I wrote this the day of Jess’s surgery and saved it as a draft when she started having problems that night. While working on the website today I found it. Some of the information is old and now inaccurate but the meaning and context is clear. Enjoy
Jess’s surgery today went pretty well. Her only complication was that some of the Gallstones escaped into the Bile Duct to elude capture. We believe that they will pass without incident but I will be keeping a close eye out for problems. Overall she is doing very well, but the soreness has just begun to set in. Most importantly she is now resting comfortably for the night.
I would like to take this time to thank you all for your Prayers and thoughts during this time and throughout this year. My girl has had a rough 11 months, but every time she keeps getting knocked over she gets back up again. I won’t lie and say that this year has been a cake walk. To be honest it has probably been our roughest since we have been married. Jess’s injuries, my heavy travel year, loss of a second income with no prior planning, etc etc have made this year challenging at best. We feel like we have been piled on all year then came the Gall Bladder. Yet when we take stock we see that we are so very blessed.
Do you what the best parts of the last year were? It was when we got to our whit’s end and laid things in the Hand of God. Jess and I are about as OCD as you can be without a diagnosis. We want to do things our way because we know they are always right. It is very difficult for a couple like us individually or together to give things up to the Lord; it is a constant struggle.
However something struck me today about her surgery. It was a far different from our experience 5 1/2 years ago. Jess described herself as eerily calm and not worried and she wasn’t, I was equally calm as well. (Sure a Cholecystectomy is a pretty common surgery but you are still coming back with less parts then you went in the room with.) Was it because she was in so much pain she was ready for it to be over, was it because we are both a little older? I would have to say that it was neither.
It was the fact that we placed her in the Hand of God without really knowing it. Sure we prayed together this morning. Pastor Greg even came down and visited with us early this morning and said a prayer for us. But to be honest do you know when we both realized why we were at peace? If was when one of the Nurses came into the room to check on Jess. The nurse just happened to be one of our choir directors at church and when we were telling how Jess felt and how the surgery went she just simply replied
“That is the Hand of God over you”.
The Hand of God is always over you, you just have to surrender so that you can recognize it.