I shall not die, but live
It was early Tuesday morning. She was coming out of her deep slumber after being unconscious for more than 24 hours. She thought, "I'm going to die. This is my day of going home to see Jesus." She remembers saying, "Jesus, I love you. I am ready for you."
It was that very moment Anne Bosman saw herself. It was an out-of-body experience. She walked down a vast dark muddy road covered in thick dark clay. The road was lined with thousands of trees as far as the eye could see and tall as the sky. The trees were barren with no leaves. The trunks were so close together that all the branches were touching overhead, intermingling like a dance floor. The frosted limbs intertwined. "Almost like a tunnel." She describes. It was frigid, and she was utterly alone.
"I had a peace only God could bestow on a person; peace that His word speaks about that casts out confusion. That is beyond understanding, that guards your heart and mind. You're not afraid or worried. You are just at peace." She continued to walk down this road. In front of her in the distance was a large black door, elevated about one inch from the dirt. Like a barn door, old and heavy. With a giant round doorknob. You knew it would take all your body weight to open it.
From underneath that door shone the brightest light. And when Anne saw it, she thought, "I know I am on my way to heaven. That's eternity's door, and if I open that door and go through it, I will never come back again."
As she got closer, something startled her out of the peace she was feeling. At that very moment when she knew eternity was just steps away, seconds away, one doorknob turn away, she started to feel her lower abdomen tremble. This shaking from inside her own body startled her awake. She began coming out of her unconsciousness. The vibration became greater and greater.
She hadn't spoken in days. Weeks. She was too sick to talk. Too incoherent to utter words of sense. Her eyes shut. She was like a sleeping beauty. Her pulse was still present, but her mind and heart were far away.
But now, she stirred to the trembling inside her. She was jolted awake. Her voice rose. She could hear her words bouncing off the walls and back to her like a megaphone. In a loud voice, she declared, "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." The Holy Spirit spoke from her lips the very words of Psalms 118:17.
Anne was immediately plucked off that muddy road. She became slowly aware of her surroundings. At that moment, she felt her husband bend over her. His breath warmed her face. He kissed her cheek ever so lightly. Her state was so fragile for so long. Finally, she whispered into his ear, "I shall not die . . ." and she was out again.
He beckoned her and pleaded with her, "Say more! Speak!" But she slipped into the unconscious.
Anne and her husband, John Bosman, have been warriors in the Kingdom for all their days. Both obtained their ordination in South Africa and pastored there for 16 years. They came to the United States as evangelists with the First Assembly of God in Amarillo, Texas, in January 1986 with their two young sons. Here they became ordained with the Assemblies of God. After 17 months of evangelism and being on the road, a church invited them to become lead pastors. God landed them in Lake Charles, Louisiana, for 15 years. "A miraculous transition period in our lives, yet you could see the hand of God move in us." Anne says, "The Lord God almighty ordered our steps. It was fifteen marvelous years." The couple built a 3500-seater auditorium, "We had a wonderful church. It was such a God thing." There was a Holy Spirit breakthrough in the middle of a Catholicism stronghold.
They then created a mission base back in South Africa entitled Spirit Wind International Ministries for leadership and training. Their ministry spanned open-air crusades, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and training thousands of leaders. Their sons grew and became involved with them as they traveled back and forth between the United States (U.S.) and the mission base. The situation in South Africa is very sensitive because of the magnitude of tribes with over 40 dialects. It became complex and dangerous and turned out safer for just the men to travel. Anne hasn't been back for the past four years now. However, her husband and sons still go back every year, apart from 2020. They take several younger pastors from the U.S. on these mission trips. One occasion included PennDel Women Missions Specialist Christy English and her husband, Mark.
Anne and John traveled across the U.S., on the road every day of every week for decades evangelizing. The Lord called Anne to prayer and His word. In 1987 she felt the Lord call her specifically to prayer ministry. Shortly after that, John and Anne started pastoring at Glad Tidings Church and began a 24-hour prayer ministry. Anne was the Pastor of the women and prayer ministry. She was incredibly passionate about creating prayer teams across churches and teaching women how to battle in prayer. She raised hundreds of warriors. These warriors were the ones that fought on her behalf when Anne couldn't pray for herself; when several years later, she lay in that hospital bed. Anne was somewhere between earth and eternity when her brothers and sisters in Christ were quite literally at war for her life on this side of heaven.
It was 2005 when Anne was nearly called home. She and her husband were away for ministry in Houston, where their now-adult children and their families joined them for the weekend. The family parted ways on Monday. The children headed back to Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Anne and her husband to Atlanta, Georgia.
It was that next morning when it began. Anne became sick to her stomach. But one of her grandsons did as well. So, they thought nothing of it, a stomach bug perhaps. Wednesday morning, she was better. She went on with business as usual, grocery shopping and laundry. But then Thursday came. And Anne relapsed from her Tuesday stomach spell. She became so sick she couldn't walk. By Friday at 5:00 PM, her temperature had risen to 104.9 F. John was on the phone with the doctor. "You must get her to the ER immediately." He said, "Call an ambulance now."
Anne shook her head no. She tried to make him understand she was dying, but she couldn't utter the words. She was completely dehydrated. Her blood pressure (BP) plummeted. The paramedics said they couldn't move her until she somewhat stabilized. "She won't make it." They said, "We have to get her BP higher. We will work with her here on the bed until we feel safe to move her."
Finally, she was ready to transport with her BP at 78/42.
A whole team was awaiting her at the ER entrance like a scene from Grey's Anatomy. They rushed her through the doors. Doctors surrounded her, and the surgeon concluded it was the gall bladder. They wanted to operate, but her BP was still too low. It must be above 115, and her temperature must go down. They were at a stall mate.
It was now 6:00 AM Saturday. She was still going in and out of consciousness and didn't remember much of anything. Only from the stories told later can she fill in these pieces. She doesn't remember. But John will never forget.
The whole Saturday went on like this. Touch and go. In and out. The doctors told John to stay nearby. It's all too close to the end as her BP teased them. Anne remembers in a fog the doctor coming in and stating, "We are taking you in for surgery." She can't remember anything else but her husband's kiss. He said, "I will see you in just a little time."
What was supposed to be a 30–40 minute laparoscopic surgery turned into over three hours. Finally, they called John to the ICU. He walked in. If the doctor had not pointed out who Anne was, he wouldn't have recognized his wife. There, lying in a hospital bed, was a woman so swollen she had no distinct features left. "I was swollen like a whale head to toe. I had no neck. I looked like kitchen gloves blown up like a balloon. It was horrendous."
It was now Sunday. In the wee hours of the morning, she finally began to stabilize. It was the calmest it had been. But still so uncertain. John rushed home for the fastest shower of his life. One hour with a fresh set of clothing. Round trip. He tried to prepare for whatever may come next.
After his shower, the Lord refrained him from leaving the house, "Go back and check your email." He thought, "NO. I have to rush back." He brushed past the feeling and continued to get ready. But the Holy Spirit halted him. He felt the impression again, more substantial, "Go back." After the third time. He finally gave in and swiftly ran to check his emails.
An anonymous sender appeared. No name. Just these words, "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." The Holy Spirit had already spoken through Anne, repeating the exact words that tore her from that muddy road.
He rushed back to the hospital.
In that short time, Anne suddenly had sunk further down into the doldrums. She wasn't in her bed. John became frantic. Her extremities had shut down. She broke out in red sores all over her body. "I had my own Job experience. I had the most terrible sores." So much so that they wanted to amputate her leg up to the knee. John demanded they do no such thing.
They began to run every test possible on her. During the night. During the day. MRIs, CAT scans, blood work. They shoved tiny cameras down every avenue they could. Nothing showed anything wrong. A cardiologist said her heart was floating in a bag of liquid. Yet there was nothing to explain any of it. Why? As they loaded her onto another machine, she overheard a technician say, "Either her husband beat her up really well, or she was in a horrible accident." She was beaten up alright. Not by physical weapons. But by forces unseen. A war waged against her life. The only way they could win this battle was to wage war with weapons unseen.
When John arrived back at the hospital that Sunday morning, it hadn't dawned on him that it was God's Day. It was church. And John and Anne's church was gathering. As usual. But there was nothing ordinary about this day. Dozens of churches were gathering. Hundreds of warriors gathered. Warriors that John and Anne had raised and taught. During their Sunday Service time, they battled and battled in prayer.
The nurse looked at John and said, "Sir, if she has children and if you have friends, you need to call them to get them here as soon as possible. We can't do anything more. Her BP is 48/22, and her toes have already begun to turn black."
Anne says, "I was like a dead person. My eyes were already broken. There was no life in them anymore. So, when my husband came in, he thought I had already passed away."
Jayce, their youngest son, was in church that morning in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He was still serving in ministry as his mother was on death's doorstep. So when he got the text message from his dad, "Mom has taken a turn for the worse," he immediately showed it to his fellow sound engineer working beside him. Then, as the Pastor was still preaching his message, he ran that phone to the Executive Pastor sitting in the front pew.
It was 11:45 AM when the Executive Pastor interrupted the Sunday service on Anne's behalf so that the congregation could beseech the throne of God together. He went straight up to the platform and said, "Pastor, you must read this!" After the Pastor read the message, he said to the congregation, "church, Sister Bosman is dying. We have to pray right now!"
And right then and there, the church fell to its knees. They prayed the way Anne modeled so many times before. The Pastor's wife began to lead the prayer meeting as hundreds of the church people prayed and prayed. They left at about 2:00 in the afternoon. But the ladies from the prayer ministries that Anne started stayed until 5:00 in the evening fighting. "They literally prayed me out of death, fighting the spirit of death off of me," Anne says now.
Her voice trembling with tears, she said, "I raised up all these prayer ministries - I was sowing seeds of prayer, and now to see the beautiful harvest I reaped."
Anne Bosman was in the hospital for one month. To this day, her diagnosis is unclear. But, humanly speaking, she shouldn't have walked out of that hospital. "This in itself is a miracle." She describes it best as her Job moment. She says, "I was on my death bed. But the Holy Spirit spoke up through me, His Word, which I had put into my spirit for years. I spoke out the verse into the atmosphere for death to leave me and new life to start flowing into me." And it did.
In total, she had eleven specialists by her bedside. They didn't know how to treat her. But they did the best they could. Every morning a new white coat greeted her. Every morning they told her what went wrong during the night. Her muscles lost all tone. She was now skin on bones. Finally, five days before she was discharged, they did another blood transfusion. "It felt like they drew blood out of me and gave me new life." Four bags of blood over two nights. It helped so much that they finally let her try to get out of bed to start walking—miracle upon miracle.
She was admitted to the hospital on August 23, and on September 21, she was finally able to go home. For that month, Anne couldn't read the Bible or pray. She was too sick. But she realized that God had prepared her heart beforehand to lead a prayer movement. The body of Christ prayed for her when she could not pray for herself. So, God raised an army dispatched on her behalf. It took three months to recuperate fully, and then Anne was finally doing what she did best, traveling again in ministry with her husband.
Psalms 119:93 – "Had it not been your word was my delight, I would have perished in my spirit. But it is by your word that you had given me new life."
In the first week at home, she became more coherent and functional. Then a geriatric doctor in Canada called her husband, curious about her case. Anne was 61 years old at the time. John told him everything. The doctor explained, "Her body went into severe septic shock, and it is a God thing she is even alive. Once a body goes into that kind of sepsis, it's dead."
There it is: the medical, professional, and scientific opinion. It is dead.
God said, but LIVE.
Anne says, "Nothing was spared of this body of mine. Now, this is a whole new body."
Two years later, Anne found herself ministering at Pastor Jeff Leake's church in Allison Park, Pa. She was back proclaiming the illustrious acts of the Word of God. As she shared her testimony on a Sunday evening to a room full of women, Anne explained the "angel" that sent John an email message.
At the end of the testimony, a woman approached her - Leah Ferguson. She looked at Anne. A miracle in the flesh. With tears in her eyes, she whispered, "I was too afraid to put my name on that email because I was afraid to be a false prophet if you died. But I am your angel." She handed Anne a copy of the email she had sent to her husband that morning. In her hand, Anne held the words...
"I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord."
How incredibly amazing!
The very Holy Spirit breathed life into Anne's body. There is no denying it. "It's the Holy Spirit. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead spoke out through my immortal body and raised my body from the dead!" Anne says, "Because my life was all over, but so many churches were praying for me. People were praying for me everywhere. I have experienced Him healing me, doing a miracle beyond measure for me. So how can I not live and move in the spirit?"
After an experience like that, Anne says it changes you forever, to the very fiber of your being. She says, "There is a spirit of gratitude and contentment. I have never been so thankful for every breath that I take. I have never been so grateful to open my door and window and see a bird and life and trees with green leaves."
She exclaims, "I have life! Life has become more precious to me than I thought life could be. "
Now at 79 years old, Anne is still knee-deep in ministry. They are no longer lead pastors but still do ministry in so many ways. This July, it will be nine years since Anne and John moved to Dallas, TX, to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Here is where they see themselves staying. They have five grandsons ages 12, 16, 18, 23, and 25. She says, "All our children serve in the church. We all go to the same church now."
The couple still travels the U.S. to minister in churches and share the leadership curriculum John has written. In addition, Anne still receives invitations to speak at women's conferences. They travel between Ohio and Dallas and other churches across the nation. They never plan on stopping. After having an experience as she did, Anne says that all you do is remember what counts for eternity. Everything else doesn't matter anymore.
"Suddenly, a switch is turned on, and you realize you only have limited time on earth to do what you can for the Lord that will have eternal purposes. So many things are passing us by in life, but the things you miss wouldn't have counted for eternity. It's only what we do for the Lord and our time spent with Him that counts for eternity. It's not about significance; it's about a legacy."
Anne says she must regularly pray in the Holy Spirit for empowerment to keep it going. She doesn't fight these battles by herself. She can't. But she has His authority over every demonic force. And this is what she so passionately continues teaching others.
Anne bases her life on the scripture, "It's no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me." As she so intimately understands, it is truly God who has breathed life into her nostrils for every day she is on this earth. With a sigh of peace and relishing God's goodness, she says, "Every breath that I take if it's not for his goodness, grace, and mercy. I would not have been here to talk with you."