“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all; how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32
The last time that I sent or posted a message of encouragement to you was the morning of April 10; around 5 AM. You didn’t know that I thought I was having a leg cramp when I hit ‘send’ and went back to lay on my bed and eventually called 911 as the cramp took over my right leg and left it feeling like a sandbag full of pain. A blood clot behind my knee had made its way into my foot and after a quick CTE scan, I was at the hospital in Urbana, IL by 10:30 AM getting prepared for surgery. My right leg was amputated about 6” above the knee. Four days later my surgeon operated on my left leg placing a synthetic artery to the right of my knee and rendering the blood clots behind that knee no longer a problem and saving my left leg. After being released from the hospital in Urbana weeks later to the Carle Rehab facility in Normal and then I was finally released after spending 35 days in a hospital bed. I am now residing in an Assisted Living facility in Bloomington, IL near my daughters and it is time to start writing again.
I chose the above passages from Romans as they touched on many of my feelings the past months, and also caused me to consider what our brothers and sisters in Christ living in Haiti are going through as their lives are being turned upside down with the increased gang violence. How can that get worse? I’ve read the Haiti news every day on my phone since April 10 and any good news from Haiti is difficult to find as violence is spreading to other parts of their country. And they have no place to turn for protection. They have Jesus for they only hope. I am in a wheelchair now with my stump, hoping for a prosthetic leg later this year. That I am hopeful for, my real hope, like my friends in Haiti, and prayerfully yours as well, is Jesus. When darkness seems to cover most of your life, turn to the only true Light in this fallen world; our Savior…Jesus. HE is risen!
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay