God’s Grace in the Unexpected

I hope you have been having an enjoyable summer. It has been a whirlwind for us.  I haven’t been posting a lot lately so I wanted to explain what has been keeping me a little busy this summer.

We have had some unexpected events this June and July.

In June, my husband was in a bicycle accident when a dog ran out in front of him. Oh my! Thankful it wasn’t worse, he had 4 broken ribs and a fractured clavicle. After hospitalization and surgery on his collar bone, there was recovery. It was hard to see him in so much pain. We were blessed with friends, family, meals, and prayers! They are the best.  I learned a touch of what it is like to be a caregiver. My children are in their teens, so it has been a while since I have had to take care of someone. My husband is a hard worker, so he went to work the next Monday after we arrived home from the hospital. He is not one to stay put very long. I helped him dress and get ready for each day. For a while in the evenings he slept on the couch so he could sit up. Every sneeze was horrendous for him.  Each day he could do more for himself like tie his shoes, put on a belt, take off his shirt. He couldn’t run, bike, swim or workout. But he could walk, which is what I like to do. So we spent time together talking and walking. We were together more and I think our marriage has grown stronger as a result of all this. God can bring good out of anything! He is back to work at the office, but not at his police job as of yet. He is still waiting for the okay from the doctors. Pray that the doctors have wisdom and discernment in this area and Joe has the patience to let his body heal completely.

On July 14th, my 85 year old mom went in to the hospital for a perforated ulcer and had to have emergency abdominal surgery. My daughter and I went up the next day and stayed with her while she was in the Critical Care Unit until they eventually moved her to another floor. She was in and out of it at times, but my mom and I told one another we loved each other as often as we could. I was glad we could be there.  After four days, My daughter and I came home with the rest of my family who came to visit. We live about 4 hours away. My brothers and sisters are giving me updates. Yesterday they found she was having bleeding. They gave her blood, but it wasn’t helping so they ended up putting her on life support and did an angiogram to try to find the source of the bleed. They found an ulcer in her small intestine and cauterized it. Her blood pressure is better now. She is resting and still on life support.  Please keep her in your prayers. She has gone through so much. We all were an emotional mess yesterday.  I prayed God’s will be done, and he brought her back to us.  He is not finished with her or us yet. He is such a Good God!

So this is some of the unexpected I have had this summer. To keep updated you may follow my twitter account at https://twitter.com/joyfaithstreng I have been putting updates on my twitter account and been very blessed with prayers and support from my twitter followers.  I may not be able to get to my computer and get it in a blog right away, but I do post each day on twitter.

Through all this I have felt the Lord’s grace and peace.  He still keeps blessing us amongst the trials.  I don’t know how people do it without the Lord our provider.  My mom has accepted Christ as her savior which gives me peace of mind as well.  Even though I would miss her like crazy and will sob terribly if something happens to her.  I know she will be in good hands and I will see her again one day.  That is a peace beyond understanding.  That is God’s grace.

I thank you in advance for your prayers. If you have prayer requests let me know.  I would be happy to pray for you as well.

Praise the Lord! He is so Good!

Blessings,

Cheryl Bippus