Bless All Our Hearts

As Peter and I drove to his field trip, a strange black cloud grew out of nowhere, filled the sky and covered the sun. But around the edges was a brilliant golden glow, and in one spot the sunlight streamed heavenward. It was so striking that a friend later told me she saw it too and went for her camera.

But it was MY cloud. I knew it was, and as I stared at it, the word "Hope" came into my mind.

Bob had called from out of town, and I did not like the sound of his voice one bit. He was too tired sounding, and I asked him to please finish up and come home. But what could I do so far away? Besides, that is, letting God stretch my faith a little further, and trusting Him to watch over our man.

Bob had related how as he'd opened his conference folder, and a paper had fallen out. On it in bold print was Psalm 103 which lists some of the benefits of working for God. "Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all you diseases, who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies, WHO DELIVERS YOUR LIFE FROM DESTRUCTION.

He began repeating these words, memorizing them in the airport. Would I too say them and believe them with him?

For the rest of that day, I did. We all did, and prayed that he'd get safely to his plane the next morning and come home. To complicate things, but also growing our capacity to trust God, his cell phone was stolen from a restaurant. Now I couldn't even call to check on him.

I was relieved when I phoned the hotel desk and the girl said he was standing right there. Yes, he had gotten up in the morning and was on his way out the door to catch the airport shuttle, but told me to pray, because something was "not right".

Now, Bob is a great lover of his own bed and a great hater of hospital beds, so it was beyond my hoping that he'd check himself into a hospital. Thankfully, though, I did have Dr. Jesus to keep a finger on his pulse for me and bring him home safely.

After a while I called the airlines and bypassed the prompts by repeating the word, "OPERATOR" until the nice recording gave me one. I then bribed her, against security procedures, to tell me that he had indeed boarded his first flight.

After a 2 hour delay for the second flight, I checked on-line and also dialed the 1-800 number again, to see that the flight had indeed left and would be home in an hour. Repeatedly I was told that the plane had left the gate, but that it was still sitting there in the airport, awaiting the inbound crew.

What? Waiting for the crew on the tarmac? Who was on board taking care of passengers? Who was there in case my husband had a heart attack? And Lord Jesus, where are You?

After an hour more of praying and faith stretching, I got a real live human on the phone and asked why the weird delay. "No delay," she said. "That plane landed in your airport 40 minutes ago."

I "shared" briefly with her that they needed to refresh their updates. Then I grabbed my purse and threw 20 bucks at James for the pizza man. He said, "No problem, Mom," as I flew out the door. From the car I phoned Maggie to come home and watch the boys.

Earlier I had called the doctor and told him I would be whisking Bob directly to the hospital and to be ready. He agreed, especially since on the phone Bob had slipped in that part about the "chest discomfort and shortness of breath."

We got to the hospital, and while his doctor was on his way from a basketball game, Bob had another couple small heart attacks...just for the resident, for demonstration purposes. I laid my hands on his heart during these, rebuked the enemy, and asked God to guard the life of his dear servant.

In the middle of this the doctor arrived, and Rob phoned to say he'd just scored the most points ever at his out-of-town basketball game. Bob smiled, and that kind doctor put his arm around me and prayed for us, for wisdom and skill for himself, as he would immediately do an artery catheterization to find out if and where the blockages were.

He escorted me to the waiting room. After a half hour dozing and praying there, I heard the phone ring. It was the resident. "We see where the problem is and are ready to go ahead and put in a couple little stents to stretch out the artery. Then the blood can get through."

They proceeded to do so right then and there. Afterwards the O.R. nurse smiled at me and said how smart we were get it all done in one evening. Hmm, it is God Who is the clever One.

Amazing, after 23 hours he was 'good to go' and we left for home and his own bed for a week's rest and relaxation.....

All this week the boys have been memorizing a Bible verse they brought home from church. Until I really looked at it, because it was about hearts, I thought it might be for Bob.

"A new heart also I will give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh," Ezekiel 36:26.

Then I looked again and realized it was me who needs the new heart. I want to be a better person, love more deeply, have God remove all hardness from my heart of stone, and give this old Pharisee a tender, forgiving, non-judgmental heart of flesh.

It's easy to fake it when you are a writer, but those near and dear to me know I need it. I ask please for your prayers.