Night 2 - Pre-surgery

Lacey has had a decent night's rest, however she's had more nausea and vomitting over night. She has had two major episodes of nausea and vomitting. Once about 2am and another about 530am. The fever seems to be down and the chills and tremors have not occurred through the night. Last temp at 655am was 98.7. Her heart rate is now 89 and it has came down from the 120's since the fever has subsided. She is quite restful now, very weak, and difficult to even communicate with due to large doses of medications required for her severe abdominal pain. I am sitting at the triple window on the 6th floor watching the sun rise over the Mississippi River as I typed, thanking God for another day of life and vitality. He remains faithful and He continues to bear us up. Today should be a day of rest for Lacey with hopefully less visits from nurses, lab techs, radiologists, surgeons and other medical staff. Yesterday was tough for her due to the high volume of staff and tasks to be done throughout the day. Please pray she will rest comfortably. Also seems that the antibiotics are working or either the inflmmmation from the injections is settling because temp has been normal through the night.

As I meditate this morning, I can only think of the Exodus 14 account of Moses leading the Isrealites out of Egypt and out of the hands of the Egyptians. The Lord had hardened the heart of Pharoah and the Egyptians continued to pursue the Isrealites to the region near the Red Sea. The Isrealites grumbled toward God and Moses requesting that serving the Eyptians would be better than dying in the wilderness. Deliverance wasn't immediate. All hope was gone for the Isrealites, but the meekest of men, Moses held strong to the Lord's promises and continued to seek God. In verse 13 Moses said, Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord," and in verse 14 Moses said, "The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace." Then God told Moses to lead the people close to the shore of the sea. After all hope was gone for the Isrealites and they were submitting to serving the Egyptians or dying, God's timing and Moses' submission delivers them and His glory is magnified. Verse 18 follows : "and the Egyptians have known that I am Jehovah, in My being honoured on Pharaoh, on his chariots, and on his horsemen." Verses 19-20 And the messenger of God, who is going before the camp of Israel, journeyeth and goeth at their rear; and the pillar of the cloud journeyeth from their front, and standeth at their rear,20 and cometh in between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and the cloud and the darkness are, and he enlighteneth the night, and the one hath not drawn near unto the other all the night. Here's where I apply! The Isrealites waited and were protected all night by God, and then with sunrise, came the parting of the sea and the crossing into Canaan.In verse 16 God finally tells Moses to "lift up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand towards the sea, and cleave it, and the sons of Israel go into the midst of the sea on dry land." Then the Egyptians pursued and God caused the wheels to fall off their chariots as Moses held out his rod and the walls of water to the right and left closed in on the Egyptians.
Here's application for me: We sit in this room, tired and worn, Lacey in pain and nauseated. We've been hospitalized for 37 of the last 50 days. We feel like we're at the banks of the sea, encamped between waters and enemies. Our lives at times seem to have no way of deliverance. But as the sun rises each day God renews our strength and as He controlled the winds and the currents preparing the sea to part, He's controlled the winds and currents of the tiniest details of our lives, preparing us for deliverance. We press on. Our faith is not as the Isrealites who grumbled wanting to submit to Egypt and Pharoah or die, but I, like Moses will say "fear not ,stand still, see the salvation of the Lord." I am trusting His providential hand as I watch Lacey suffer seemingly encamped on all sides by pain, nausea, confusion, fever, chills, and total weakness. Her deliverance is near. God is good and all His ways are good. Praise be to Him.
Please continue to pray for us. Also pray for doctors and nurses that will be caring for Lacey over the next few weeks.