20 Things I Learned From Hip Replacement

This guy would make anyone feel better.
Thank you to my friends for gifts and cards,
emails, text messages, phone calls, prayers...

1. I am so brave.
2. I am such a chicken.
3. I am such a baby.
4. I AM able to survive surgery.
5. I CAN wake up from anesthesia.
6. Surgery makes you tired for a long time. Rest, rest, rest is important.
7. Other people's prayers give me strength when I can't pray for myself.
8. Being still, calm, and patient while recovering is very hard.
9. Downton Abbey seasons one through four are a delightful distraction from pain.
10. My man, Rick, is an awesome nurse with a killer soup recipe.
11. Replacement hip joints are big, and they are AWESOME!
12. My body is amazing to be able to accept this new part.
13. Arthritis no longer exists in my hip.
14. It has been 4 weeks and I feel good and can walk without limping.
15. I can shave my ankles, and put my socks on by myself!
16. God heals through surgeons and surgeries, too. It is as much a miracle as a creative miracle.
17. It is probably NOT a good idea to tell your husband, while he is driving you to your surgery, what song you want played at your funeral in case you don't make it. (If you must know, it is "Tennessee Stud" by Johnny Cash. Hey, I like it. Good memories....)
18. It is a good idea to remember angels are with us as we go through surgery.
19. It is a good idea to pray and to know that God is indeed with you and your surgery team.
20. The surgeon does his part in making needed repairs...but it is God that brings the healing. I am thankful for the surgeon and the Healer!

Our bodies are uniquely created to heal themselves. I love it that this is even possible. God is so brilliant a Creator. I have been given a new chance - a new lease - on life. What will I do with that?

Have you read my book, "Tapestry - The Divine Design For Your Life?" There is a message for you in there - and for everyone - no matter where they are in their relationship or non-relationship with their Creator. Buy it for you!! Gift it to someone you love. You can read part of it by clicking here - and order. Bless you!

My St. Patrick's Day Miracle

Angel Kisses

The wind howled as the snow piled up on the dark highway, blinding the young driver who strained to see beyond the headlights. Interstate 70 remained open just for her as she maneuvered the ambulance through the storm. My husband sat next to her, encouraging her, and I sat in the back, hooked to machines while an EMT kept me awake till we got to St. Anthony Hospital in Denver.
That was 10 years ago today – St. Patrick’s Day – when a car accident tried to take my life.  Highways were closed and Denver was at a standstill with accumulations of 6 feet of snow in some areas.

While in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit in a daze of shock and morphine, I remembered driving alone, falling asleep, careening off the highway, and tumbling end for end through a rancher’s field – all the while hearing someone who wasn’t there telling me “you’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay.” Though my vital signs dipped, I had no feeling of not being okay. Loved ones waiting at the hospital prayed. Soon the surprised doctor would mention something about the prayers working.
The ensuing days and weeks were met with painful healing, therapies, and efforts to overcome a concussion. Other life events threatened my sanity. But slowly...surely...the wholeness returned. I was "okay." I was alive. I would see my children grow. I would hold and hug my grandchildren.

Today, I am still certain I was miraculously saved. Not only that, but I was saved for a purpose. Hence, I now have a fun goal to live out the dreams God has placed in me. And I am so blessed by and thankful for my friends and family who I, in turn, hope to bless in the years I have left.

So...do I now know my destiny...my purpose? Well, I'm closer. I believe it has everything to do with my dreams. And it also has to do with communicating three simple, profound words. GOD IS GOOD! Jeremiah 29:11 (What dreams has God placed in you?)
Order my book, Tapestry - The Divine Design for Your Life

Take Another Little Piece of My Heart

Did you know that God talks to you? He is always talking to you. Are you hearing? Are you listening for Him?

I was praying the other day and I heard in my heart Janis Joplin singing her famous “Take Another Little Piece of My Heart,” and it made me laugh. God knows that I need humor and joy in my life, and He sometimes uses what is familiar to me to teach me something. I asked Him what that was about. And soon something was in my thoughts I would never think up myself.

I felt like God was saying “When you cry out to me for help, I will respond. When you give me a piece of your heart, I will replace it with a piece of mine.”

We are made in the image and likeness of the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He wants to go deeper with you. Can you imagine how I felt when I understood that every time I sought God for help in my circumstances in the past, He was exchanging my heart with His? His Spirit lives in those who have made Him their Lord. Our own spirit is able to communicate with His Spirit. The Bible says that our prayers are lifted up to God and the Holy Spirit presents them with utterances that God will understand – even when we ourselves do not know what or how to pray about something.

What a mighty God we call Father.

Papa God – you can have another little piece of my heart today, and tomorrow, and the next day. 

Sadness in Colorado

As I write this, the television coverage of last night’s tragedy continues to describe the horror. Children dead and critically injured, a married couple dead, more than a dozen killed and more than 50 injured at the hand of a seemingly intelligent young man who had no previous criminal record. President Obama wonders what could possiblly move a person to hurt another human being. Candidate Romney has put in his thoughts about the living God bringing comfort. People all over the world are listening. People all over the world are praying.

What does motivate something like that? Incomprehensible. Tragic. Horrific. All words that continue to be uttered as witnesses and reporters describe what happened.

My heart is so sad. So sick. Everything within me is wanting to fight, yet what are we fighting? The only answer to President Obama’s question is - no human being could do something like this to fellow human beings. Pure evil is as real as our living God. It is a battle that has waged, according to the Bible, from before the foundations of the world. How do we respond as humans?

We can talk to the One who is able to bring the only comfort, peace, truth, light, life, healing, and love, that can transcend the pain of this time. Prayer works. Intercession works. Allowing Him to love others through us works. Times like these make us hold our children closer; count our blessings; and bond even with strangers. God is with us. He loves us. He loves Colorado. He is present. He will prevail. He is good.

God bless Colorado.