My Husband's Stroke.

 

The moon surrounded by clouds, My own photo.

Two weeks ago, my husband had a “massive stroke.” The doctor called us and told us to prepare for the worst. They told my daughters, who live 6 hours away to, “Leave now.” So, they did. We called all our family and all his family. Everyone started praying.

Because I have been a Christian for 50 years and there have been other deaths in our family, I believed God knew what he was doing, (which wasn’t always the case.). I told God I knew my husband was in his hands and I trusted him to do what was best for all of us.

My husband lived for a day, and then another day and began rapidly improving. The doctors were stunned. His speech was slurring slightly and his face drooped a bit, but he could move his left arm and leg, which had been paralyzed.

He seemed to have all his past memories intact, but his short-term memories would come and go. He wasn’t sure why he was in the hospital each morning and he had forgotten about the pandemic. He asked me on the phone why I hadn’t come to visit, so my daughter made a sign to hang by his bed which explained about Covid-19 and that we weren’t allowed to visit.

At the beginning, when the doctors thought he was dying, they allowed me into the ICU to see him. In order to get past the front desk of the hospital, I had to say, “My husband is dying.” Those words felt strange to me, as if I was lying to them, as if it couldn’t possibly be true.

I held my husband’s hand and we spoke awhile until he fell asleep. I was glad he knew who I was and could respond. He was shocked he had a stroke. He thought it was carcinoid tumors, which he has had for over 20 years, that had caused this illness.

The next day, he seemed worse, more tired than before and barely spoke. I didn’t expect him to live much longer. But lo and behold, the next day he was joking with the nurses! He was weak, but alert. It was wonderful to see. They moved him out of ICU a few days later and put him in a regular ward.

Well, there was a lot of rejoicing in the family, as you can imagine. We thank God for healing him. I know God does not heal everyone from an illness. If he did, then no one would die and we would be pretty crowded here on earth. Death is a part of life and I accept that. I want to thank him here on this blog, for giving me his comfort, strength and love during this hard time. This is his greatest gift to the world. He gave these things to me when my grandson died and I knew he would do it again.

God’s peace inside me is something I want the world to know, because those who don’t believe in God don’t realize what they are missing. I wish everyone would give God a chance to show them what he can do. He is light, love, mercy, forgiveness, peace, and joy.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”   Isaiah 26:3

Have I always had perfect peace? No. It took me many years to learn to trust God. I had been abused as a child by my father, so learning to trust God was very hard for me. But the longer my mind was, “stayed on God,” the more I began to trust. I used to rage and wail against the dark things in my life, but no more. I’ve found that in the deepest dark I am actually learning and growing as a person. And God is there standing beside me, giving me strength and hope.

God says:

“I have upheld you and carried you since the day you were born. Even to your old age and grey hairs, I am he.

I have made you; I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”     Isaiah 46:3,4

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Who Told You that You Were Naked?

 

The vast majority of people in the world do not want to walk around naked. For one thing, unless you are a movie star, your body isn’t flawless. How would we behave if someone came up to us and stripped off our clothes while we were at the mall or walking down the sidewalk? Embarrassed and ashamed are the first words that pop into my mind.

 I was listening to Hunter Beless’s podcast, “Journeywoman,” last week. (My absolute favorite podcast.) She had Nancy Guthrie on as a guest. They were talking about Ms. Guthrie’s book, “Even Better than Eden: Nine Ways the Bible’s Story Changes Everything About Your Story.” During the conversation, they talked about Adam and Eve’s nakedness after they sinned. That got me thinking.

I have seen many paintings of Adam and Eve done by long gone famous artists. In every one, Adam and Eve are walking around the Garden of Eden stark naked. This has always felt weird to me, because Adam and Eve themselves thought they had clothes on!

Here is an excerpt from the Bible:

“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 

 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”  And he said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’ 

God said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’

(Now begins the blame game.) The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’  Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”    Genesis 3:8-13

Apparently, Adam and Eve were covered with something. You can see from the story that they hid from God’s sight because they were ashamed of their nakedness. I would guess they had been clothed with garments like the angels wear: white, bright and beautiful.

Why did these garments disappear? Because they had chosen to betray God and listen to a snake rather than him. They had turned against him by desiring to also be gods. When they did this, the covering from God left them.

This event is actually an allegory of what happens to us when we spurn God and go our own way through life. We are like soldiers going out to battle naked and alone. We have no defense against our enemies, human or spiritual.

But God can be our defense. As he made clothing for Adam and Eve out of animal skins, so he will clothe us with the blood of Jesus. Those animals had to die so Adam and Eve could be covered. Jesus had to die so we could be covered with his sacrifice. The penalty for turning from God is eternal death, because if you choose to live without God, there is no life after death here. God is the creator of all life and without him we cannot live.

 But Jesus took that doom for us on the cross. He said to his father, “I will take their place and give them a way of escape. I will be nailed, naked on a cross, and anyone who comes to me for covering will one day come to heaven and live with us forever.” (My own words.)

 Jesus did die naked on a cross. He was naked and bleeding, hung between heaven and earth, taking the fate of the human race upon himself.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”  Hebrews 12:2-3

There is a scene of heaven with God on his throne that Zechariah, the prophet saw. This scene shows the transfer of death to life for Joshua, the high priest at that time.

Zechariah 3:1-5

Then the angel showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

And the LORD said to Satan: “The LORD rebukes you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you! Is not this man a firebrand snatched from the fire?”

Now Joshua was dressed in filthy garments as he stood before the angel. So, the angel said to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!”

Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.”

Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So, a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him, as the angel of the LORD stood by.

I pray we will all accept this offer of forgiveness and acceptance from God. He is longing for you to accept him. Please give him a chance to show you what he is like.