“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. You ought to say instead, “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)
Last night at our house church a new guest attended who goes by Maggie. Our time together discussing God’s Word flowed out of my ODC Daily Devotion I wrote earlier that morning one being dependent on God. During that time Maggie shared a story. She said she is a pre-school teacher. A couple years ago in her class room she tripped over a toy and fell and her head hit hard on the floor. So she went to the hospital and had a scan done on her head as a precaution. The good news was the scan found no damage from the fall. The bad news was that the scan showed she had a type of a large aneurism in her brain. The neurologist who examined her told her this. He also said there was nothing he could do for her here and sent her to Vanderbilt Hospital.
Maggie said the neurologist at Vanderbit told her that the aneurism was extremely dangerous, and it could “blow” at anytime, and if it does, she would die in a minute. He asked her how they found it? She told him about her fall. He said she was in one way lucky, this type of aneurism is rarely discovered until after it “blows” and the person dies. The neurologist told Maggie the surgery to remove from her it is very dangerous. He has done 11 of these types of surgery. 8 of the patients survived, 3 died as a result of the aneurism blowing before he could remove it.
Maggie researched the procedure and the surgeon, and the almost certainty her aneurism will blow, and decided to do the surgery. She told her family, prepared all the details of her funeral, got her things in order, then had the surgery. She survived the surgery. Afterwards the surgeon told her the surgery was a success and the aneurism was removed. However, he some bad news. During the surgery another smaller aneurism was discovered in her brain stem. Any attempt to surgically remove it would kill her so surgery is not a possibility. He said though this aneurism is not a large as the one removed from her brain, it still has a the chance to “blow” and when it does, it will kill her. He said this could happen in a day, a month, a year, 10 years, there was no way to tell. But at some time it will probably happen.
Maggie is not under any king of medical restrictions. And she said she tries not to think about it daily. She just thanks God every morning she wakes up and then tries to live each day to the fullest. Maggie has an amazingly strong faith and love for Jesus. She said her situation has drawn her closer to Jesus, and she prays with power. And her prayers always included praying over those who do not yet know Jesus. She said when the inevitable happens, she is ready.
My family, Maggie’s story reminded me that time is precious and each day is a not guaranteed but a gift I pray this story reminds you of this as well and encourages you to pray powerfully over those you know who do not know Jesus, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
