Sometime God just amazes me

This has been a strange semester for me. While I was away at Nazarene Theological Seminary in January, a couple body-blows landed pretty hard in just a couple of days. The first was news that an elderly neighbor that we have known since we moved to Monroe in 1996 had fallen, hit her head, and ruptured a blood vessel in her brain. At that time she had brain surgery and was on life-support with a very uncertain prognosis.. The other was that the economy here in Michissippi had caught up with one of my largest clients and they were giving up on the state, PR-wise. And would no longer need my services. The combined weight of those staggered me pretty hard while I was in Kansas City.

I felt so helpless being 800 miles from home and unable to minister to my neighbor and her family. I prayed, and asked my classmates to pray as well, but I so desperately wanted to be there. But I could not. Needless to say I was a bit distracted during class.

What I am excited to say is that in just 2 months, my neighbor has recovered enough to be out of the hospital and living in her daughter's home. I pray that she will recover enough to come back to our neighborhood, but if not, God has been exceedingly gracious to her thus far. She still has a ways to go with her speech and mobility, but she could have easily ended up like Natasha Richardson who died from a similar injury.

I can't say why God heals some people and not others. That is a decision made way above my pay grade. But I am grateful for the mercy he has shown my neighbor. And I am grateful for the prayers of my fellow students and my church in praying for a dear lady who has been a part of my life for quite a while.

This Holy Week I have something to celebrate beyond the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I am so grateful for that.