Guest Blog: Breakdown Blessing

On our way home from church Easter Sunday, our mini-van suddenly lost all power.  Everything quit working: the A/C, the dashboard lights, the power windows and power steering--the engine!  We were ascending a hill at the time, and we held our collective breaths and hoped we'd be able to crest the hill, which would allow us to coast to the bottom and turn into the parking lot of a local department store.  Thankfully, we made it.

I'm so grateful for this breakdown!  Well, not the breakdown per se, but more specifically, the timing of it. 

It could have happened seven hours earlier while we were on the freeway, on our way to pick Hilary up from the airport, home for the summer from college.

It could have happened after midnight two nights earlier, on our way home from picking Megan and her fiance Josh up from the airport.

It could have happened as Dallas drove to pick me up from my own flight home from Minnesota, close to midnight Wednesday night.

But it didn't.  It happened here in our little hometown, close to church and friends who were easily able to rescue us and take us home, our own trusted mechanic well within the 5-mile towing limit on our auto insurance policy.

Another of the Lord's abundant tender mercies.

X-Drive

The miracle of colonoscopy

Who would ever think of a colonoscopy as a miracle?  Maybe due to my age or lack of experience with such medical tests I certainly would not think of anything to do with a colonoscopy as a miracle.  But yesterday I learned of the miracle of colonoscopy.

My father-in-law slipped on the ice in Minnesota yesterday.  He hit his head and was unconscious for a few minutes.  He broke a bone in his ear which led to his bleeding in his driveway as he lay there unconscious.  The fall also caused some bleeding on his brain.  The initial good news was that all this happened with family there so he got loving care immediately and they were able to call 911 quickly so he got medical care as prompt as 911 can provide. 

Dad was scheduled for a colonoscopy and as a result he had to stop his Coumadin (blood thinner) a couple days ago, consequently his blood wasn't as thin and when his brain started bleeding it didn't bleed as much as thin blood would have managed.  AND because he wasn't taking his blood thinner he was immediately eligible for the surgery that was necessary to relieve the pressure on his brain caused by the bleeding. 

As I told this to a nurse friend of mine she said it was either a great miracle or a coincidence.  Maybe a better term would be what my wife and Elder Bednar call a "tender mercy".  I told my nurse friend that I preferred to think of it as a miracle and she agreed.

What is a miracle or a "tender mercy"?  I believe it is when things work out just like they should and you don't even know it until you look back and see what the Lord has done to your life.  With such a broad definition there are lots of miracles all around us.  Why not start looking for them and feeling the connection and gratitude to God who knows you and cares enough to provide those "tender mercies"?  Why not?  Speak up I say-- give it a shot and see the miracles that are making you into the person God wants you to be!

We don't yet know what long term impact this fall may have on Dad or Mom for that matter but we can only surmise that with the Lord's hand so clearly involved that it will lead to what He wants. 

Sometimes we fail to see miracles because they don't conform to what we wanted or wished for.  Needless to say God works miracles based on his view of what is best for us and as he said "for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Isa. 55:8)

My way would be that Dad would have caught himself and not fallen, not had surgery, not be in the hospital and instead we would be praying prayers of gratitude for his close call.  Obviously my ways are not the Lord's.  I still have lots to learn.