Daily 511

Photo by  Zoltan Tasi  on  Unsplash God never promises an easy life, a perfect life, a life free from struggle.  In fact, he promises us the very opposite- a life with trouble. John 16:33   New International Version (NIV) 33  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome  the world.”  His promise is that He and therefore us in Him  shall OVERCOME and be VICTORIOUS.  But what does overcoming look like?  It's not a life free from illness, grief and loss. If life is perfect, there is nothing to overcome.  The dictionary has some insight into what overcome means: succeed in dealing with (a problem or difficulty). "she worked hard to overcome her paralyzing shyness" synonyms: get the better of, prevail over,  control , get control of, get/bring under control,  bridle ,  tame ,...

Friday morning, March 15th 2019, I was laying in bed, determined not to get out of my warm cocoon until the last possible moment, when my son burst in the room, "An FMC nurse wants to talk to you."  It took a few seconds to register, but then the alarm went off in my head.  The voice on the other end of my phone sounded worried, "We have Jay in emergency.  It appears he is having a stroke.  We have given him clot busting medication and are having him life flighted to OSU.  If you leave now, you may be able to see him before they take off." I don't remember getting dressed but I ended up in the ER just moments before they whisked him off to the helicopter waiting for him on the roof of the hospital.   Thankfully, my son was home from college on Spring Break and could drive me the 45 minutes to the hospital.  I was greeted at OSU by a neuro surgeon.  "Jay has a clot in his brain.  He will have the best outcome if we go in and remove ...