In Sickness and in Faith | Airic & Abbey Briggs

Airic and Abbey Briggs had everything to look forward to... marriage — a COVID wedding, no less — a fresh start in Florida, and a shared calling in ministry — life was good.

Then, just months after their wedding, what seemed like a simple headache turned into a year-long battle with TB meningitis. If the word “always” can be allowed any application in medicine, perhaps its best use is in describing the death rate in cases of untreated tuberculous meningitis. With Airic hospitalized repeatedly, doctors unable to find answers, and nearly $1.5 million in medical bills piling up, this newlywed couple found themselves facing the unthinkable — alone, afraid, and wondering if God had gone silent.

But God had not forgotten them. Through a determined doctor, a breakthrough blood test, a generous and loving church family, and the quiet faithfulness of clinging to Scripture in the darkest moments, Airic and Abbey discovered that doubt doesn't disqualify you — and that delay doesn't mean denial.

Today, Airic and Abbey share their story with raw honesty and real hope. If you're in the middle of a trial and wondering where God is, this episode is for you!

Today's test is tomorrow's testimony.

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Transcript

Lou Lepore: Welcome to the More Than Conquerors podcast. I'm your host, Lou Lepore, and our guests today are Aric and Abbey Briggs. Aric is an administrator at Valley Forge Baptist Academy, an ordained preacher, and a friend of the podcast. Abbey is a first grade teacher, had both of my boys at Valley Forge Baptist Academy, and we welcome you to the show.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: Thank you.

Abbey Briggs: Thank you. Thanks for having

Abbey & Airic Briggs: us. Yeah, thank you.

Lou Lepore: Yeah, really excited. How's the school year going?

Airic Briggs: It's going well. We are moving right along. It's hard to balance both years. We're preparing for '26, '27 while finishing out '25, '26. And then Abbey is teaching first grade.

Lou Lepore: Yeah. So you were in pastoral ministry, that side of things, outside of the Christian school. How long were you there?

Airic Briggs: Yeah, so I was ordained back in 2017, and then was assistant principal in Virginia. Lord led us back to Florida after we got married, that was fall of 2020, and then was a youth pastor back at my home church for about two years or so.

Lou Lepore: Very nice. And when did you meet?

Abbey & Airic Briggs: Fall of 2017. We both came on staff the same year in Virginia.

Lou Lepore: Was it love at first sight?

Abbey & Airic Briggs: Uh, no.

Abbey Briggs: No, it wasn't. I thought he was weird.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: She actually liked my best friend, and I may have been dating somebody else at the time.

Abbey Briggs: Through that, for about three years, we kind of were just friends and then became best friends. We definitely got told, "You should just date," and we pushed it off quite a bit, just kind of worried about messing up our friendship. We valued that a lot, and then I guess we just went for it. And then in 2020 we got married.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: In the height of COVID, yeah.

Lou Lepore: COVID wedding. How did that take place?

Abbey Briggs: We were supposed to get married in Pennsylvania and then with all the restrictions, we were only gonna be able to have about 25 people at our wedding — which was our wedding party. And then the restrictions in Virginia were much different. You could have half capacity for religious services, and weddings counted as that. And so we moved it to Virginia three months before our wedding. Yeah, so we wound up moving it, and it definitely changed the layout. But yeah, we got married and then went on a honeymoon.

Lou Lepore: And we know the Bible says, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains a favor of the Lord." However, with you guys, as you started out your marriage, you were hit with some pretty good challenges out of the gate, weren't you?

Abbey & Airic Briggs: Yeah. Got married, went on a honeymoon, came back. The next day we were driving down to Florida to start our life. Fast-forward to about February of 2021. End of February, beginning of March, and things just started going south. What we thought was simply just a headache or a migraine turned into a year-long battle with TB meningitis that had been laying dormant in my system for a couple years.

Lou Lepore: What exactly were you all going through at that time?

Abbey Briggs: We thought it was a headache, and so I remember that you kind of were like, "It's okay. I'm good. I'm good." We played it off for quite a bit.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: We were at a high-capacity ministry. I knew that it was right around our missions conference. And then one day, my headache kind of went away for a little bit. We were out at lunch with some missionaries. That night, had a service, and I was just completely — it was just a debilitating headache. I couldn't do anything. Sound, the light, all of it just really started to hurt. The next day, I started running a fever. Mind you, we're still kind of coming off of COVID, so I'm just not sure what these symptoms are. Ultimately, Abbey convinced me to go to urgent care.

Lou Lepore: Begged.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: She begged, yeah. Begged me to go to urgent care. Finally, a nurse practitioner, before they even bring me back, they do the whole height, weight, and they wind up overhearing that I have a stiff neck. The nurse practitioner's like, "Nah, possible meningitis. You need to go to the hospital." So we got back in the car, we start going to the hospital, and that's when I looked at her as she's driving, and I said, "Hey, if this is truly meningitis, there's a chance that when I go into this hospital, I may not come out alive."

And that was probably the first hard thing we had to say to one another. And she's trying to wrap her mind around this, trying to figure out, what do you mean meningitis? And she basically has to drop me off at the emergency room, and she's not allowed in there with me because of COVID. And so they take me back, and hospitals aren't known for their reception, so I don't really have a lot of service to tell her what's going on. I believe it's hours before you hear from me.

Abbey Briggs: I was out in the parking lot.

Lou Lepore: That's a little walk by faith too, isn't it? As you're trying to figure out what's taking place. Aric, you're having these symptoms. They're saying meningitis, which is obviously an incredibly serious situation. You guys are brand new in your marriage. That's a lot going on at one time. Abbey, how are you taking this all in? I know Aric's gonna put the strong husband face on because that's what the Lord says we're supposed to lead, but how are you doing during that time?

Abbey Briggs: My initial reaction was shock, and almost, like, froze up kind of. I remember sitting in the parking lot. I know he said he might not come back out, but it was a might. He's coming back out. And talking through that with myself. I remember calling my mom. His mom actually came and sat with me in the parking lot, which was of the Lord. We just encouraged each other that he's gonna be okay. He's gonna be okay. God has a plan for him. God's not done with him. It's going to be okay. All the while, in the back of your mind, you're like, "He might not be okay."

Lou Lepore: All right, so Aric, they're running many different tests to figure out what's going on. What was taking place with you at that point?

Abbey & Airic Briggs: I'm in the emergency room, and again, they hear all these symptoms, one of the symptoms being a stiff neck. Immediately they go, "We're gonna run some tests, we'll take blood." And then they do a lumbar puncture. I had obviously seen them done on medical shows. I knew what it was, but I didn't really know what it was. And so the doctor comes in, tries to explain to me, "Hey, this is what's gonna happen. I'm gonna stick this very large and long needle into your back, and I'm gonna do it without any imaging. We're gonna do it here in the ER." And I was like, "What? Okay." And again, I'm still — at this point in time, I think I'm running a 104 fever. I truthfully don't even know half of what's going on because I'm just exhausted. I'm tired. I have this headache.

Lou Lepore: You also don't have a medical degree.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: I don't, yeah. I'm trying to channel all of the House episodes I ever watched in my life, trying to figure out what's going on. And I was able to get some service, contact Abbey, and basically was like, "Here's the update. They're doing the lumbar puncture, and now we're just waiting. They're still not letting her back." And then as I'm sitting there, I'm lying flat and thinking to myself, "This is it. Like, this is how I will die. I will die alone without my wife."

Abbey Briggs: That was definitely a thought that went through my mind, too. That was the worst feeling.

Lou Lepore: Without a doubt. That is a tough situation, obviously, to be in personally, but as your faith, Aric, we're told to pray without ceasing. And I would imagine in those situations, it wasn't exactly a hard thing to do because that was all you really had time to do. But were there moments with the Lord where you were just asking him to help you find an answer as to what was going on?

Abbey & Airic Briggs: Yeah. Our first thought was, "All right. Hopefully, we caught this in time, Lord. You created modern medicine. This is going to be fine. Everything's gonna be okay. Lord, I know you're the great physician. Just work. Give answers." At that point in time, yes, I'm worried about myself, but I'm more worried about Abbey. I'm thinking about how it was hard for Abbey, what's going to happen, all of those things, knowing I've just married this woman, and I moved her all the way from her support system. All she has is my mom that she's known for a while, but not long enough. And so, yeah, there were some definitely quiet moments with the Lord. I definitely knew that he could heal me. I didn't know if he would, but I knew he could.

Lou Lepore: They get the report that it's possible meningitis, so there's doctors with infectious disease and all these people coming in, doing their checks that they need to do, because this is not something light that's taking place. And with you feeling the way you're feeling and the reports that you're getting, they're obviously doing their best to take care of you. But how long was it until they actually had an answer of what they thought it was?

Abbey & Airic Briggs: They knew because of my white blood count that it was most likely meningitis. They give me a medicine, give me a PICC line, which went through my right bicep, and they give me medicine. They basically say, "You'll start feeling better in a few days." So they wound up sending me home, and that worked for a couple days. And then I remember the first time, middle of the night, woke up, same exact feeling that I had just a couple days prior. I remember having an on-call doctor, and they were like, "All right, you gotta go back to the hospital." And so we basically did that back and forth for three weeks. It was basically go in, we're gonna try a different type of medicine, come back out, and then go back in. And then finally the doctors just said, "Hey, we've thrown everything we know to throw at this. We're gonna have to admit you until we can figure out what strain of meningitis this is." And so that began the three-month journey.

Abbey Briggs: You were in and out of the hospital three different times, and each time you were admitted, you were in for a longer time because they couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: Yeah, so it was probably about three months of the back and forth into the hospital until finally, after seven lumbar punctures, countless blood taken, they basically were able to determine a theory of what it was. But yeah, that was the journey.

Lou Lepore: Yeah, so let me back out of the physical. Obviously, the doctors are working, and you're gonna have to trust them. There are times where we're begging God for answers, and He makes us wait. Bring God into it. What were you guys thinking when you weren't getting any answers?

Abbey Briggs: I started off trusting the Lord. I held onto the verse that, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because you are with me." I kept saying that over and over again because we were in the valley of the shadow of death. And I was like, "All right, Lord, I know you're with us." And the first time you came out of the hospital, I was like, "Yes, that promise rang true." Second time you went back in, I will say my doubts started creeping in. I started claiming the verse, "The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." And so I prayed and I prayed, and he went back in the second time, and you came back out. And I said, "Okay, God's got this." And then you went in the third time, the longest time, and that was when they were like, "We don't really know what this is. Let's run a bunch of different tests. It might be an autoimmune disease. It might be this, but we're not sure. And if it's this, hey, you might die in the next 10 years, or you might never be able to have kids."

And it was all of those things that were being thrown at us, and I'm trying to claim the verse, but I will be honest that there were moments of fear. There were moments of doubt. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you reached the lowest of lows, and you told me to just leave you alone. And I did, and I broke down in the hallway crying because I had reached the lowest of lows. I couldn't encourage my husband because I was struggling so badly with doubting. I made three-by-five cards with different verses that I claimed, and I remember going, sitting in the car and reading them over and over, just trying to find that ounce of hope and fight off those doubts, but it was hard.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: I can tell you that after the second time of going to the hospital, my faith was pretty low. I probably had my Elijah moment where I'm under the tree and I'm like, "Lord, here I am doing your work, and this is what you're giving me." I felt truthfully like a hypocrite. I'm trying to tell these teenagers, and go to public schools and preach there, and be a part of a fellowship of Christian athletes, and trying to lead my wife spiritually when I myself didn't have any faith. It was hard for me to trust in God in that moment because I knew with every hospital there was a bill. With every hospital there was tears from my wife. Here I am, I married this woman and she did not sign up for this. We start having hard conversations about her remarrying and about us having kids, and I start to feel like a burden.

At one point in time, I'm crying to the Lord, "If this is the burden I'm going to be on my wife, just kill me now." And that's — Abbey's right. There was a moment in the ICU where they're getting ready to transfer me, and everyone thinks that this is the Hail Mary. This is where hope comes in. And it didn't. The transfer fell through. I'm still at a hospital that can't figure it out. And ultimately, they wind up keeping me at that hospital. In that moment, my faith was gone. I did not think that the Lord was ever going to show up for me again.

Lou Lepore: Yeah, I'm reminded of Exodus chapter five and six. Moses comes back, brings all the hope to the Israelites and said, "I'm here. I'm leading you out. Watch what I can do with this staff." And then when he goes to Pharaoh and says, "Let my people go," Pharaoh says no, and that makes everybody's life harder. And then in chapter six, verse nine, the Bible tells us that because of the anguish and the bondage of their suffering, they did not believe Moses. They just didn't have the faith in those painful moments, and I see that. But I'm encouraged because with God, and you guys would agree with this, delay doesn't mean denial. So what was the next step of what was going on?

Abbey & Airic Briggs: Yeah, so they moved me into a pressurized room, and they basically said, "Hey, you can only have a certain amount of visitors, and the visitors have to go through this really big process to get to see you." And so they moved me to this room, and I don't even really interact with nurses at this point in time. It's just me in this room. And they basically said, "Hey, because you have potentially TB, we have to put you in this room in order to keep the hospital safe." And they kept me in this room for about a week or two until they learned that the TB wasn't actually in my lungs, and so I was no longer a danger to them.

And that's when random things happened. I had these hypoallergenic sheets, and I wound up breaking out, and my entire body is just covered with a rash. Everything just goes south, and I'm even more discouraged. I definitely found myself getting angry with the Lord. I can't see my wife as often as I want to. It was just not enjoyable. The one floor I was on, I had a nurse who was a believer, and he really encouraged me and gave me hope from day to day, but I wasn't even on that floor anymore, and I started to feel alone.

Lou Lepore: You know, His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways, and there are times where we feel God is resisting our prayers, but it doesn't necessarily mean that His resistance is rejection, because obviously we're doing the podcast today, so there is a happy ending. How did things turn for the better to help you get the answers?

Abbey Briggs: Well, the Lord really blessed us with an amazing infectious diseases doctor. She was determined to help Airic. She at one point told us that Airic reminded her of her son, and so she just kept on plugging away, and every once in a while she would come in and check on us and see how we were doing. Until one night, it was later, and we were sitting in your room just talking, and she burst into your room and she said, "It's positive. It's positive." And we both were like, "What are you talking about?" And they had done this quantum theorem blood test, and it was like a last resort, and it's supposed to pick up anything in your blood, and it picked up TB meningitis. And she said, "We're gonna do another one just to be sure." And that one came back negative, so we were kind of bummed, but she said, "No, no. Because the one came back positive, we are going to treat it like it is TB meningitis." And she was so excited for us. And it really was a turning point because she gave us that little bit of hope.

Lou Lepore: I'm sure after months of going through all this, now there's a medicine that might actually work and you're not gonna be back in three days. That had to just feel good.

Abbey Briggs: Yes. That little bit of hope shining through, for sure.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: Once they figure it out from the quantum theorem test, they get the health department involved, and their best guess is that I may have picked this up when I was either in Uganda for two weeks eight years prior, or Ecuador when I was there seven years prior, and it just laid dormant in my system. And I remember having an ear infection shortly before this bout of TB meningitis, and they believe that the ear infection is what activated this TB meningitis that had been wrapping itself around my brain stem. So that's three or four months of hospital stuff, and then I wish that was the end of the story. It becomes 15 different pills, health department check-ins once a month. I'm meeting with another infectious disease doctor. I'm checking in with neurology, and it's just this year-long journey. At first, I had to have a nurse come give me the medicine, but then they finally got me into a program where I could record myself every day saying the exact same script, taking the pills, and showing that I took the pills. And I did that for a year.

Anytime I had to go out of the city — one time I made the video, and they called me, and they were like, "Hey, you can't joke around on the video. You have to do it again." And I was like, "Okay, okay." But anytime I traveled anywhere outside of the county, I had to let them know that I was traveling. So it was not fun, but that was what we did for basically a year.

Lou Lepore: First off, praise the Lord that they figured out what it was. Praise the Lord they gave the right medicine to bring healing. Praise the Lord that most of the effects of this are now gone. You had mentioned that you were in the hospital three months. I'd imagine there was some medical debt assigned to that. Can you tell us what that was, and then what God did to help you out?

Abbey & Airic Briggs: At the time, I was the only pastor on our staff that was part of a Christian Medishare program. They were kind of trialing it. I was the guinea pig for that. And all in all, I had close to one and a half million dollars worth of medical bills for those three months — all the specialists, all the tests, all of that. And this Medishare basically covered almost all of it except for about $20,000, which still, as a newly married couple not making a lot of money, was substantial.

Lou Lepore: But praise the Lord that $980,000 is gone.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: Exactly. Yes. It was like, "Oh, but this is your portion." And again, this Medishare program was doing a beta test on something, and it wasn't just like, "Oh, we'll cover this bill." It was, "Hey, we're actually going to send you a check, but then you have to do all this work." At one point in time, we have a whole binder just full of bills and checks that are coming in. But then our church in Florida, very gracious church, they were able to take up a love offering, and they were able to cover all of our bills. I think we maybe had a couple bills, but they were less than $1,000 worth of follow-up.

Abbey Briggs: And the entire time that you were in the hospital, they were always checking in. They were always asking how we were doing. "Do you need anything? Here's a gift card for gas to get you to the hospital. Here's a gift card for something to eat on the way to the hospital. Hey, what is Airic's favorite food? Here's a gift card for that." Our church family really came through for us, especially for me, because I didn't have any family in the area. Our church family really rallied around us and just took care of us, and when we needed them, they stepped up to the plate.

Lou Lepore: Isn't the family of God amazing? When someone's in a trial, they have love one to another. It just works. I think to myself, "How do people go through trials without the Lord? What do you do?" There's nothing to pray. There's no one to ask. There's no one who's literally purposed in giving up what they have to help you, and not only just helping you, but we receive joy on the back end as we're doing that. It's just absolutely incredible, and Bible Baptist Church in Palm Harbor, Florida, well done. What do you wanna tell someone going through a medical trial that's long and strenuous and is asking, "God, where are you?" And they just don't have an answer yet.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: The big thing for me — I wish somebody would've said this to me in the moment — you're not any less of a Christian for questioning God. I think it's in our brokenness that we're human. I think about Malachi 3:10, where God basically says to test him, to try him. And it doesn't feel great in the moment, but I think ultimately it's okay to doubt God and ask why, to be angry, disappointed, but it's not okay to stay there. Throughout the Bible, we see Elijah, Job, they all felt this way. They had a moment where they were like, "But why, God?" But they didn't stay there. I think God doesn't allow us to stay there. I think we mess up when we say that faith means I can't feel these things, but I think faith says I'm allowed to feel these things, but I'm not allowed to stay with those feelings. I need to ultimately land where the Bible says I should land — that the Lord is good, that his ways are higher than our ways, that he does care for us. And I think ultimately that God doesn't expect us to just turn off being human. And if he's big enough to handle creating the entire world and sustaining us and sending his Son to die for us, he can handle your doubt, because it's in your doubt that he makes himself known and shows you exactly the type of God that he is in our lives.

Lou Lepore: Airic and Abbey Briggs, I thank you so much for being on the show today. We are so grateful that God is moving in your life and that you're a part of our lives, and we just look forward to our time together to continue to glorify God. Thanks for being on the show.

Abbey & Airic Briggs: Thank you.

Abbey Briggs: Thank you so much.

Lou Lepore: Yeah. Well, Lord's Army, that is some great lessons in faith right there from Airic and Abbey Briggs. If you are burdened and looking for rest, I'm reminded of Matthew 11:28 that says Jesus is the source of the rest that your soul needs. If you want more information about how Christ can help you, visit our website at morethanconquerorspodcast.buzzsprout.com or email us at morethanconquerorspodcast837@gmail.com. Knowing Christ is as easy as ABC: admit you're a sinner, believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and rose again, and confess with your mouth that he is Lord. The distance between you and heaven is one decision away, and we look forward to helping you make that decision. I'm Lou Lepore, and this is the More Than Conquerors podcast, where today's test is tomorrow's testimony.