The only relatives I have left are my brother-in-law Tom, his wife Trudy and their family. They live in another state. We keep in touch but have not seen each other since Carol’s memorial service. Due to medical expenses I sent them an email that I couldn’t afford to exchange gifts this year. With her permission, I want to share Trudy’s reply.
“Hi Jim, please don’t worry about Christmas gifts for us. We are blessed in ways that have no bounds. I thank God every day for allowing me to have another Christmas with my family and friends. Last March I was taken to the hospital by ambulance with complete heart and organ failure. They did CPR on me for an hour and 15 minutes, broke two ribs. I had to have temporary dialysis and pacemaker. Spent 3 days on a ventilator and they told the family that they didn’t think I would have any cognitive ability If I came out of the coma they had to put me in. It was a miracle that God in his infinite wisdom just happened to put my heart and kidney doctors in the hospital ER when the ambulance brought me in. So in the grand scheme of things, we are truly blessed to have our family and friends who are still with us and appreciate and miss the ones who have gone on. We love and miss you and will talk to you soon. Trudy”
I knew she was rushed to the hospital and I prayed for her recovery but I didn’t know the details until now. The odds against those two doctors being in the emergency room at the precise moment her ambulance arrived are off the chart, but God’s timing is perfect. Over a year ago, Tom was hospitalized for tests and treatment when he suddenly went into cardiac arrest. Trudy sent me a text that they had just called a “code blue” and then put him on a ventilator. The next evening at a meeting of our Iron Men group, I asked for prayer for him. After the meeting I sent Trudy a text that 30 men had just prayed for Tom. Five minutes later she replied,“God heard you. He is off the ventilator and will be coming home in a few days. Please thank them for their prayers.” The fact that a medical response team was immediately available was no coincidence. It was God’s timing at work.
As I write this, I can close my eyes and remember clearly three times in my life that God’s perfect timing literally saved my life. Without going into detail here, I can assure you in each case there was no other possible explanation for what happened. It makes me wonder how many times God has imposed His timing to protect me from unknown dangers. That phone call or text as I was about to go out the door or that slow moving freight train that threw me off schedule just long enough for the danger to clear along my route. When you pray, never forget to thank God for His perfect timing and protection.