Our Help Comes From The Lord

In "The Power of Positive Thinking", Norman Vincent Peale tells of traveling to a certain city where he meets a committee of people who whisk him from one event to another. There are autograph signings to go to, crowds to speak to, VIP's to meet, and then he is rushed to the hotel to hurriedly change clothes for dinner. He receives a phone call rushing him to dinner and as he runs out the door he almost forgets to lock it. He suddenly stops and asks himself what he is doing, goes back in and places a phone call to let the people know he will be late to dinner. He then He then sits down and begins to meditate on Psalm 121 and pray. It ends with the words "the Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this day forth..." After spending 20 minutes with the Lord, he went down to dinner feeling like a new man. How often do we get so busy we forget to stop and spend time with God who is our source of help. Before we know it we are feeling anxious, and stressed, not knowing if we are coming or going. If only we will make time for Him in our day, He will direct our steps. Psalm 121:2 says "Our help comes from the Lord." Stop and let Him give you the help you need each and every day.

Know Any Good Jokes?

As I was going about my day yesterday, I felt very tense. I had more to do than hours to do it in and it was stressing me out. While I was in town, I decided I would run by the library and grab a book I had been wanting to read, and grab a few magazines to get some decorating ideas for my house. While I was browsing through the magazines, I heard the lady behind the desk telling jokes to a lady across the room ( there happened to be only a couple of people in the reference room besides myself and the lady working there). Now, these were some very dumb jokes she was telling. I was thinking, "This lady is really strange." But, in spite of here goofy sense of humor, I found myself smiling. When I got to the desk to check out, she asked me if I knew any jokes:) I told her that I wasn't very good at remembering jokes, but that I would remember one that she told and share it with the men in my house (they also have goofy senses of humor). I also let her know that I had needed to smile and lighten up that day. I was feeling less tense already and left smiling!

Proverbs 17:22 "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."

Our Plans vs. His Plans

Monday morning, Feb. 14th, my husband had just left for work and I was beginning what I had planned for my day, when I got a phone call saying my dad had been rushed to the hospital. I rushed there as fast as I could to find him arriving in an ambulance unresponsive. As the morning went by, and many tests were performed, he was diagnosed with a stroke and not expected to live. The doctor said to call in all the family. All of my siblings arrived from several states, some with their families ( there are 6 of us living). As he days went by and dad started responding, the doctors said that if he lived, he would be a vegetable and we needed to find a home to put him in permanently. The stroke also affected his swallowing, so they had to put a feeding tube into his stomach. Well, he started responding more, and more, but was hallucinating a lot and very delusional. We were taking turns sitting with him 24 hrs a day, and he was having to be put in restraints most of the time to keep him in bed and from pulling all of his tubes out. All of this time, many of his friends and family were coming in and out to visit him, and almost always they prayed for him before they left. One day the ER doctor came into ICU and was totally shocked to see that dad had come out of the coma. Well, evidently, God isn't limited by the doctors diagnosis and hears all of the prayers that had been going up to Him. Today, dad is in a nursing home going through therapy. He can carry on a normal conversation and is enjoying joking with the nurses and therapist. He is pretty much normal, only gets confused occasionally, and forgets that he's not at home. He can walk, but is still very weak and tires quickly, but is getting stronger every day. Tomorrow they will do another swallow test to see if he can eat yet or what he can eat if anything. He loves to eat, so is very concerned about the outcome of this test. Yesterday, the social services director said that this looked like it was going to be a very short stay. This just makes me want to laugh, just thinking about how good our God is, and how miraculous is His love. And, just like He didn't ask me what my plans were that Monday morning that I received the phone call (or for the weeks that followed), I guess He didn't bother to ask the doctors what their plans/diagnoses was for dad.