker, and I thought I was the man."
But Jacque had no idea what was about to happen to him.
"I was in my stepmothers house. I said, 'I’m tired. I need to go upstairs and sleep.' I slept for two days."
When he woke up, he wasn’t the same.
Says Jacque, "When I came down, I didn’t have all my motor skills. She had some kind of cabinet made of glass, and I broke it, because I couldn’t walk well."
His brother realized that something was wrong and that Jacque needed help.
"He took me to a hospital," says Jacque, "and they kept me. I stayed there for two-and-a-half months."
The doctors weren’t sure if it was multiple sclerosis, a virus, or a stroke. Jacque had been stricken with a mysterious illness that left him helpless.
"I couldn’t put my pants on. I couldn’t talk. I could barely see; I wore a patch over my eye. I stayed in bed most of the time. I could think one thing, but I could not physically move," Jacque explains. "I had no idea. I really had no idea. I just stayed in the bed. My friends came to my bedside and cried. I had nothing to do. I could do nothing except wait on the doctors to stick needles in me and do exams."
But during that time, Jacque began to have a life changing experience with God.
"God
had my undivided attention -- I could do nothing else but talk to God. He
became very real to me. It was like liquid love being poured out on me --
that’s the best way I can describe it. It was nothing that I did; it
was everything that He did for me. I learned to depend on the Lord for everything,
even for myself worth," says Jacque.
During this time, Jacque had to rely on prayer because he couldn’t read the Bible.
"I could not see the Bible. I would look at words in the Bible, and they literally looked like hieroglyphics," he says.
The doctors reported that Jacque had a third-grade level mentality. But as his relationship with God grew deeper, Jacque very slowly began to gain strength both in his mind and in his body.
"I could not walk. I could not shave. I remember my face had cuts and tissue all over it because my right hand was not steady enough. But because I had the tenacity, the determination to do something, and I lived on the edge of a day, if I could accomplish anything during the course of a day, that was a good thing. I could not see anything beyond a day."
Despite his bleak circumstances, he lived with constant hope and faith.
"One day I will walk normally," Jacque told himself. "One day I would have a family. One day I would be normal."
God
honored Jacque’s faith, and what has happened since then is amazing.
Jacque now has been blessed with a godly wife and a beautiful family. Not
only is he fully able to walk now, but he runs every day.
"I could not walk from a parking lot without the aid of someone. I can now walk, and that’s amazing to me!"
God has restored Jacque’s health completely. Now he works out regularly and is in great physical shape.
And about the doctor's claim of Jacque’s third-grade level mentality, Jacque returned to Michigan State and earned a bachelor’s degree in communications. He also graduated from Regent University with a master’s degree in divinity. His academic performance was more than he could have imagined.
"I took Greek and Hebrew, and got a B+ in Hebrew. I’m saying all this because God made it possible for me to get good grades, not so much for the grades, but to show other people that He’s God," says Jacque. "And He can do anything but fail! I am silly enough to believe God. Praise God!"
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