Heidi escaped 12 years of painful hell

12 years of intense pain ended overnight after Heidi Rasmussen had a vision of Jesus crushing the head of a hissing snake under his foot.

By Jens Linde

Cars were honking and flashing their lights at Heidi Rasmussen as she drove along the motorway between Esbjerg and Bramming one Monday in December 2002. She ignored them and turned up the car radio. What was the problem?
She had just been to the hair salon in Esbjerg that she was set to take over on Friday. And although she had been rear-ended by a garbage truck after braking abruptly for a moped in the center of Esbjerg, it didn't seem that serious.
- I had called my husband, Jacob, and told him I’d been in a minor accident – should I drive the car home or leave it there? If it can drive, bring it home, he said. So I did – but when I got out of the car at the company my husband co-owns, I could tell from people's reactions that the car was a bit more damaged than I’d thought, Heidi explains.
- I hadn't realized at all how serious it was. The collision had been so violent that the driver of the garbage truck was sure I was dead. Right after the accident, he stood on the road crying, trying to gather the courage to go over and open my car door, when, to his great surprise, I suddenly stepped out myself.
Even though the car was smashed beyond recognition and the rear windows had been blown out, Heidi had apparently escaped the violent collision unscathed. At that time, she didn't feel any physical injuries.

Broken collarbone?
That same evening, Heidi and Jacob were at a birthday party. During the appetizer, Heidi suddenly felt the muscles in her arms, neck, and shoulders begin to tense up, and then she started dropping things.
- I cried from the pain, and we went home before the appetizer was finished. The next morning, however, I felt fine again, so I went to work, but halfway through cutting the first customer's hair, I dropped the comb and could no longer move the scissors. Suddenly, all the pain from the night before was back in full force, and I had to go home.
The next day, Heidi went to the doctor, who suggested a theory that the pain could stem from a broken collarbone. To confirm or rule out the theory, X-rays were necessary, but that was out of the question for the next three months because the doctor also discovered that Heidi was pregnant with her and Jacob's first child, Maja.
Heidi was therefore told to go home and rest until the fetus was fully developed. Only then would it be safe to expose her to X-rays. Heidi had no objections to this arrangement – due to the pain in her shoulder and chest area, it was pretty much all she could manage anyway.

Harsh verdict from a specialist
Three months later, the X-rays were taken. The collarbone wasn't broken, so Heidi was referred to a specialist who only needed one consultation to determine what Heidi was suffering from. At first, the specialist didn't tell Heidi the whole truth – she simply signed her off work for the rest of the pregnancy. The specialist wanted to see her again after she had given birth.
A year after the first consultation, Heidi was back, and the specialist had the following message: With the injury you have, the pain will only get worse. I have been in this field for many years, but I have only seen two other people with your injuries. You have been very, very unlucky, and we might as well start applying for your disability pension now. You will never work again; you will become someone who just sits and observes what happens around you. You will be like a glass doll that needs to be taken care of, and in 10 years, you will only be able to lie in bed, and by then, you will be in so much pain that you will just lie there and scream. So go home and enjoy being a mother while you still can.
- In the very moment she delivered this verdict, I heard a voice inside me, very clearly and distinctly, saying: That is not going to happen. That is not how your life is meant to be. As soon as I heard the words inside me, I said them out loud: This is not how my life will be, this is not how I am meant to live. I didn't doubt for a second that it was God's voice I had heard, Heidi explains.
- I have been a Christian since childhood and had heard the same voice several times before. It was a completely clear thought that in no way came from me. It hit me right in the heart, and I just knew it was true – regardless of what the specialist told me. I knew I would get well again… I hadn't dreamed, however, that it would take as long as it did, she admits.

Constantly downhill
From then on, Heidi had a foundation of optimism to stand on – no matter how much pain she was in and how much the illness worsened. At first, she was actually enthusiastic because she had received what she perceived as a crystal-clear promise from God.
- When I got home from the specialist and Jacob asked what she had said, I barely had room for the verdict she had delivered. To me, it was incredible that God had promised me that I would get well again.
Even though the enthusiasm faded over time, the conviction that she would be healed did not disappear. Not even when the specialist's verdict slowly but surely began to come true: From the very beginning, Heidi lay down for 10 hours a day to keep the pain down and gather enough strength to spend a few hours with her family. But over the next 12 years, she was in more and more pain and could do less and less. Eventually, she was lying down all the time, without it being able to keep the pain at bay. Virtually all of the specialist's predictions had now come true. Heidi just lay in her bed trying to endure existing – while praying a lot to God.
In addition to Maja, Heidi and Jacob also became parents to twin girls along the way, and in that connection, they received home help for the first year to clean, do laundry, shop, and more, while Jacob's mother quit her job to help with the twins until they were old enough for daycare. At her best, Heidi was at most able to start a load of laundry or empty the dishwasher. She was not capable of folding clothes, cleaning, cooking, mowing the lawn, or similar tasks. She could in no way move her arms above her head or in circles. Throughout it all, however, Jacob was a rock-solid support who came home every day to cook and put the children to bed before often returning to the company in the evening.
Despite the decline in her health, Heidi continued – as she had done from the very beginning – to tell the people around her – physiotherapists, neighbors, and friends from the free church the family is a part of: God is going to heal me.
- I could tell that people sometimes felt a bit of pity for me when I said it. They couldn't follow it, and it was obvious to everyone that things were only going downhill for me. I also suffered from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the accident. But I chose to focus on the promise that God had given me.

Dangerous vacation
In 2014, the family decided – at the strong request of the girls – to go on a summer vacation to Italy. Heidi, however, dreaded the trip. Vacations were close to the worst thing she knew, because she could only rest for five hours a day. Furthermore, sitting in a car for hours worsened the pain, just as she also wouldn't be able to stand sitting in the garden chairs or lying in the beds that she expected would be at an Italian holiday center.
- I cried every time I thought about the vacation, and in the end, Jacob and I agreed that I should call the travel agency and try to change the vacation to Austria. We had already planned to stay overnight in both Germany and Austria on the way there.
- When I called the agency and was waiting to get through the phone queue, I suddenly heard God's voice inside: Trust me. I hesitated for a moment, but then hung up the receiver and exclaimed: Trust you? How am I supposed to trust you when I feel the way I do? I have to cancel the vacation!
- After a while, I gave in and said: Fine, but then you have to make sure there are good chairs and beds when we get to Italy. And at the very least, I’m calling the doctor to get something calming that I can rest on.
- Once I had dialed and was waiting to get through to the doctor, the voice sounded for the second time: Trust me. I hung up the phone and said: Okay, but then you have to show yourself and do something, because I can’t take any more.

Vision of Jesus and the snake
Afterward, Heidi lay down to rest and suddenly had a vision – an internal film that felt as if she were present in it herself. A phenomenon well-known in church circles, which Heidi had experienced several times before.
- I saw a green field in front of me. In the field, there was a tree, and under the tree lay a snake. I saw Jesus walking across the field – toward the tree. When he got right up to it, the snake raised its head and hissed at him, but he simply lifted his foot and crushed its head. The moment he did that, my whole body began to shake, and I just knew that I had been healed!
- Jesus had defeated the snake, Satan, and I didn't doubt for a second that I was well. I was still filled with pain, but now I could laugh at it, because I knew it had been overcome, she smiles.
- The rest of the day, I was in severe pain. I dragged myself to bed and fell asleep. The girls were at their grandparents' house, so I had the house to myself. At 10 PM, Jacob came home and woke me up, and I could barely find a comfortable position because of the pain. I told him I had been healed, lay back down, and slept until 10 PM the next evening, when Jacob woke me up again, and I had a little food and drink. After that, I slept until the next morning, and when I woke up, all the pain was gone. I could move my arms, rotate them, and lift them above my head.
- I jumped out of bed and cheered around the floor while thanking God. For years, I hadn't been able to put clothes away – now I took out our vacation suitcases and packed them all. Afterward, I made food and called Jacob: I’m well! He didn't believe it.
- When he came home and saw the suitcases and the food, he asked: Who helped you? It was hard for him to believe. It wasn't until about a week later, when we were a few days into our vacation and I was still pain-free and able to run and play badminton with our girls – which requires having your arm above your head quite a bit – that it dawned on him that it was true. During the vacation, I didn't go to bed until midnight, drove for hours, slept in strange beds, unpacked suitcases, went to restaurants – I could do everything I hadn't been able to do for 12 years, she beams.

I can trust him
Today, it has been more than two years since Heidi jumped out of bed pain-free, and she has been without pain ever since. Many in her church and local community heard her say that God would heal her, and even though the skepticism was thick enough to cut with a knife, she can now say with a smile: What did I tell you?
God has walked every single step with me during the 12 years I was ill. Everything he told me he would do, he has done. He has shown me that I can trust him, she states.

Photos: Bent 'Tailwind' Sørensen