It’s been a while since I wrote. I was, at first, feeling a little blah. When I feel like that, a lot of things get pushed aside, and it makes it easier for other things to get a foot hold in my life. I know this happens to others too.
With the pandemic all around us there is little to do except sit around the house with occasional walks outside. At first there were things to do, cleaning, reading, cooking new foods. But then it became monotonous.
We still went for walks. We still had to eat. Church was and still is online, so we can connect each week with the service, but we don’t see the people. They become just names, or just a face on the computer during our online meetings. Everything becomes part of the virtual world.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to meet online, catch up with everyone, hear the message each week from the pastor. But, I do miss seeing everyone in person. I know that the measures the government have in place are to help stop the virus from spreading. They are not to “punish” us or keep us from our faith. No one said I cannot be a Christian. There are places where that happens, but I don’t live in an area that tells me I cannot be a Christian, or I cannot believe in Christ.
So, I will continue to do my best to do what the government says will help stop this spread and let us get back to a more normal day.
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority:
whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority,or to governors,
who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong
and to commend those who do right. 1 Peter 2:13-14.
Again, don’t get me wrong here, if there are any measures put into place that denies me the privilege of living, showing, acting in my faith, then I would have to rethink how to respond. But I do thank my God each day for this privilege.
But Peter and the other apostles answered and said:
“We ought to obey God rather than men.
All of this being said, there was a day about 4 months ago when I had an issue with a hernia that was a result from an operation I had in 2016. It started acting up in 2018, and would flair up every few months. I had talked with a doctor and knew what to do when ever it happened.
This time seemed different. I was praying about this and asked God to please “stitch up the muscle” that was in the area where the hernia was located. Stitching up the muscle would keep everything in place. All I could think was that God made me in my mother’s womb, even before I was born, and He still looks over me.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
Psalm 139:13-14
This time, for whatever reason, nothing was working, and being the stubborn woman that I am (just ask my husband, lol), I did not tell anyone at first. I continued to try to “fix” everything using the technique that the doctor had showed me. Around the end of March, I went from eating solid foods to liquid, meal replacements. I could not eat anything.
Our Life Group meets on Tuesdays, and at one of the meetings around the beginning of April, the pastor was praying, and he asked God to “stitch up the muscle” for me. Now he did not know about my prayer, but yet he used the same words. Needless to say, I heard nothing else at that point. This, to me was an affirmation that things were being heard and taken care of and waiting was my only job.
Then it got worse. Even water was not staying down. I got an appointment with my family doctor, and that was on a Thursday morning. He said to go to the emergency department at the hospital.
I arrived there around 2:30 in the afternoon, and was in operating room around 12:30 Friday morning, just after midnight. As I was waiting for things to get started, the surgeon on duty came to talk to me about what he was planning to do. He explained how a “normal” surgery went for hernias, and then said that because he did not think the mesh would work, he would check everything out, see what the issue was with the area and then “stitch up the muscle”. The same words! This calmed me, I knew God was there and was letting me know this up close and personal.
At the followup meeting with the surgeon, I asked him about a clinic in Toronto, the biggest city near where I live. It is a clinic that only works on hernias. I had sent an email to them asking about the work they do there, but because I have not lost enough weight, they would not accept me as a patient. But my surgeon explained that what they do is exactly what he did for me. No mesh on the hernia area, but stitching up the muscle. The clinic only accepts patients that fit their criteria, and that was not me, lol.
So I know that God had a plan, He followed through with it, and He guided the surgeon to Stitch me Up! I look Up to Him everyday, and even when I fall, I know He is there to help me back up, and carry me when I can’t go on.
So I do have to step out in faithfulness, knowing that God is there for me. It is not easy, some days I forget and do what I know I shouldn’t, but He still is there for me, loving me, keeping me in His arms, stitching up the mess that I make, as I grow closer to Him. He does this for all of us, we just have to accept Him, get to know Him. Do our best and ask for help when we need it.
Treasures 3927 