Be the Miracle
Connecting the Dots:
1) I felt compelled to count down forty days beginning January 4, 2016 after reading my Old Testament lesson about Moses being on Mount Sinai forty days to receive the Ten Commandments. That same day as I was reading the scripture references that were part of my devotional materials, I meant to highlight Psalm 40:4, but was somewhat absentminded thinking about my sister’s situation and highlighted Psalm 39:4 instead. Listen to what it says…..Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. The forty days would be up February 13, 2016. I really believed I was counting down the days until my sister’s death.
2) That seemed to be confirmed when I arrived in Texas for my January visit to find my sister in a lot of pain, spending most of her time on the couch and on heavy doses of pain medication. We spent most of the week talking about the possibility of her approaching death
3) I was close to despair myself. I asked Abba to show Me His presence on this journey with my sister in the Shadow of Death during my February visit. My first day in Texas I began to find hearts on my daily prayer walks. By the time I reached the day of my return home, I had photographed 151 hearts. Here is one of my favorites.
4) Day 39 February 12 John 10:28-30 was part of my devotional materials. I wrote a crafted prayer based on the scripture: Jesus speaking……I give Gwynn eternal life and she shall never perish; no one will snatch her out of My hand (including cancer). My Father who gave Gwynn to me is greater than cancer, no one and no disease can snatch her out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.
5) Day Forty-February 13 Even though I had written the scriptural declaration the night before, I was still a bundle of nerves. My brother had come in to be with us the night before. He did not come out of his room until after 10:00 AM. I began to wonder if I had been counting down to his death instead of my sister’s. But he finally arose and so did my sister. He and my brother in law went on an outing. Gwynn and I stayed home because Gwynn was feeling poorly. Her heart was racing. I wanted to call 911. My sister texted her youngest son who is an EMT. While we waited for his response, my sister lay down on the sofa in the living room and put her feet on my lap. I read to her to give us both something to focus on other than her rapid heart beat. The book was entitled: Storm Sisters (Very appropriate don’t you think?) A crystal hanging in the window cast rainbows on the pages of the book I was reading. It was a bit unnerving to me because I recalled my mom laying on the couch the last day of her life short of breath. I wanted to call 911 then, but she asked me to sing to her which I did for thirty minutes and she died later in the day while I was in church.
A text came in from my sister’s son. It was a picture of a text book page of several methods to re-start your heart so it would return to normal beats. After each method was described, there was a qualifier which stated: “Don’t try this method without first clearing it with your doctor.” By the time my sister read the fourth one we broke into hysterical laughter at the absurdity of this page in our situation. We both laughed so hard we could hardly breathe. The action of extreme laughter restarted my sister’s heart and her pulse returned to normal. My sister was fine the rest of the day. My brother went to church with us, prayed with us in the parking lot after the service and returned home. Valentines Day was quiet and restful. I found one heart on our walk in the afternoon. February 15 I open my shades to say my morning prayer and in one corner of the window was a heart shaped bug. I immediately felt in my spirit Abba was giving my sister her heart’s desire to live and be well enough to enjoy the wedding of her youngest son May 21 and have the energy to dance the mother /son dance at the reception.
6) It wasn’t until this trip to Texas April 1 that Abba connected all the dots. In conversation with my brother, he commented that he felt a shift had taken place in my sister when he returned from the outing February 13. I immediately knew he was right. The spiritual atmosphere shifted on the Fortieth Day….February 13. My sister had been getting steadily worse from May of 2015 until February 2016. She started walking in “Divine Health” February 13 when her heart re-started. The week of Easter she came off of all narcotic pain medication. The day I arrived to take care of her April 4 she went non stop from 6:00 am until 10:00 pm. Since December 2015, she had mostly been on the couch in pain most of the daylight hours. I wasn’t counting down to my sister’s death…..INSTEAD…….. I was counting down the days leading up to Abba’s plan to grant my sister’s heart desire……to be well enough to share in the joy of her youngest son’s wedding.
7) There are 150 Psalms in the Old Testament. Abba added one more in my spirit. A song of praise to my God who lavishes His love and Presence on us daily whether we are aware of His gifts or not. Thankfully, I am becoming more aware.
Written by
Sherry Fraser Somerville