Praise the Lord!!!

I'm home from the hospital.In lien of a scripture page for this week I would like to share my testamony of the last several weeks with you.

I find that I am starting to get stronger now and as I set before my computer this morning putting my thoughts together I would like to share with you a little about my past weeks. As I said to several people even though I was walking down in the valley the Lord was there walking right beside me.

I will have to go back about three weeks when this started. It was by what I thought at that time a stroke of luck, but which I now know was the Lord that my problem was discovered. I came out from the bedroom on a Sunday afternoon completely disoriented. I ask my wife what she was doing up already as it was only six o�clock and she did not have to be to work till eight. I thought it was Monday morning at six AM. When in fact it was Sunday night at six PM. In addition I did not remember even laying down for a nap. My wife had gone to a bridal shower that afternoon and I was in the house alone. As a matter of fact the computer was still on and that was the last think I remembered.

I guess that sent a whole mess of warning signals to my wife and the next day she called the doctor. He immediately scheduled me for a carotid ultrasound. It was discovered that I had a ninety per cent blockage of my carotid artery on the right side and that this would definitely require surgery as if it was let go it could and probably would kill me. Let me interject a note here and say that I am sixty-six years old and have never been in the hospital before let alone for major surgery and yes I WAS SCARED!

I started to search the Internet for information on this including the Mayo Clinic and Meese Hospital in Tampa among others only to find worse news. There were no current reports the latest was 1996 but they were saying that the surgery could cause just what it was trying to prevent a stroke or death.

At this point Satin really began working on my mind and I was on my way to becoming a basket case. My daughter in Ohio who I talk to frequently on AOL Messenger realized this and sent me a scripture and told me she stands on it. It was James 1:6-8 "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed��.

"OK Lord I�m going to stand on this. I�m not going to waver" Yep Easier said then done. Satins attacks just kept getting worse. "You�re not going to make it Frank Your going to die on the operating room table. Say goodbye to your family. You won�t be around to see them anymore" Well I told myself at least I will be going home with Jesus, but I�m sure going to hate to leave my family. "Your going to have a stroke right on the operating room table. Your going to be a cripple or a vegetable for the rest of your life and on and on Satin kept attacking my mind.

At the urging of my wife I came out to church the next Sunday morning little knowing I was going to meet the Lord face to face. Pastor Terry was preaching about our asking God loudly all the time for things and that we ask for so much so loudly that we can not even hear his answer and that we sometimes should just shut up and listen for God�s small voice. At that point he asked the congregation to stand in silence bow there heads and listen for God�s small voice. At the very instant I done this the thought flashed across my mind "Do not be afraid, I will not forsake you" There is no way in the world that I would have been thinking this and I knew that instant that it was the Lord speaking to me. That was it, it was all over Satin LOST. Never again did any of his thoughts come into my mind.

On the day of my surgery I heard from the Lord again. As Sister Debbie and my family stood around the bed praying with me I got the thought "I will make you a instrument of my peace" "Well Lord I don�t quite understand that one and I haven�t got a whole lot of time now to sort it out as there ready to wheel me out the door we�ll have to talk about this one later" I found out later that Sister Debbie had told my wife that she had never seen anyone going for surgery that was as much at peace as I was. I didn�t even realize it at the time although when I look back on it now I remember waving to my wife as I went out the door and telling her I�d see her in a couple of hours like I was leaving for work and not major surgery.

Then on the final morning I was at the hospital I arose around five thirty as I�m sure you know no one sleeps in a hospital. I freshened up and while waiting for breakfast I thought of doing a little Bible reading. I had not brought my Bible with me as I did not expect to be there long, so I went to the drawer and found a Gidion Bible. I decided to read Romans 5 as that would be the next lesson in my Bible schooling when I got home and there the Lord summed it all up for me in Romans 5:1 "Therefore being justified by FAITH we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" Praise God there was the key FAITH It was there in James 1 "Let him ask in faith�" and faith has brought me through the valley with the Lord at my side. There will never be another doubt in my mind, our God is real, he is right there beside you to answer prayer and help you through the hard times, If you will JUST HAVE FAITH I don�t recall where I read it but Yes Faith will move mountains. God bless�.Brother Frank

By the way the Doctors feel that incident of memory lose was not even caused by the carotid artery, but by the iberprophen I had started taking for arthritis pain. But if it hadn�t happened the blockage would never have been found. The Lord had his hand in it from the beginning.

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