I have found that if I am not looking for Jesus, I often miss Him. If, however, I open myself up to seeing His presence in my life, He is literally everywhere!
Surgery week for me in Cincinnati was the first week in June. I think there were literally hundreds of people praying for me back home in Holland, MI and at least another dozen praying for me that I met while in Cincinnati Ohio/Covington, KY (where my hotel was).
During that week I saw Jesus in so many ways!
- A larger than life, fake eye lash wearing, vaulting out of laser spine chairs angel named Pam gave me a hug when needed and later was in my same hotel and prayed over me, placing her hands on me and blessing me in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit just outside of the elevators. I felt His Power come upon me while she prayed! She later called me to check on me two times during my stay. I will never see her again but she forever impacted me
- The staff at the hotel was amazing! They checked non stop for a room to open up when it was discovered I would need to stay an extra two nights and the hotel was booked. As soon as they found a room, they booked it for me. They also prayed for me and were always so willing to swap out my ice packs which was often six or seven times a day. They also gave my boys free toys and saved us bananas because, well, we like bananas :)
- When I had to get my nerve testing done to make sure the surgery would be a success, the pain I felt during the test was pretty much identical to the pain I feel/felt on a daily basis giving me much hope. Additionally while we were there, I was able to talk art with the two physicians who preformed my procedure (not a talent of mine but a definite hobby) and one of them was Indian so we were able to talk India for a while. Additionally, my mom and I were able to pray over another patient who seemed to be struggling and I added to my prayer list a woman who had been suffering from back pain for eight years.
- A staff as Laser Spine named Brenda took me in, prayed for me and made me up a meal on the day of my surgery from what they had in the cafeteria to take back to my room. She was an additional comfort during a stressful and uncertain time.
- Two days after returning home from we received a very large anonymous donation to help with our adoption which could not have come at a more welcome time as we had just paid a large sum to help with surgery costs and it set us back quite a bit in our adoption savings.
. . . I could go on but these are some of the high lights.
We then went on a three night vacation that I was told would be okay to go on. I think that was a lie as afterward I ended up in more pain that before, but live and learn. The vacation was fun and it was enjoyable to spend time with my family and watch my boys (all three of them) swim like fish in the pool.
We then came home where I tried to resume life only to find that my back was not so accommodating. My back became very much inflamed and I began to question God's plan, faithfulness and whether or not the surgery worked as I now had to take to complete bed rest. My attitude turned sour and I was, frankly, quite the pill. However, after a morning of fasting, Bible reading and prayer I felt convicted and changed my attitude. I began to look for Jesus again, since then, boy has he show up.
I literally woke up in the night last night, weeping because of God's goodness to us, His faithfulness to us during this difficult season of life. Let me share His blessings, many of whom are you.
- Our adoption match with Samyuktha (our 1.5 yr old Indian Princess) was officially approved by India! This means we can begin paperwork in India and move forward on bringing home our sweet little girl. This also means we received five new, better photos and more information about our sweetheart. Want to see the pictures? (You know you do) Stop on by!
- Because of the official match, we have two very large payments due for the adoption and, because of medical expenses, we were about $3,200 short. Yesterday in the mail we received a very large anonymous donation and, while it doesn't cover the entire cost, it help a great deal. I quite literally wept when I opened the mail. (A lot of weeping lately!)
- My house has been a revolving door of people - you - coming and going doing everything from providing meals, doing my laundry, cleaning my bathrooms, vacuuming and even just visiting. I don't even think I can count the number of visitors we have had since Monday. I have literally run out of thank you cards and because I am stuck at home. . . er, well, just know you are appreciated if you don't get one. I tried to tell Joe how many people have been here because he gets to see so few of you. I honestly am considering starting a log book so I can look back and remember.
- While being so stuck at home, there are countless errands that have needed to be run, some of them urgent for our adoption. My parents have willingly and without complaint taken on this often monotonous task, even scanning documents page by page to help bring home their granddaughter. In the meantime, Joe's parents have been gathering groceries for us and getting more of the essential items that I am unable to go out and buy.
- Daxton's school tuition is due very soon and, with all of the other bills we were unsure how to pay for it, but in less than 24 hours, Joe sold a very old, beat up looking suburban to cover the cost.
So you see. God is so good!!!! All I had to do was pull my head out from under my blankets and look out to see the sun (Son - ha!). If any of you are in a rut, I would encourage you to do the same. I would also encourage you to pray for others. I have found it be an awesome way to get the monkey of self-pity off my back and bring on some compassion for others.
The verse that came to mind was from the sermon on the mount:
Matthew 7:9Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If
you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
God has given me so much more than I could have asked or imagined! I just had to open my eyes to it. Or, as Lincoln said, look for the "Sun rays"!
If this is horribly written, you will just have to extend grace. Sitting to write is quite painful so I cannot take the time to go through and correct and make beautiful as I would like to. But I wanted to make know that God is good, all the time!
