Prayers with Thanksgiving

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Last Thursday when:

• We were flooded in for a few hours and
• We found that our washing machine had walked away from the wall after I put an unbalanced load in just before I went to bed the night before and
• We found a mouse-created hole in a bag of chips in our kitchen,

I led Ray into the library, stood in front of our “Never a dull moment around the Notgrass house” cross-stitch and kissed him. We often shake our heads, thinking how simple life was when he asked me to cross-stitch that picture back in the early 1980s.

Well, after that interesting Thursday, life got even more interesting. We had a brief respite on Friday. We awoke to a beautiful snowy wonderland. We had a great day working on curriculum and doing errands and going to our English country dance class in the evening.

But Saturday began with new “never a dull moment” experiences. I awoke about 4:15 a.m. with some scary symptoms, namely dizziness and very high blood pressure. Pretty soon we were on our way to the ER, and one of our caregivers was headed to our house to take care of my mother when she woke up.

Praise God! The diagnosis for me turned out very good. An EKG, a CAT scan, a chest x-ray, a heart monitor, and an MRI gave normal results. I was admitted for 24 hours, but when all the results came back normal and quickly, I was released late Saturday afternoon with blood pressure medication. My blood pressure has been wonderful during every prescribed twice-a-day measurement since then. Last night it was 119/78. I am grateful.

I have been rejoicing in the knowledge that my heart and brain test results were good. They make me think of what Paul wrote to the Philippians.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.
The Lord is near.
Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7

I know this passage is speaking of our spiritual hearts and minds, but I have long clung to its promises. I am thankful that God has guarded my physical heart and my mind.

Our never-a-dull-moment adventure did not end when Ray and I got back home on Saturday evening. We found Mother not thinking well. She rallied some on Sunday, but she was much worse on Monday and was too weak to walk yesterday. Her doctor, who is a long-time friend, told me that Mother is at a point that there is nothing more to do for her except to keep her comfortable and treat any infections that may come. She entered hospice care yesterday. We are grateful for the expectation of such wonderful help from the caring hospice staff we met yesterday afternoon at our house.

We have been “putting one foot in front of the other” for the past two days. However, my almost-88-year-old mother was able to be at church on Sunday morning. What a blessing. She doesn’t seem to be in pain. She wants to sleep and sleep. With the new hospital bed, she can do that without our fear that she will fall. Please pray for her with thanksgiving.

As we put one foot in front of the other in this current journey, we will remember:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.
The Lord is near.
Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7

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