Thankful Thursday

Yesterday the kids and I spent the day sprucing up the house (they're home on Spring Break). We cleaned and cooked, readying ourselves for out of town company.
Our friends, Pearl and Dale were coming for a visit! We hadn't seen Pearl and Dale for years.
We've known them for a long time - Mike and I worked with Pearl over 20 years ago. We didn't really know her well...she worked in one area and we worked in another - Mike probably knew her better than I did.
But, about 20 years ago I painted a mural on the walls in their church up in the rural town where we worked. I didn't know that their church had prayed that anyone who walked through the doors would accept Christ. Power prayer, that was!
I ended up attending that church - where Dale was the pastor. I became best friends with their daughter, Connie. Eventually, I had problems with the relationship I was in and Connie's husband left her and her children so we moved in together. It was kind of like college - we did a lot of shopping together and fun, shared clothes - it was a lot of fun! We stayed up late playing cards and made dinner together. We talked about EVERYTHING!!!! We never had the trouble you hear about two friends having when they share living space. Never. We remained the best of friends.
It was during that time that I started dating Mike, and she started dating her current husband, Victor.
Her parents became evangelists and did remarkable things in the power of God. I mean, REMARKABLE. Pearl had an aneurism burst between the two halves of her brain and she was in a coma for months in a hospital in Green Bay. The doctors said it didn't look good. If she did wake up, she would probably be a vegetable. Mike and I were there when they told Dale. Dale had kept himself in a seperate room, because he claimed that everyone's negative attitude was affecting his faith. When the doctor gave him the news he looked the doctor in the eye and said, "I appreciate what you're doing, but I don't accept your report! You don't know my God!" Mike and I went away from the hospital thinking, Poor Dale. He isn't facing reality. Don't get me wrong, we believed God's Word. Dale just has a GIFT OF FAITH and we had seen him exercise it plenty...shame on us.
Anyhow, of course Pearl recovered. It wasn't difficult for God. It's a miraculous story. If you're interested, there's a condensed version you can read here. She can do math problems in her head that she couldn't before. They are really simple people. They lived in a trailer back when we knew them. Now they travel to Africa and the Philippines to train pastors and build churches, and all over the U.S. to put on evangelistic conferences and prayer meetings. God is good.
So, they were passing through and wanted to stop by, so we had them over for dinner. It was so good to visit for several hours with good friends! My kids don't remember seeing them, because the last time they were physically here, the kids were toddlers, but they've heard stories. Pearl and Dale wanted to especially pray for me and my MS. You see, Dale called me a few months ago - he told me God told him to call. I was weeping for all the things he told me - things he couldn't possibly know unless he'd been divinely informed. He encouraged me to hold on to certain Scriptures and then told me that he was giving himself a pep talk as much as me, because he had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I was speechless. How could this be? Last night, he told me he had one treatment and decided that wasn't for him. He never went back. A week ago, he went for his check up and they said that his blood count was 100% normal! I should not be surprised!
So, last night I was prayed for. You could feel God's Spirit in the room. My kids hung on every word Dale said all evening...but the best part is that they participated in the prayer meeting. It was powerful.
Last night Bridgette said I felt like I had a fever. This was before I took my injection (which gives me a fever). I told her that maybe something was going on up there in my brain. (Let's hope!)
Late last night, I logged on to my computer. I had a voice message from a friend. (We have Vonage. If we are on a call and we don't answer a call-waiting beep, it will record the voice message onto the computer...so you never miss a call.) It happened while Dale and Pearl were here and we were praying. Nobody was on the phone. The phone never rang. I tried the phone from my cell...it was working perfectly. Hmmmmmm....
So, the phone never rang - but it took a message - but not on our answering machine, but our computer...so nobody was disturbed during our prayertime. Thanks, God!
Dale warned me that I had to operate in faith and fight for my healing every day. I've been praying for it the whole time...and my friend Michelle and I go around about this - because it is so much easier for me to believe for other people's healing than my own (but I'm going to stop that thinking RIGHT NOW!). This morning, I dared to try to touch my nose with my outstretched pointer finger (like a DUI test), because I haven't been able to do that by a long shot since I've been diagnosed...I've always hit my cheek or my eye...seriously, it's horrible! I had no problem this morning. I was frozen in...not unbelief, but truly something like shock!
All I can say is God is good!
And, I had to put up this post...because it was an amazing night! I'd say unbelieveable, but that would be faithless, wouldn't it? lol