We had a wonderful Christmas as I pointed out in the last post here. It seems though that with the New Year there came a trial of great darkness, and I am so thankful to know that the Almighty God is in completer control.
Madge, ie., my wife had a cough for quite some time, a month or so as a matter of fact. We had been praying for her healing, and she was taking over-the-counter products and would get better for a time, but then, it would return. One morning early in this month, I was sitting at the computer, doing some study, prepping for Sunday morning’s message or Wednesday evening Bible study; and Madge was at her sowing machine sewing clothes for the grandkids. She broke out into a cough and could hardly get it under control. She went downstairs, and sit down in her recliner, and continued to cough. A short time later I went down to see how she was, and she didn’t even look too well. That is when I told her, “I am taking you to a doctor”.
It ended up with our oldest son and his wife taking her, so I wouldn’t miss driving my evening school bus run. That was Madge’s idea, not mine. Under the circumstances they could have found me a sub, and I could have been with her, but there was no way of knowing how long we would be at the doctors office; without an appointment.
When I had returned to the Bus Garage after the evening run our daugher-in-law called me on the cell, and told me they were still in town (at five p.m.), and they had taken her around 1 p.m.. They were wanting to catch me before I went on home, and let Madge return with me. The diagnosis was not good. They had did an Xray and found bronchitus, a bit of pneumonia, and the aorta of her heart was enlarged. The doctor scheduled a CT scan for her a couple of days later. With that scan they found anuerism (spelling?), which was quite frightening to her and myself.
A few days later, I think February 04, I came home a little later, due to a thorn in the sidewall of a brandnew tire on our car, and getting that taken care of; to find her sitting in her recliner with all the signs of a heart attack. I took her to the emergency room of our little county hospital, and according to their EKG, she was not having any problems. They did however, give her a couple of nitro pills, which seemed solve the problem. They let her come home, and she seemed improve all day long.
The first doctor who had saw the enlared aorta sought a cardiologist to do further test and such on her. We went yesterday (February 18, 2008) to see him. They did an EKG there and the cardiologist saw signs of a previous heart attack. That occured the day I had taken her to the emergency room where they found no problem. Wednesday, tomorrow, she has to go back to Springfield to have lab work done, and then to have a sonogram of her abdomen to check for any further anuerisms or such problems. On Thursday (Feb. 21) she goes into Outpatient surgery for an angiogram, and the doc said if they find any blockage they will repair it while doing the prob.
Probably needless to say, I have been angry, fearful, upset, doubtful, weeping, praying, asking why?, and yet fully knowing it all is in the hands of our faithful Father, God, Healer, Redeemer, Savior, and Lord. Much of the anger that I have had has been toward God. He doesn’t deserve my anger, and I am so glad He is merciful and gracious. He is my Father through the Lord Jesus, and I am thankful that I can come or go to Him like a little boy, angry, hurt, upset, and ask Him “Why?”, and He takes me in His arms and loves me, and that is all the answer I need.
To give you an example of that following that emergency room visit, I was very troubled, perplexed, somewhat worried, and just wondering, “What in the name of the Lord is going on?” When Madge and I went to bed that night we slept well. We haven’t lost a minutes sleep through all of this, and to the Lord we give the glory for that. As a matter of fact, I think Madge is sleeping better than she did before all of this started. Anyway, when I got up on Tuesday morning following that ER event, I got right into my daily devotions, which is mainly hearing from God in His Word, as I read. I was so blessed in the reading that morning, just sensing the presence of the Lord, and absorbing what I read, hearing the Lord speak. That doesn’t happen every morning, but this morning it did. It wasn’t until later, that I realized the whole morning was different. I asked the Lord what it was, and in my heart I heard Him say, “Peace”. Oh, how I rejoiced. My rejoicing is mostly with joyful weeping. Sometimes the presence of the Lord just overwhelms me, and I weep.
Anyway, I write all this to hopefully encourage anyone else who might be going through a similar or worse time. I think I choose to praise Him, the Almighty, through this trial in our lives. He has saw us faithful and able to stand for His name, and that is where I will forever stand, by His grace. For many years, and at many times I have ended in my personal prayers, “Father, what ever it takes to make me like Jesus; do it.” I pray He is doing it, and He is merciful.
That is what is going on in this Blankenship family. Please pray to the Lord Jesus with us.
-by Tim A. Blankenship
