(AMAZING) Grace

I don't even know where to start.

I got a call Tuesday morning from my friend, Julie. The first thing she said was "Can you help me?" I thought to myself, of course I can but before I could even say anything, she told me she would have to call me right back. Five minutes passed and as I was starting to get concerned she finally called me back. Then she proceeded to tell me that the reason she initially called me in the first place was to help her locate her husband. Huh? Then she told me the rest of the story. Earlier that morning she received a call from a man (whom she did not know) on Steve's (her husband) phone. The man called her by name, then asked if she was Steve's wife. To which she replied that she was. The man went on to tell her that he found Steve lying on the ground, in a semi-unconscious state. He had called EMS and they were en-route and were taking him to HVSH. She immediately got dressed and went up to the hospital. When she went in and said she was there for her husband, they told her they had no one there by that name. That was when she called me. She wanted me to call other hospitals to see if they had taken him somewhere else. When she finally called me back, she said that as soon as she got on the phone with me, someone stepped out and asked for her. So he was there, PTL!!!!

The man who found Steve "just so happened" (OK you know that was God's providence) to be an Army medic, with his entire medic bag. He was able to care for Steve and take his vitals while they waited for EMS. (AMAZING) Praise God! And what the guy saw was Steve drop as if he had been shot. That's why he turned around and went back.

On Monday of this week, my friend, who does a load or 2 of laundry a day, told her kids (she has 6, but we will get to that later) that they were going to have a "laundry day". This day consisted of 14 loads of laundry, but also ended with them having all clean clothes and no dirty laundry, so that when they had to not be home for a week there were no clothing issues. (AMAZING) What a awesome providential outpouring of God's love!!

Julie and Steve have 6 kids. They range in age from 14 to 3.5 months. In yet another act of God's marvelous working, their 5th child was in Florida with Julie's parents. This sweet girl is high maintenance. She is very needy of her momma and a little jealous of her baby brother's attention, I think. She is also a worrier. So for her to be enjoying Disney World, instead of worrying about her dad and wanting her mom was incredible. (AMAZING) This is not to say that it was better to have her gone, but it did make things a bit easier. And in this situation, every bit of easy was something welcomed and cherished.

The first diagnosis for Steve was a stroke. Multitudes of tests revealed that this 37 year old man was in total good health. There was NO REASON for him to have a stroke. Therefore, more testing ensued. The stroke happened in an area of his brain that controls motion and balance. This part of the brain is the one place that also can recover COMPLETELY after having a stroke. (AMAZING) This additional testing revealed an even bigger issue. He had a blood clot in his brain. Oh Praise God! And isn't this just like Him to allow Steve to have a completely unexplained stroke to uncover a potentially deadly blood clot. (AMAZING)

While Steve was in the hospital, he had a doctor that was assigned specifically to him. Not 14 other patients like most doctors, but one doctor, one patient. (AMAZING)

Thursday, when Greg got home from work, we piled in his big van and drove to where Julie's kids were staying that day. We were going to take them up to see their dad. So, we were in the big van - Greg and I and 8 kids. We were driving along a back road and there was this car in front of us that was going so slow.....I mean REALLY slow. I urged Greg to pass him, but he thought it would not be wise to do that in his van. When we got into downtown, we made a detour down a side street in an attempt to get ahead of this car. Guess what? He ended up in front of us again! Seriously? I wanted to get these kids to see their dad. I did not want to sit idly behind this freaking slow car! About 5 miles further down the road, the 3 cars in front of the freakishly slow car were in a huge accident, that we watched happen. That would have been us if we would have passed. (AMAZING)

When we got there with the kids, we walked into the room to find Julie crying. She proceeded to tell us that the clot was very serious and they were planning to take Steve by ambulance downtown to a neurosurgeon to have surgery THAT night. Wow. That was something I was not expecting to walk into, especially with all those kiddos. I asked Greg to step out into the hall with me and we started formulating a plan. He was going to take all the kids home and put them to bed and I was going to go downtown with Julie. I was not going to let her go alone. We went back in and started talking about this plan and the doctor walked back in. The doctor proceeded to tell them that she had talked to the neurosurgeon and he felt that they might be over-reacting a little. What? The neurosurgeon was going to review Steve's films and get back to them with what he felt they should do. So the plan changed. We would leave their kids there to spend time with dad, and they would call us when they heard. Then, if they had to go, Greg and I would go back up and he would take the kids and I would go with Julie. We went home and I told Greg I was going to lie down for a little while in case I had to go. I just laid in bed, fully clothed, praying for them all. By 8:30 when I still had not heard anything, I texted Julie. I didn't want to bother them, but I HAD to make sure they were taken care of. She ended up calling me back a few minutes later from home. I was glad that she was able to go home - that also meant no surgery. She told me that they were going to change Steve's medications and that the neuro team from downtown was going to come to Steve in the morning. (AMAZING) To not make him leave.....there were just no words. God is unbelievable, yet oh, so totally believable!!!! That was Thursday.

Friday the neuro team came and visited with Steve and the diagnosis was a "dissection of his artery". What this means is, first of all, there is no hole in the artery. Therefore, the clot can be treated with anti-platelet therapy and, hopefully, dissipated. Second, this means that the layers in the artery have separated from each other and blood has filled the gap. So if the clot is "dissolved", there is not a hole left to "bleed out" from. (AMAZING) They have not ruled out surgery entirely, however, they are going to try this medication course of action first. We are prayerful and confident of God's plan. Also, this medical team said that Steve was able to go home the next day - Saturday! Woo hoo! But the most awe-inspiring thing of all was what the neurosurgeon told Julie. He said there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASONABLE EXPLANATION why Steve had the stroke. The stroke and the blood clot are completely unrelated! Well.....we know why. We serve an (AMAZING) God, who sometimes uses irritating smaller things to protect us from dangerous bigger things. He is so (AMAZING)!!!!!

The other thing I encountered through this journey was the (AMAZING) outpouring of love from the people at our church. They are truly (AMAZING) and a real testimony of Christ's love in action. There were times that my phone rang non-stop for 2-3 hours, with people wanting to help Steve and Julie in some way. It was overwhelming - in so many ways. I felt like I lived on the phone, but with every new call, I was re-energized. I was so blessed to help my friend. I love her and would do anything for her. (I guess I would have to since she moved her whole family in with me for a week when I broke my leg) But seriously, I would. I wanted to make sure that her needs, and the needs of her kiddos, were met. The (AMAZING) thing of this is that it was not a "me" thing. It was the body of Christ, working together, to get the (AMAZING) done. I was so excited when people came up with neat, and different, ways to help. I definitely have so much to learn. But I have (AMAZING) teachers.

An instance of this, was shown on Friday in lunch. A lady from church, RT, was planning to have lunch with another lady from church, CC. RT was making and bringing the lunch to CC's house. When RT arrived with lunch, CC was amazed because there was so much food! It was supposed to be just the 2 of them, but RT made an entire roaster pan of macaroni and cheese and had different salads and sandwich makings. Well, wouldn't you know...Julie called CC (because she lives close to the hospital) and asked if she could take her boys. They were fighting and driving her crazy. Isn't that just like God, to have more food ready for those unexpected guests? (AMAZING)

Steve is not done yet. He has a long road of recovery, but he is home. God is good all the time, and definitely has a plan for Steve - that much is sure. We serve a truly (AMAZING) God!!! All praise and glory to Him forever and ever!