Through the Valley of the Shadow #6

SO much has been happening this week, that I have not even had the time to edit my journal to add a new post. I will try to wrap up this soon. It is important to share some of the details because I believe God is the God of every detail of our lives and I have seen how He sovereignly worked in such small details. One of these is shared in this post..............answer to prayers of a young teen-ager praying for her "would-be-someday-mate"!! I want each one who reads this to be encouraged to trust and obey......for this is no other way to be happy in Jesus (to quote a favorite hymn)!!

Mar 3, 2008
Oklahoma Heart Hospital
LORD God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, Giver of life, both physical and eternal, hallowed be Your name. You are the ever present One Who controls all things by Your Omnipotence and according to Your eternal plan. I worship You as my Sovereign LORD and Savior, Who lives in me and loves me completely. How thankful I am to be in this place that You have me now, and to be experiencing Your blessings in the midst of all of this. Thank You for last night and the wonderful blessings You shower upon me as Monty’s wife. I am so humbled by the fact of the way that You have answered my many prayers I prayed as a young teen-aged girl, who wanted to serve You.

It was so special to me that when Monty was talking to Kaylyn about wanting to take his sleeping pill at 9:00 and then another one at 2:00………..and again at 4:00, if he still weren’t sleeping. Kaylyn assured him that Rachel would be here to take good care of him. He kind of paused and said, “Oh, Rachel is staying here tonight???” Kaylyn asked if that was okay……….and then asked if he wanted me........ He said he wanted me!!! And meanwhile, I was out in the hall talking on the phone and a bit disappointed that I wasn’t staying with him. Then Kaylyn came out and told me what he said. How I thank You that I am so loved by him. It warmed my heart and it turned out that we had such a great time talking through all of this and what You are doing. Thank You for allowing me to share with him all that I have seen Your hand doing in this week.

It is wonderful to have a husband who “gets it!!!” Last night when we were talking and praying, our concern was for the larger picture, larger than just our family, knowing that there were angels all around us and that thousands of people have heard about Your story in our lives. I know that You will use this whole experience in the lives of many people since Rachel has been writing about it on her blog. I read to him her blog and he relearned much of the details of this whole ordeal that he had lost in the journey, and was quite alarmed at the seriousness of it all. Thank You for the prayer time we had together, and how intimately we have been connected when we have these times alone.

Then we had a really good night of sleep………he had about 8-8 ½ hours and I had probably 6 ½ -7. It was great. And then the children all came in one by one and told of the rough nights they all had, which made my heart smile!! You gave us the blessing of a good night while You awoke them (and many others) to intercede for us. And suddenly early this morning, a dear old friend of Monty's walked in!!! Their eyes met, and Monty’s immediately filled up with tears. He came around and took his hand, and with a shaky hand Monty held on tightly. I could tell they needed to talk and so I had the children all leave with me so they could be alone.

O my God, You are doing a work here that is far greater than what we could have imagined. How could we have known that this was the way You were going to answer our prayers months ago about bringing healing in relationships!!! I found Monty, still very emotional. All he could say when I asked him how it went and what was said was that "just his presence was enough!" He said that they told each other that they loved each other. How great You are, LORD! You are the God of all love, Thank You.

Monty has been so emotional all day and has been so quick to tell others of his love for them. I think the impact of this week is just really beginning to sink in for him. He has been able to separate the urgent from the important and learn how much he is loved. We were surprised when Dr. Ghanni came in this morning to make rounds for Dr. Kerns, telling us that he had had a procedure done and would be back tomorrow. Well, we learned what the procedure was!! While Dr. Kerns was at his cabin at the lake, he began to have some of his own heart problems, called the hospital, scheduled his own surgery and his family drove him straight here on Sunday. At 2:00 p.m. they put a pacemaker/defibrillator in him. He was dismissed this morning and went home for the day.

Dr. Ghanni said that the echo cardiogram done last night showed that the front wall of the left anterior part of his heart was flat, which meant that it was not completely dead in that it did not bow up when pushed by the lower part of the beating heart. He said that it could repair since it was not bowed. Time will tell if it has any life or not. He also said that his creatinine serum (kidney) was up and that he still had fluid in his lungs. They were working on his meds to try to balance them all to get the fluid off, keep his heart rate regular, his blood pressure down and not damage the kidney, and thin his blood to prevent clotting. It was a real trick. Monty still was pretty weak, but was beginning to feel better.

After all that we had been through over the week-end, we were looking forward to a “boring” time for a change. "Boring" is a word they are looking for with heart patients here. {It has been hard for me to find the time to journal all of this, and now I am writing the rest of this several days after the fact, trying to remember details. But it is all much of a blur for me. My computer began to lose power, with an error notice that said the battery was dangerously low and to plug it in or change the battery. I always kept it plugged in, so this made no sense. Finally, Nick took care of it, called Dell, and had them send me a new adapter cord over night. But I still was without this journal for three days….this is the fourth…..and my brain is having a hard time putting the pieces in the right places. }

Some of the verses that have been so special to me that friends have shared with me: Isa 45:3 I will give you treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, AM the God of Israel.
Psa 34: I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together...........The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear HIM, and delivers them. Oh taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.