Some time after my operation for cancer, I developed a hernia (as if cancer wasn’t enough), and I had to learn how to handle living with this. You learn what to eat, what really not to eat, and unfortunately, most of the “what not to eat” comes from eating something and then finding out it did not agree!
After living with the hernia for about 3 years, I started having trouble with it. Mine was in the lower abdomen area. (For anyone that does not know what a hernia is, look up online).
I was doing what I had been told, laying down when necessary, and eating only soft foods at one point. Then, nothing was working.
Now this was at the end of Covid, and the hospitals and doctor offices were still using all the rules about masks, no one visiting, no one allowed in, etc. I did not want to go to the hospital, so I called the doctor. He said to continue to do what I could, but if it got worse, I had to go in.
Well, after about a week, a week of slowly getting worse, I had to go in. The previous 3 days, I had not eaten anything, as nothing would stay down, not even water. One of the problems with a hernia like I had was that the intestines would come through the opening, and get stuck, causing them to start to “die”. They can get blocked and twisted and since they are not getting a blood supply, they stop working. I knew that was what was happening inside, and finally told David to get someone to take me to the hospital.
That morning, as I was praying and talking to my Abba, my God, I was asking Him to please put His hand on me and stitch up the opening that this was all coming through. Please make me whole and stitch up the hole. All I knew was that I hurt and was so tired and weak.
I was thinking of the verse, Psalm 139:13, that says that God knit me together in my mothers womb. This verse has always had meaning for me because of being adopted. God knew me before I was born and knew who would chose me for their child here. I always knew I was His child. He knew me before I was born. And now, since He knit me together once, I wanted Him to stitch me up again. This was the prayer in my mind all day.
The next day, our pastor, Pastor Mike, came to talk me to the hospital, since David still was not allowed in with me. He is a wonderful pastor, and as we arrived at the hospital, he said a prayer for me, to get the right doctors, and for them to “stitch me up” inside. I don’t remember most of what he prayed for me, because when he said that phrase, that was all I heard.
I did not say anything to him about the words, stitch me up. I just went inside.
Because I was having so much pain in the abdomen area, I was seen rather quickly, and after X-rays, I did not have to wait long for lots of nurses coming in and telling me they were getting me ready for surgery. This was around midnight, so there were not a lot of people there, and they had to call in the surgeon who would perform the operation.
Thinking about those particular minutes makes me laugh still, as I was given REALLY strong drugs to prep me for the procedure. I remember being wheeled down to the operating rooms, and looking up to see space ships flying overhead, and lights floating around, things coming at me and making me feel like I was floating. I asked the nurse if she saw them there, and she just laughed.
I was still awake enough to remember that I had asked God to stitch me up, but I still did not know how He was going to do this. Then the surgeon came over to let me know what was going to happen, and started to explain the procedure. He said he would go in and check the intestines, cut any out that were blocked and had died, and put them all back in place. Then he said he would “stitch me up”. I knew with those 3 words, that my Abba, my God was holding me and was there. Three times those words were spoken to me, and I knew no matter what, He was there, and still holding me in His arms.
I woke later in recovery and ended up staying the the hospital 3 days. I was ready to go home. I still remember all 3 times someone said stitch me up, and I still thank God for His hand in doing this.
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
Treasures 3927 