Two weeks ago many prayers were answered when I received a phone call from my friend Mike. Mike has been seriously ill since last May when he was found unconscious on his kitchen floor. I have been praying steadily for Mike, my angry agnostic friend. For months, I sent him e-mail messages and phone messages every couple of days, simply telling him that I hoped he was well and I would continue praying for his well being. I asked him to drop me a line when he could. Mike sounded exhausted when he called. He was obviously very weak. He explained that on most days he did not have the energy to talk on the phone or write e-mails because he has been suffering from liver failure. He has spent the last year waiting for a new liver to arrive. He assured me that he received my messages and appreciated the support, although he stumbled over the word "prayers," and eventually settled on "good thoughts." He also explained that he has had a long year to contemplate his life and went to great lengths to assure me that facing his mortality had not provided him with a “Come to Jesus” moment. I assured him that I completely understood, but that I would continue to pray for him anyway. If he didn’t like it, he could get well, fly to Kansas, and kick my ass. This is pretty much what our mutual friend Andy said to him, as well.
Andy called me last night. It was the first time Andy has called with good news in years. Mike received his new liver on Easter Sunday. God has a tremendous sense of irony. Unfortunately, someone somewhere lost their life on the day before Easter. Fortunately, that person was an organ donor and their liver was a match for Mike. Mike is alert, healing well, showing no signs of rejection, and has resumed rehabilitating a left arm that was seriously damaged after being trapped underneath his body for those three days last Spring when he lay unconscious on the floor. I guarantee that the timing of his new lease on life has not been lost on Mike.
All glory and Honor belong to God.
Always.
9 comments:
I shall be praying that He do whatever it takes, even if that is putting Mike on the plane and a painful outcome for your ass. But a joyful outcome for your heart.
Did that make any sense?
That works for me!
"God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform." What wonderful news that could lead to a powerful testimony someday.
"What wonderful news that could lead to a powerful testimony someday."
I almost wrote that same thought.
Keep up those prayers. We love Him because He first loved us.
Sometimes God uses pain to draw us to Him. Never give up with the prayers.
It always seems odd to feel congratulatory about an organ switching bodies, and here it means someone had a very bad Easter Sunday, but I am glad for your friend, glad that modern medicine has made liver transplants possible, and glad that you can celebrate with someone who means so much to you. And this inspires me to recommend a book I just read: Cutting For Stone, by Abraham Verghese. If you or any readers don't like it after you read it, I'll take the blame. Hooray for you and yours, Arby. I am working on your haiku.
So glad to hear the good news on Mike. Keep working on him with prayer!
FANTASTIC news! :)
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