Back in the hospital again

Merry Christmas to all and may the blessings of the Lord be on you and your families!

I was given a painful reminder that the testimony of the Lord is an ongoing process. That it is not complete until the time when we go home to be with the Lord.

I don't know exactly know how it happened, but I started experiencing pain on Sunday afternoon and evening, and by late evening (10:30 or so) that it got to be unbearable. So my mom and dad took me to the Texas Med Clinic where it was initially diagnosed that I had had a hernia and was sent to the emergency room to have a cat-scan to confirm it.

So we went and was admitted where there was a time of  waiting (when is there not waiting in the hospital), where I got acquainted with my old friend morphine which made the pain subside and allowed me to at least get some sleep.

So after the scan and some probing, it was found that there may have been a blockage caused by bad eating habits combined with the fact that due to the surgeries of '08 that my intestines may not be the same as they used to be. So what they decided to do was to take a pump and go through my nose to my stomach and drain out stuff that way.

But praise God the process worked and by Tuesday morning, the doctors were saying that I was feeling well enough to be able to have some breakfast and lunch and by late afternoon be released to the care of my family.

There was a couple of reminders that the Lord gave through some of the things that I went through:
1. As I said before, the testimony of the Lord is an ongoing process, that we cannot just rely on the lessons of the past, that we must continue to grow and learn from the Lord what He wants in our lives.

2. His continuing faithfulness...when I am faithless, he is faithful. When I stray from Him, He remains the same. When I am hurting, He comforts me. Thank you Lord for Your reminder of what You told us in Hebrews "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever"!

3. The difference of when one has Jesus in their lives-Unlike my previous experience, this time around I had a roommate and through seeing his reaction to certain things,  I could tell that he was not a believer or if he were that he was not a strong believer. And the thought came back to me, "Do I sound like that to the Lord when things happen to me?"  And I thank the Lord that even through the worst of the annoyance that I had to put up with that there was One that I could turn to with my concerns and needs.

So on this, the day when many celebrate the birth of the Lord, let us be thankful for His coming and His continual presence in our lives!