The Hometown Advantage Let the Holidays Begin! | Page 11

OCTOBER 26, 2019
HOMETOWN ADVANTAGE
PAGE 11
Ted Manders Faith Still Abounds After Five Heart Attacks...He
Knows God Still Has Him In The Palm Of His Hand
As Ted Manders looked up, the lights
were bright, he felt the tubes more than
saw them. He wondered why he was
so calm. After all, this was his fifth heart
attack. He should be terrified.
“If we didn’t have Jesus
in this world, we wouldn’t
have anything at all. Our
faith determines our
future not just today, but
for all eternity.”
But Ted knew that God had not
abandoned him. He belonged to God,
so he prayed.
Ted’s journey began almost 32 years
ago. He was a young man at 31 years
old.
“In 1987, about a year before I met
my wife Betty,” Ted begins, “I woke up
early one morning with some light
chest pain. Not crushing, like they show
on TV. It was really a non-event kind of
thing. I was young and never had any
problems, but I went to the doctor to
have it checked out. The doctors
thought it was a hiatal hernia and
wanted to do surgery. I couldn’t afford
to be out of work, so instead, I decided
to just take medication and go on with
life. Little did I know, I was a ticking time
bomb, living on borrowed time. I wasn’t
saved, but I believe God’s hand was
on me even then.” After many health issues in his life, Ted Manders quotes a saying he likes by Josh Shipp, “You either get bitter or you
get better.’’ You have to have strength during hard times and every one of us has had to deal with hard times! One of
his favorite scripture Psalms 45 says, ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we
will not fear.’ This scripture has been strengthening and he knows from experience that thru it all .... GOD IS GOOD!
Eleven years later, on March 18,
1998, Ted had his second heart attack
and it was much more devastating.
Living in Cobb County at the time, Ted
shares his memory of that day. “That
morning, I woke up around 3 am with severe chest pains. I was shaking and
sweating like crazy. It eased some and
I actually went back to bed,” he smiles.
“Later, as we both got ready for work,
my wife asked me to let her know
when I arrived at my job, so
she wouldn’t worry.”
However, Ted felt worse driving to
work that day and by 10 am drove him-
self to the hospital. “I was praying the
whole time, ‘God please don’t take me
yet.’ My wife had led me to the Lord
after we were married, so I drew
strength from knowing if this didn’t go
well, I would be seeing Jesus very
soon...but the fear of dying, of leaving
Continued on page 18