{"id":8318,"date":"2015-02-09T07:42:25","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T12:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=8318"},"modified":"2015-02-09T07:42:58","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T12:42:58","slug":"signs-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/signs-healing\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs of healing begin to appear"},"content":{"rendered":"

“He healeth all our diseases…” (Psalm 103:3) <\/strong><\/p>\n

In the old Western novels, cowboys are taught that once a wound begins to itch, healing is on its way.<\/p>\n

On January 23, a little over two weeks ago, my wife had what appears to have been a pulmonary embolism which triggered a cardiac arrest.\u00a0 That was a Friday and on Wednesday night, with the counsel of doctors, my family made the decision to unplug life support.\u00a0 My wife of nearly 53 years had not responded to any of the stimuli and treatments.\u00a0 A physician friend said to me later, “Your wife died in the nail salon on Friday.”<\/p>\n

It would appear so.<\/p>\n

I’ve wept ever since.\u00a0 We had a memorial service on Monday, February 2, and family members have been helping me with a thousand and one details.\u00a0 Two wonderful ladies from our church spent the day here last Friday cleaning the house from top to bottom.\u00a0 I’m still eating meals people brought.<\/p>\n

And I’m still weepy. I asked a friend, “When do the tears stop?”\u00a0 She answered, “I don’t know yet.\u00a0 Jim’s only been gone 14 years.”<\/p>\n

I do not grieve for Margaret. She was living with such pain and infirmities, and now that is all gone.\u00a0 She is with the Lord, out of this pain and misery and dancing with the redeemed of the ages, if God’s Word can be believed.<\/p>\n

I’m betting my life that it can.<\/p>\n

A large number of people assure me they are praying for God’s healing for me.<\/p>\n

Healing.\u00a0 What a nice concept.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When I was a kid growing up on the Alabama farm, sometimes in the woods out of sheer devilment I would cut a vine that had wrapped itself around a small sapling, and unwind it. It fell to the ground and left the sapling standing. I found it fascinating to study the indentations where that vine had impressed itself into the small tree.<\/p>\n

That’s me without Margaret. Almost every detail of my life had revolved around her, everything from buying groceries to cleaning the house, to scheduling speaking invitations, to transporting her to appointments with physicians, clinics, therapists, and medical supply stores.\u00a0 Margaret enjoyed hearing these articles and almost invariably her suggestions were solid. She knew the meaning of more words than I and had an innate sense as to when a word was wrong.<\/p>\n

And now, all that is gone. As I say, I do not grieve for Margaret; my tears are for Joe.\u00a0 In a long lifetime, this is the first time I’ve ever lived alone.\u00a0 It will take some getting used to.<\/p>\n

Signs of healing begin to appear….
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today I prayed for my pastor who after ministering so faithfully in our crisis now has to move on to the next family who needs him.\u00a0 We remain here, stuck by our grief and trying to deal with this house (and my life) suddenly made empty by my wife’s abrupt departure. But Pastor Mike moves on.\u00a0 So I prayed for the Lord to strengthen him and use him with the other families as He did with us.<\/p>\n

That’s a sign of healing, that my thoughts are not for my grief alone.<\/p>\n

I pray for my friend Jack, lying in that hospital bed in Monroe, Louisiana, the cancers spreading faster than the doctors can catch them.\u00a0 His precious wife hovers by his side, and keeps all the prayer supporters informed.\u00a0 Jack is a deacon and Marian a Bible teacher; I baptized them both over 40 years ago and treasure their friendship.\u00a0 They are much on my heart and in my thoughts.<\/p>\n

Last night late, I got out of bed and wrote down something the Holy Spirit was saying to me. The note reads:<\/p>\n

“Her work was done, but mine goes on.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I find that comforting and consider it a reminder straight from the Father.\u00a0 Margaret had taught her last Bible study, had encouraged her last pastor’s wife, had supported her final ministry.\u00a0 Now, the Father took her home.<\/p>\n

My work goes on.\u00a0 And what work is that?\u00a0 I wrote this down:<\/p>\n

“Preach the Word.\u00a0 Love my family.\u00a0 Write these books.\u00a0 Draw some cartoons.\u00a0 Encourage the faithful.\u00a0 Witness to the others. Give to the needy.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Repeat as necessary.”<\/em><\/p>\n

This morning early while walking in the neighborhood I realized that I could host a Bible study in our living room.\u00a0 Years ago I led one down the street in another home, but this time I can host one.\u00a0 While Margaret was sick, this would have been unmanageable for a thousand reasons, but now….<\/p>\n

So, the healing continues.<\/p>\n

So thankful to a thousand friends for ten thousand prayers.\u00a0 So ready to encourage someone else going through this wretched valley of tears.\u00a0 God is faithful, and I want to be also.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“He healeth all our diseases…” (Psalm 103:3) In the old Western novels, cowboys are taught that once a wound begins to itch, healing is on its way. On January 23, a little over two weeks ago, my wife had what … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death","category-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8318"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8330,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318\/revisions\/8330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}