Cont. Again...

Sunday - August 22nd - Do you see the pattern here? Dad wants to go home. Dad is weak. He needs to go to rehab. to get his strength back. He cannot go to rehab with a morphine pump in. He has to have the morphine pump to control the pain for the kidney stone. They cannot get the kidney stone out because it would cause an infection that would compromise the pace maker. He has to have rehab to get his strength back so he can go home!

So - in essence - everything seemed to hinge on the kidney stone! So after all - it was Sunday... I decided to take it to prayer.. and I called my prayer partner Shar.

You know how you have friends who say that they will pray - and they forget... I have done this.. :0( And you have friends who do pray if they tell you that they will ...but it is kind of like "Prayer Lite" ... I am guilty of this as well.. well - Shar is different and I am trying to from now on - be different too. When you ask Shar to take something to prayer... man oh man... she marches it right up to the alter of God... and that is exactly what we did ...right then and there... together.. as I was driving down the road ..on my way to see Dad!

well - right smack dab in the middle of her prayer ... a kind of picture popped into my head (without me instigating it) ...looked kind of like a geode rock...and it cracked... I saw it ...and I heard it. It was so astounding to me that right in the middle of Shar's prayer...I exclaimed:
"I just saw it crack!!! Dad's kidney stone just cracked!!!"

Well - we continued to pray and agree until the praying was done and we said good-bye. I got to the hospital...and there was Dad..poor pitiful Dad.. sitting in his chair.. groaning every time he tried to move.. and looking kind of tired.

For those of you who do not know my Father... he is a retired brain surgeon - a Neurosurgeon....and a highly respected one at that.. He is a take charge kind of man but kind to the core. One time called himself "the captain of the ship of our house" (That was met with laughter ..because anyone who knew us - KNEW Mom was the real captain!!) Anyway ... with all his "smarts'..and all of his education..sometimes you had to prove something to him before he would believe it. He was raised Christian an dhe raised us in a Christian church...but he had his doubts about many things in the Bible. It could be hard to share things with him if you were only talking about something believed for in faith..as I was believing for his stone to be loosed.

I started to talk to him though... I said,
"Dad..do you remember several books that came out several years ago having to do with the power of positive thinking?"

He nodded yes.

"Do you know that the people who wrote those books did not come up with the idea on their own...and that in fact - it is clearly written in the Bible that if 2 or more people believe & pray for something that is in accordance with God's will - it shall be done for them?"

He nodded no.

"Well it is true Dad...and I just do not believe that it is God's will that you sit and suffer with this dag blasted kidney stone for 4-6 more weeks! Repeat after me:..KIDNEY STONE - MOVE - IN THE NAME OF JESUS!"

"Kidney stone move in the name of Jesus." he repeated in a weak voice.

"Dad, can I pray for you?" I asked timidly..

Usually a request like this was met with a lecture. I know ... I grew up with this man.. But - I think he was (as we Southerners say) bent over a rock... and willing to try prayer!

I asked him to take my hand and put it where it hurt the most. I closed my eyes and started to pray. The words seemed to come effortlessly. I quoted a few scriptures and declared our faith. It did not take too long - maybe all of 3 minutes before I came to a close. Just before I said Amen... Dad started to pray. He added.."Thank you God for giving me such a kind angel of a daughter." He opened his eyes and we both said Amen!