MRI

MRI was CLEAR!!!!!!!!! Now that is a great birthday gift for Ryan's daddy. Thanks everyone for keeping us in your prayers. Mary Lee and I talked about the emotional toll that the MRI always takes out of us. Each of us ends up bottoming out a few days after the test is completed. I guess that you are so much on edge and running on adrenaline leading up to the MRI date, that once it is over you end up crashing. I'm always totally drained emotionally and physically in the days following an MRI. Ryan was tough as usual and did great for the test. The night before the test though I was becoming edgy and got a little nervous thinking of all of the possibilities and "what ifs". About 10 pm I went for a walk through the neighborhood and began praying. I started out acknowledging to God that, like Peter, I may have the faith initially to get out of the boat and walk toward Him on the water, but also like Peter, I quickly begin focusing on the waves crashing around me and begin to sink because my eyes are not focused on Jesus instead of my surroundings. As I was praying for more faith to put the MRI results in God's hands and trust Him and His plans, God started to remind me of His own awesome power and sovereignty. The Holy Spirit led me to start naming off all of the great miracles that the Bible tells that God has done throughout the Old and New Testaments. God was telling me not to focus on my family's present circumstances but rather to focus on the One to whom I was praying. As I walked I named off miracles one by one: parted the Red Sea, Jesus turned water into wine, David and Goliath, crushing the walls of Jericho, Jesus' death and resurrection, healing of lepers and blind men, Paul on the road to Demascus, etc. I started naming miracles off and before I could recite one miracle, the next one would already be coming to my mind. I walked another ten minutes or so and never ran out of miracles that God had done! Before I knew it I was already back in my driveway and the fear and insecurity that I had been feeling as I had began my walk were no longer present but had been replaced with an awe of the most incredible God that we are allowed to serve. If you ever want to be shown exactly how small you really are and how large God is just try the exercise that I did and you'll be stunned at how many Bible stories and miracles will come to mind; many of which you probably haven't thought about in years. When I got home I opened my Bible up to the book of Job and read the first chapter where Satan had to ask God's permission to test Job's faith. I love the end of that book when God begins to speak directly to Job and his friends and God himself lays it all out for them exactly how great and powerful God truly is. The bottom line to that story is that God is always in control and is watching over us whether or not we can recognize that here on Earth as life takes some unexpected turns for us. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. My family's love for the Lord would be the same whether the MRI report was good or bad, but it is still awful nice to have it come back good!!!!!!!!