God has a plan

My husband, Jim, and I have been married for 40 years; therefore, his family is like my family. Actually, it was one of his sisters, Kathleen, that got us together on a blind date. She was my good friend and Jim was her little brother, away at college. A story for another time.

When Jim’s family hurts, I hurt. My sister-in-law, Judy, has hurt a lot in the past few years. She has lost her husband, her Mom and Dad -- one year apart -- her mother-in-law, and had a severe stroke that took months of recovery. Last summer, they said she needed a series of three serious surgeries to fix multiple aneurisms. The first surgery took place last August; the second was three days after Christmas; and the third on Feb. 28.

Judy recovered from the first and second surgery, but the third was another story. She never regained consciousness and remained in ICU for 39 days. The diagnosis is that even if or when she does become conscience, she will be paralyzed from the neck down. Last week she was transferred to another critical care facility closer to her extended family. Her only child lives nine hours away in Illinois.

We’ve had so many believers praying for Judy and I wonder what God’s plan is for her life. But the other day I realized that had she not been diagnosed with these aneurisms, I would not have felt the urgency to present Christ to her. She gave her heart to the Lord three days before the first surgery. If she has to lay there paralyzed, it is so much better than going to hell in a healthy body!

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Patricia Harvey