Summer Lessons

A Foggy August Morning

I already knew this, but had this lesson reinforced in my brain in August:

God Still Answers Prayer!

I received word of not one, but two, amazing miracles this month.

About nine weeks ago, my nephew, who had a drug problem, got ahold of a “bad drug.” He ended up in the ICU with liver, heart and kidney damage and was on a ventilator. Things looked grim. Doctors thought he would be needing dialysis for the rest of his life because they felt he could never make the kidney transplant list.

Our family asked for prayer from believers far and wide. Today, his liver is healed, his kidneys are healed, he is off dialysis and out of the hospital. He still has a way to go; but we are praising God for hearing our prayers and answering. Best of all, he is testifying to God’s goodness, attending church, and is in a Celebration Recovery group.

About this same time, I received word of another amazing story.

In mid-June, a prayer request came in for our prayer team at church to pray for a friend’s 19-year-old son who had suffered a heat stroke in Texas. His temperature had risen to 108° and he endured multiple stokes. Days later we received word doctors said the boy was brain-dead and advised ending life support. We all prayed for the family for comfort and assumed the boy died.

Never assume!

Weeks later, we learned he was alive, Not only alive, but in a wheelchair conversing with family. We were sent a picture of him waving at us!

Then a couple praise-the-Lord’s on a smaller scale:

We have been waiting fo-evah for a check from our insurance company on Jim’s medical tests from LAST fall. I was thinking to myself … “Time to scope out a different company when open enrollment happens.”

I prayed a couple weeks ago, “Lord, please let us get a check this week. You know we have all these bills and also need some work done on the van, At least $400 would take some pressure off.”

The next day, the check came.  $1300!

God is good.

So, the van was put in the shop with an estimate quoted of $420 to fix the problem.

Total Bill: $148!

He’s good all the time!

I share all this to encourage YOU. You can take all your needs to Him. Will the answer always be Yes? No, sometimes it won’t be in our best interest for God to say Yes. But if you are a believer, you can be assured He hears and He will bring good out of every situation you are in. (I’m not making this up – read Romans 8:28.)

And sometimes, He has an even better answer than what we requested.

Going a Different Direction

This summer, I’ve been privileged to be part of a Writer’s Club led by a local author. It’s been a game-changer for me.

As my readers know, I mostly write devotional type essays along with a good dose of memoir. (I always figured this stuff happens for a reason, I might as well write about it.)

But the Club has opened my eyes up to possibilities of writing fiction. I’ve been dipping my toe into the waters, so to speak, and I’m finding it tons of fun.

In the last week, inspiration has struck. I’m working on a project so consuming, yet exciting, it has swallowed up my available writing time – hence the quietness on the blog.

There will be posts o’plenty during the month of October when I join the Write 31 Days challenge, so please stay tuned!

Has August been a month of answered prayer and inspiration for you, too? I’d love to know how it’s going for you. Leave a comment and share, or link your own post to Emily’s 

What I Learned This Summer community.

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