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God's faithfulness

 

There is a saying that ‘sometimes life just hits you in the face’! I had one of those times this week. One evening my husband was in terrible pain and feeling nauseated from a pre-existing condition. I took him to the local out-of-hours medical centre where we waited for nearly two hours before being told that the doctor was leaving shortly and didn’t have time to see him. We were strongly advised to go to the ED Department at the regional hospital around twenty minutes away so off we went. When we arrived there, my husband was triaged quickly then asked to wait in the waiting room. About an hour later he saw a nurse, had blood tests and was offered paracetamol for pain. Another three hours after that, my husband felt so ill he just wanted to go home to bed. I talked him into staying a bit longer. Within half an hour, he was seen by a doctor and a CT scan was ordered. A few minutes later he had a bed in ED and we waited another hour for a member of the surgical team to come and review his results. Finally he was admitted at 3 am which was when I left him. I awoke at 7 am and telephoned the hospital. He was still in ED and was waiting on surgery. I attended my Life Group that morning as the members are wonderful friends and I needed their support. Again I took the road to the hospital, bringing back memories of my mum’s decline eighteen months prior and the frequent trips on the same road. My husband was now in a corridor in ED as they were extremely busy and needed the space. A short time after I arrived he was taken to the surgical ward where I sat with him until he went for surgery at 3.30 pm. I had time to rush home and get some chores done including some grocery shopping before heading back. I had made a sandwich and had a ‘picnic’ in his room as time marched on. I started to worry as he had been gone so long. My friends and family continued to send encouraging texts and God was ever present as I called out to him time and again. I was so relieved when he returned to the ward. It appeared that they had some trouble waking him from the anaesthetic. It certainly had affected him I quickly understood, as he shared his experience. The following day he was discharged.

I realised as I walked and talked to God that he had answered an urgent prayer for me. My husband had been finding it difficult with his health challenge as it was painful and he had become completely isolated, spending hours in front of the television because he could only stand for minutes at a time. Our doctor had sent two referrals through to the surgeon but warned us it could be months before he was seen. We had already decided that we couldn’t travel to be with family for Christmas with the state he was in and I was feeling sad about that. I asked God if he could arrange for the surgery to be done quickly so my husband had time to recover and we could travel for Christmas. That very same night was when he became so ill, necessitating the surgery to be done promptly. I praise God for such a quick and definite answer to prayer. He is so good and so faithful. The words of one of my favourite songs goes ‘all my life he has been faithful, all my life he has been so, so good’ (Goodness of God by Jenn Johnson, Brian Johnson, Ben Fielding, Ed Cash and Jason Ingram). I hope and pray that you too, experience the faithfulness of God. Bless you heaps.

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