One Year Celebration!!

One year ago today, I was being wheeled into the Operating Room for my second open-heart surgery. This surgery brought with it fear, anxiety, and a knowing of how tough the recovery would be and how much pain was to come afterwards because I had already had the surgery once before. But we were celebrating this time because out of the pain came a new chance at life.

After spending over a year with a machine pumping my blood, plugging into the wall to charge my mechanical heart, wrapping myself in saran wrap to take a shower, pricking my finger every other day to test my blood thinness, doing sterile dressing changes every other day, getting the cord coming out of my stomach stuck on cabinets, do I need to keep going on? After all these struggles came the celebration that my time of difficulty had brought forth an opportunity for rest, growth, and strength.

God healed my heart during that trying time and one year ago today as I was being wheeled into surgery, I was already celebrating my life without the pump!! Although those first few months after the surgery were hard, it was also exciting.

Ray and I have been learning a song that we are going to share soon. It was brought to our attention through friends who have watched our journey and indicated that this song reflects our testimony. I hope you find the meaning in it the way we have. (Or maybe that you can find the meaning in it without having to find it the way we did. :-)

We pray for blessings, We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things


'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise


We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe


'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise


When friends betray us, When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home


'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching(s) of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise