On Oct. 30, 2011 Dwayne Vanderhost — pastor of Liberty Temple Christian Fellowship in Plantersville — delivered a message to his congregation about asking God for anything they needed restored in their lives.
As he was preaching, he knew he had been waiting for years for a kidney transplant. So, during the service he prayed for himself — something he rarely did publicly.
The next day, on Oct. 31, he received a call from the Medical University of South Carolina letting him know they had a kidney that matched.
Although kidney transplants are common in America, the Vanderhost family believes the timing of the call they received was a miracle.
In 2007, a doctor delivered the devastating news that Vanderhost was suffering from kidney problems brought on by diabetes.
The only solution — as he waited for a transplant — was dialysis.
“I never dealt well with dialysis. It drained me,” Vanderhost said, adding he lost a lot of weight as a result of the sickness.
In January 2009 Vanderhost and his wife Mary — married for 16 years — visited a doctor at MUSC and were told he was a candidate for a kidney transplant. He was placed on a statewide list that contained the names of others who were also waiting for the same procedure.
The years 2009 and 2010 passed with no calls about a kidney match. Vanderhost continued with the dialysis as he tried not to lose faith.
Most of 2011 went by with the family continuing to wait for the call. It did not happen.
On the morning of Oct. 30, 2011 Vanderhost was preparing for the Sunday sermon he was going to deliver.
“I heard the Lord ask me what I needed to have restored. I told the Lord about my ailments and that he had promised I would be made whole,” Vanderhost recalled.
That was the theme of his message during that day’s service.
“God told us to ask him and he would provide restoration,” he said.
The next day the Vanderhost family received the call they had been waiting years to receive.
“I am not going to say I was shocked because I know the awesomeness of God,” he said. “We have so many incidents in the Word where God spoke it and it came to pass.”
That same day the couple traveled to Charleston to prepare for the surgery. He was hospitalized for seven days and was required to stay in Charleston an additional week for continued post-surgery testing.
But, the family was back together in time for Thanksgiving.
Mrs. Vanderhost said it was great to see her husband’s appetite and health return.
“He had been required to watch what he ate very carefully for years,” she said.
How did the church members react to the news of the transplant?
“They were excited. They knew God had fulfilled his promise,” Mrs. Vanderhost said.
Mr. Vanderhost — whose health continues to improve — said he hopes people who hear his story will learn more about God.
“Just because God has delayed some things, he has not denied it. He will keep his word,” Vanderhost said.
By Scott Harper
sharper@gtowntimes.com
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