Several years ago 4:30 am found me in a hospital bed at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio after major abdominal surgery. Unable to pray for others or myself I asked God to have someone somewhere pray for me right then. My surgeon’s assistant was scheduled for morning rounds and she had notified the nurses she planned to perform a nasal gastric intubation in spite of the surgeon’s decision against the procedure. I knew the assistant had pushed my surgeon to perform the procedure earlier in the day but he had refused to even consider the procedure until it had been 72 hrs or longer after my surgery. The surgeon’s assistant planned to take advantage of my surgeon’s absence to perform the intubation procedure. The night nurse explained the procedure and told me what to expect. The procedure would cause more discomfort, nausea, etc than I was already experiencing. The nurse also explained I had the right to refuse the procedure. Refusing the procedure would be a battle of wills and I would need strength to make my refusal clear and definite.

Miserable, and unable to sleep even after taking pain and sleeping meds, I struggled with the IV pole and its various lines while I got out of bed and made myself comfortable in the so-called reclining chair near my bed. Finally, I could sleep! The nurse came in, checked on me and said to stay where I was comfortable. I woke to the voice of the surgeon’s assistant outside my room asking if I had been prepared for the intubation procedure. At the sound of her voice, a sudden almost violent cramping sensation welled up within me. Frantically I pushed the call button for help to the bathroom. Eventually the nurse helped me back to the bed where a very frustrated surgeon’s assistant stood waiting for me. She asked what had happened and then whirled to leave the room. She stomped across the room then stopped, turned and held up her index and thumb so that they almost touched. “You were this close to me running that tube down you” and stalked out. My nurse and I were relieved! The nurses had argued with the surgeon’s assistant during the night about the procedure; but surgeon’s assistant was determined to perform the procedure while the surgeon was out of town.

 

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

That afternoon my oldest daughter called. A friend of hers was very insistent my daughter get a message to me. The friend had awakened very suddenly and the clock read 3:33 AM. She sensed an overwhelming need to pray right that moment and I came to mind. Knowing I had just gone through a major surgery; she prayed specifically for me till she knew God had heard and she had the assurance everything would be OK. My daughter’s friend had never experienced anything like this so she called my daughter to see if I was OK. The friend was very insistent I be told it was 3:33 am when she was praying for me. My daughter told her friend about times she remembered Mom (me) saying Jeremiah 33:3 was God’s call to prayer. She told the friend about remembering when I would look at the clock see the time was 3:33 and stop what I was doing while I asked the Lord what or who He wanted me to pray for. Then I would pray till I knew God heard. Only when my daughter told me her friend was an hour behind Cincinnati did I remembered looking at the clock at 4:33 AM in Cincinnati when I asked my Heavenly Father to have someone pray for me.

This blog has been a very long time in going public! I tried, once before.  It just didn’t seem to work for me.  Life got busy, I got overwhelmed. I wondered if I really should even be doing a blog.   THEN……my husband was out of town for a few days and met a lady who asked him if he knew me. I had written something she read. She found it very helpful at a difficult time in her life and she wanted me to know.  He made a special phone call that evening to tell me all about it.    God kept His thumb in my back.  I wrote things down, but they didn’t make it to a blog.  Another friend mentioned he had visited the old blog recently and signed up for the next time I posted.  I shared with him a few ideas bouncing in my head and heart and he let me know I needed to get those ideas up on the blog. A few months went by and a pastor friend made his way across a very crowded room to talk to me about why I wasn’t posting.  He reminded me he appreciates the things I share and sometimes uses them in his sermon preparation and urged me not to give up.   Still, things didn’t get posted.  Then God got busy talking to me.  You see, He called me to WRITE what He gives me.  He has made it very clear all those pieces I had written are not doing my computer one bit of good.  He gave me all of these pieces to share with others, not to store away on the hard drive of a computer.  Every time I asked about the how and where and with whom I was supposed to share my writings, He kept reminding me about this whole blog thing. 

 Then there was the night I went out to dinner with a new friend.    The most special part of the evening was when this new friend told me it helps her and encourages her when I share about the lessons I have learned in tough times.  She really likes when I share about the times I thought I had totally misunderstood God only to learn I hadn’t misunderstood God at all. After we left the restaurant and I was headed home, the song came over the radio about how telling my story is telling about Jesus. 

Have you noticed how when you start to obey the Lord in some new area that things start going wrong?  First the new laptop developed issues! Every time I started the new blog things went wrong.  All my content disappeared…. and had to be restored from my assorted cds, flash drives, etc.  Windows had to be reinstalled repeatedly.   How does an internal hard drive totally erase itself when the computer is unplugged and turned off? I was using a good antivirus and malware, etc.   When the laptop came home from its visit to the computer repair shop there were still issues…..The computer shop where I had purchased the laptop told me if I brought it in one more time they were just going to get me a different machine entirely. 

Then came health issues and hospital stays.  Now, several YEARS later, cataracts, more health issues  and after COVID and a very crazy TAX Season (we have a tax business) here I am to share the things I have learned as I “Lean on Jesus during this royal mess of life!” 

Stop by again soon.  I promise to have something fresh to share with you! 

This week though, Lean on Jesus. Ask Him to be the peace between you and the chaos that reigns all around.  That practice alone always gets me through when life spins totally out of control!