FIERY DARTS AND FALLING INTO PITS

I tried to sleep in my bed last night, but, about every 20 minutes or so, that muscle/rib combo would clench, squeeze all the breath I had out, and Wendy would gently rub my back as I quick-breathed to get the clench to stop.

I had shown her the swelling in my right foot before we began the struggle to get me into some position where I might fall asleep; sitting straight up with at least three pillows strategically placed behind me to provide critical areas of support.

“We can see how it is in the morning,” I said in response to her suggestion that we get dressed to go back to the emergency room.

At 1:00, I moved back to the room with the recliner, finally hit deep sleep mode around 3:30 or 4:00.

She was standing in front of me at 6:45, dressed and ready to go.

“Here are your clothes. Get dressed. We’re going in. It might be a blood clot.”

She spent the night dozing, a little, and discovering, a lot, of life-threatening reasons for the swelling.

In the Emergency waiting room, I was reading my daily Through the Bible in a Year, and I came across this section of scripture :

“**They surrounded me like bees**; they went out like a fire among thorns;

in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

**I was pushed hard**, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.

The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭118:12-14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Hmmmm? Did you catch it?

You would probably have to have read my last few posts, but I said, “Wendy, look at what showed up in my reading today! Is that weird? That is the last couple of weeks, isn’t it?”

She had it on her Facebook page almost before I finished the sentence.

Here’s what I think.

Wendy’s dad told us at lunch that his mother used to tell her mother-in-law that every answer you need is in that book.

Here I am, reading a pre-planned Bible program that catches up with me, sitting in an emergency room, 6 days after being in an emergency room, after a violent fall from a roof (no, you can’t tell me I wasn’t pushed, because I know how the enemy works.) 6 days after having a violent reaction from a red wasp sting (bees? Fiery darts of the enemy? Come on! You can see that, right?) reading a scripture that talks about being surrounded by bees and being pushed and falling.

How could I not think that there is something divinely inspired by the words in this book and the ways and times I find them?

Oh, and the Lord is my strength and my song and my salvation part?

Well you have no idea how many people who carry His life are helping to carry us now, as we limp through this valley of horror and victory, sorrow and joy, ain and relief, despair and hope…

**Finding the goodness of the Lord

In the land of the Living.**

P.S. We are home with a friend delivered meal, a time of rest, and a prognosis of no blood clots, unseen injuries, or life-threatening fears to hold us.

P.S.S. If you don’t know this Life within…

and you want to…

He is inviting you to come on in.

Say yes.

You will never be the same.