In the world we live in where there is strife and rumors of war….
we are prone to seeing the bad in people and not
recognizing the good…

Wednesday started just as any other day….
Mid afternoon came and we got
ready to go to town and do some shopping and
then get ready to go to Bible Study that night….
I was rushing to get things done so that we wouldn’t be late to church
….I was just ready go through the big double doors at Walmart ….
My mom was sitting on the bench waiting for me…
.and when I pushed the cart through the doors….
My world changed….

My heart gave a couple of big beats like it was changing gears and
then it started racing---and I knew I was in trouble….
The lady at the door wanted to know if I was alright and I said no…
she then asked if I wanted a drink of water and again I answered no….Pretty soon she called the stores Managers and they asked me
 if I was ok….

After a few minutes they called 911 and within minutes 4 emergency technicians were coming through the door….
I asked someone to call the church so someone could be with my mother….My pulse and heart rate had still not returned to normal----
I had originally thought they said it was 250 but in ICU they said 280….They were ready to give me a chemical shot of some kind to
 try to get the heart back into rhythm and if that didn’t work they
 were going to shock me. But first they asked me to push really hard
like I had to have a bowel moment- which I did several times as instructed. They explained later that when you do this the body sends some sort of message to the brain and the heart converts back to
normal or does in some cases…

They didn’t leave the parking lot until they had an IV in me ,
it was during this short amount of time I saw four men that were
not only highly skilled at their jobs, but they had taken it a step
further , they we able to show care and compassion and concern …
They were able to make me in an uncomfortable situation, comfortable….When Jesus walked this earth he showed compassion
 to all that followed him…I saw Jesus in that ambulance…
through the eyes of these men…

I am going to write four thank
 you letters to these four outstanding young men and An open
 letter to the editor to the local paper , commending them for what they did…Many people are skilled at what they do, many are even good at what they do. And some are excellent in their chosen fields. But these men could reach out and touch me in other ways, in ways that when you are sick and in trouble, you take note of and appreciate.

I guess you could say a real good friend came from the church
 to be with mom, I choose to call him family….He stayed the whole time.
 It didn’t matter if he was sitting there quietly or talking to me. His presence and his love was all that was needed to help pass the time.

Every test was ran to see what was the cause of this…
Blood tests, X-rays, EKG’s, A Sonogram of my heart, some
tests were taken more than once. No reason was found for what had happened to me…I was asked if I was in pain, if I felt pain at the time,
 if I was dizzy, etc…My answers to all this was no. My heart rate
 was still a little to fast so after laying for hours in the ER I
was admitted to ICU…And more blood tests were ran.
I was hooked up to everything. In the ICU I meet my
night shift nurse---What seemed to be an angel sent from God…
 My day shift nurse was just as sweet.

Gene and Mom left when they admitted me to the hospital.
It was well past midnight when they finally made it home. I lay all
night unable to sleep, getting more tired by the minute, but sleep would not come. By this time I was more worried about the bill than about anything else…

As I lay in the ER and later in ICU I prayed to God. During
this whole time I felt nothing. It didn’t seem like my
prayers had reached Heaven….I say this cause I am a person
 that usually feels Gods presence in a mighty way. And I longed
 for that sweet presence now, for his anointing to fill the room;
 yet I felt nothing.

It was during this time in the long dark of night;
 that I learned that God hears our prayers and answers them.
 That Even when God is SILENT, it doesn’t mean that he is not
 there. God had everything in control from the start of the day to
the time I really needed him. My body had converted itself to
 normal rhythm or so they say. They could not find a reason
 for this episode, and after extended tests they found no damage.
 I had drank a lot of caffeine an hour or so before this happened.
 I am not a caffeine drinker…The caffeine got the blame. I don’t
 know if it was the caffeine or not, or Did God heal what was
 meant for harm.

As I lay on the ER bed I looked up to God
and said I know God your arm is not to short, you can still
reach out and touch me today, just where I am. And I know
that your nail scarred hands are still reaching out to touch us
 and to heal us today. So whether or not the caffeine was to
 blame is not important, I don’t care… What I do know is that
 this could have been critical, I could of very easily walked over
 into glory and been with my daddy that raised me and went
before me, and my father in heaven that has prepared
 a place for me.

What I know is that I could have had lasting effects from a serious incident but they could find no damage. And once again I
 will remember that even When God is Silent… He is there…
He is there for you and me…Sometimes we think we need to feel to believe…Sometimes we think we need to feel to receive…
This is not so…because in the long dark night when you
think you are all alone and nobody cares, God cares, and he has compassion for you…Again when Jesus walked this earth, he had compassion on them all….

That same Jesus is alive and well …
His word has not changed and time has not stopped that crimson
flow that flows Calvary to each and every one of us….
Jesus is alive and well in this earth that we live in…
He is our great physician…he is on call 24/7…
And because HE LIVES we can have life
and life more abundantly….

Be encouraged…when life seems to be weighing you down
and you cant go another step forward…When you
He is working SILENTLY behind the scenes for you…
For his love and his compassion never fails…

Linda Owen.
Copyrighted. All rights reserved.
Used with permission.

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~The Writers Pen~

Each week we will be presenting a new

offering of literary talent. If you have

an article, poem or devotional you would like

to submit, please email it to me, and I

will give it prayerful consideration.

This section will be updated weekly, so

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