Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Christi Redeemer



We were in a little Cessna flying over Rio de Janeiro.  It was breathtaking—the hillsides, the boats on the blue water with snow white beaches, the little villas, the Catholic churches with ornate steeples, the Christi Redeemer, and the lush green forests.  It was picture perfect clear visibility, and then...

A bank of clouds. We were cloaked in white, and it was only my sister and I in a single engine plane.  We hardly knew how to operate the thing, much less without visual flight rules. Panic rose inside me.

Enough panic to wake me from my dream. I wasn’t in Brazil.  I might visit a close friend there soon, but I'm not crazy enough to fly around in a Cessna with my sister!

So why did the dream leave me uneasy this morning?  I thought about two women in my life, both undergoing scary procedures today.  

One has an outpatient procedure to figure out why her throat keeps closing in which gives her scary episodes of blocked breathing, and another with a inflammation in her lymph nodes embedded around her lungs. It could mean a dangerous disease.  Both women are mothers with beautiful children who need them just as my children need me.

Illness can hit anyone out of the blue like the bank of clouds in my dream. That's scary in itself, but imagine these women having to trust doctors while they are put under. It's like turning off your visual controls in an airplane and trusting the air traffic controllers. 



4:30 AM.  Their surgeries would be in a few hours. You think, maybe my dream was a call to pray?   


Lord, please carry my two friends today as they go through their tests and surgeries.  Keep them and their families confident in it all.  These procedures take place everyday all around the country and the doctors are well practiced.  Nevertheless, only part of the confidence comes from their skill.  Most of our confidence is in Your Sovereignty, Lord.  Lord, I ask for Your special Presence in those operating rooms, and that these ladies and their families feel that Presence and are covered in warm confidence by It.  That You walk them through every moment of the procedures and move the hands that work on them with such delicate balance that the procedure gives them answers they need and does it in such a way that they are free of pain once the procedures are over— that they recover quickly and have answers from the tests. Answers that put them on roads to solutions that will have them living their lives and mothering their children just as they did before their health issues began in the first place. I love these families, and I love You, Lord, and I pray humbly believing.  Amen.

Amazing how I could then go back to sleep having accomplished what He woke me to do.  Praying for others relaxes your own heart and gives you rest in Him. We are carried in His hands and our protection is ultimately with Him, not in this world.

3 comments:

Kathy said...

Thank you for this post and your beautiful prayer. I think the analogy of the bank of clouds is so fitting. I have a young friend, mother of 2 little girls, who will soon be having brain surgery for an acoustic neuroma. Of course, brain surgery is a scary thing, even when you know and trust Jesus, as she does. I have bookmarked your post to email her just before her surgery. God intended to use you to bless people whom you don't even know today. Thanks for sharing!

Kitty @ Four Toms and a Mom said...

Thank you, Kathy.

My two friends came through their procedures the way God willed them to, with His protection.

Alicia (name changed) and I prayed her endoscopy down her throat would result in much less follow up pain than the surgeon suggested. Not only did God deliver, His blessing spilled over.... she is pain free when they were expecting severe sore throats to follow.

Brianna (name changed) is recovering after having a quarter sized tumor removed. Tests are being done on it. Please pray. She has small children. She's recovering well from the intrusive surgery.

Susan said...

Thanks for sharing Kitty... Praising the LORD for what He's done so far, and praying for the health of your friends. And, thanking God that they have a praying and sharing friend like you!