The Most Normal And Useful Thing

My goodness! Has it actually been a month? And do I have any excuse for neglecting my Blog? 

I think so. How about a quadruple heart-bypass! I thank my God that my heart was strong and I did not have any damage prior to the operation. My docs tell me my recovery should be quite successful and six weeks after the operation I will dive into the physical rehab side of it. Even now I am walking a couple blocks each day and moving about, very slowly of course. 

I am finally finding enough strength to return to my computer and start thinking about something other than how nauseated I felt. But you don't need to hear about all that. 

What struck me moments before I was unconsciously wheeled into the operation room was what my surgeon, Dr. Mark Mettauer, did. He took hold of the hand of his anesthesiologist and she the hand of my daughter and so on. As they all stood around me holding hands Dr. Mark offered a prayer, humbly asking our Lord's blessing upon him, upon those who worked with him, upon my recovery and upon our family. It was the last thing I really remember until I awoke in the recovery room. 

To date, his prayer and that of many, many others, has been answered. 

What a wondrous truth is ours. Our Father in heaven hears our prayers offered in the name of Christ. I take great comfort in that truth and wait for His continued guidance and renewed strength in my recovery. 

I like what Oswald Chambers wrote long ago when he said, 

"The grace you had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. Grace is the overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being available to draw upon as needed. ". . . in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses"— that is where our patience is tested ( 2 Corinthians 6:4 ). 

"Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you saying to yourself, "Oh well, I won’t count this time"? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say, "I will endure this until I can get away and pray." Pray now — draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer."

My days are filled with this most normal and useful thing. May yours be as well.