God's Ways are Higher - Isaiah 55

It has been quite a ride the past 36 hours. It's midnight, the second night after my dad's surgery and I am sitting in his hospital room listening to him sleeping.

Surgery was quick and it took all I had to not think about what they were doing in that operating room! Losing a limb is a pretty severe thing, but dad has a cousin who visited him today that has terminal cancer - and dad said that he would much rather lose a limb than going through what his cousin is experiencing. All in the perspective we have about our lives, I guess.

Dad evidently has a pretty high pain tolerance because I just never saw him in agony as I imagined that he would be. Of course, pain management has become so much more effective than it used to be. He has been trooper so far. His outlook on life is so positive and he chooses to look at the possibilities instead of the limitations.

Last night was a long night, as you may well know if you have ever stayed with someone who had just gotten out of surgery. It is always wise for a family member to stay especially the first night after surgery. There's so many things that can go wrong, there's so many things they can help the loved one do, and if you are one that counts on hospital staff to do everything for you...you will have a rude awakening. (Now for all my friends that work as nurses and such at hospitals, you know that you are the "exception" to the rule ;)

The lounge chair that I had last night needs to be thrown in a dumpster somewhere. It was malfunctioning and because of that, I really got a workout the many times I had to get up to care for dad during the night. I wrestled and wrestled with that chair until I was exhausted. Dad slept almost 3 1/2 hours straight at one point during the night, and I was so thankful for that! The only downside was that he was on one of those pain pumps where you give yourself a dose of pain medicine by pushing a button. So after a couple of hours, I got up every 20 min to administer pain medicine to him, so that he would not wake up in really bad pain!

At 6:00 this morning he had to change the "site" for his insulin pump, and the Nurse's Assistant was fascinated to watch him. He was wide awake by then and gave her a front row seat to how he could change the pump and reinject himself with the small needle into his stomach. During that time, I observed him talk to her about Jesus Christ, and find out that she was a Christian. He quoted some Scripture and pretty much had her encouraged for the day when she left the room!

A few minutes later his nurse came in and he also asked her if she was a Christian. In those predawn moments, I witnessed my dad encourage two ladies with his story and his obvious love for the Savior, plus give a lesson on how to reconnect an insulin pump. Ah, my dad! He does love people! They kept saying, "We need more patients like you, Mr. Lennon. You're just different."

My mom arrived rested about 10:00 this morning and I headed home, a little numb from lack of sleep and emotional strain from the past few days. I fell into the bed about 12:30 this afternoon and slept until 5:30. I did lament missing the beautiful sunny afternoon here in eastern North Carolina, but not enough to stay awake for it.

Jeff worked diligently around my parents' house today - fixing this, cleaning up that, and also helping to start the construction of a lift in my parents' garage. My dad already has an electric wheelchair scooter, and now we need to make sure that we get a lift in order for him to be able to get into the house. There are a few adjustments that will need to be made in the house, and I will stay down here this week in order to help my mom figure it all out.

Tonite dad asked me to read some Scripture to him. I read Isaiah 54 and 55, and we talked about the truths found in those two chapters. Afterwards, we had a great time of prayer, lifting up our family and this unknown future to the God whose ways are higher than ours! It is an immense pleasure to minister both spiritually and physically to my dad.

So now I am going to pull out this much improved hospital lounger and try to get some sleep. I am quite aware of the needs that a caregiver has to take care of herself in order to be effective for the tasks required of her. And as I listen to my earthly father sleeply soundly in his hospital bed beside me, I will curl up in my Heavenly Father's arms and do the same. HIS GRACE REMAINS SUFFICIENT!