I was lying on the emergency room bed - in intense pain, with IVs in my hand, and a fever of 103.8. My mom was sitting beside me. The infection I had been battling had become so serious. The nurses were running blood tests to see if the infection had gotten into my blood. If it had, they said things could be very critical.
As I lay there feeling as if the infection was taking over my body, for the first time in my life I truly wondered if I would make it through the night. It was an incredible thing.
The Lord was so near and real to me as I lay there... I had such peace in Him. I said to Him, “Lord, if I die in 30 minutes, I am going to see You face-to-face and that would be SO wonderful!” (I truly was so excited at this thought.) “Yet, if You are not finished with me on this earth and You want me to live to see tomorrow, I want to live every breath for You.”
(There is nothing like being faced with potentially being at the end of your life to make very clear what is important and to help you identify the areas that need to be fully given to the Lord!)
By His grace and perfect will, the Lord allowed me to live to see the next morning. I will never forget the ride home a few hours (and many medical details of which I will spare you!) later. The sun was just rising, the birds were beginning to sing... and my Creator had given me another day to breathe and live for Him. Even more precious than this, I had come to know His faithfulness, care, and presence in a new way.
So, as we celebrate Memorial Day each year, it is now a special memorial to me of God’s faithfulness!
“This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.” Lamentations 3:21-24
May you have a special weekend remembering God’s faithfulness to you!!!
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(After the night in the emergency room, I ended up in bed for about 6 weeks recovering... Through this time, the Lord taught me so many beautiful lessons that I would not trade for anything! You can watch for them in future blog posts!)
