{"id":39,"date":"2014-05-17T21:43:56","date_gmt":"2014-05-18T06:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/?p=39"},"modified":"2014-05-18T01:48:50","modified_gmt":"2014-05-18T10:48:50","slug":"may-17-the-invisible-hand-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/?p=39","title":{"rendered":"May 17 – The Invisible Hand of God"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Most of us at some point in time approach a situation with fear that something about it will go wrong. \u00a0Sometimes we have a sense about what the problem will be and other times we just have a feeling of apprehension that we can’t really describe. \u00a0When this happens to me I pray as soon as I am aware of the apprehension I feel. \u00a0I pray for God to intervene and make the situation better.<\/p>\n

I am a person who firmly believes that God answers prayer. \u00a0I have also learned that the answer to the prayer is not always the outcome I have sought, but in the end the outcome does show God’s faithfulness and care for our situation. \u00a0Recently I cared for a patient who had suffered a stroke. \u00a0The patient initially did not want to accept the fact he had a stroke. \u00a0In his mind the diagnosis had to be a mistake. \u00a0Before we prayed he asked me to pray that God open the eyes of the doctors and have them see what was really wrong with him and stop talking about this stroke nonsense. \u00a0I paused before I prayed because in my own heart and mind the patient displayed the classic after effects of a stroke and I did not have same doubt in the diagnosis that the patient possessed. \u00a0My silent question to God was, “How to I pray in a way the patient will accept and also be true to what I believed about the situation?”<\/p>\n

I was inspired to leave the term “stroke” out of my prayer. \u00a0Even though the patient was bothered by the word, he was really more bothered by the symptoms he was experiencing. \u00a0He would accept healing no matter what the name of the illness was. \u00a0It took me a few more moments to frame the first sentence of the prayer in my mind.<\/p>\n

Then I began to pray, “Lord we are here today because __________ is here in our hospital knowing he needs healing. \u00a0The diagnosis he has been given is causing him anxiety. \u00a0Lord we know the preferred way for his anxiety to be eliminated is for all of his symptoms depart. \u00a0Lord help us through medicine and other treatment to improve his health. \u00a0Lord we also pray for understanding on the part of all who are involved in the care of this patient. \u00a0Let us be present for him emotionally as well as we are physically. \u00a0We seek your presence to bring answers to questions, and to bring confidence to take the place of fear. \u00a0This we ask in your precious name, Amen”<\/p>\n

The next time I saw the patient he said, “You’ll never guess what?” \u00a0As he continued he told me he now believed he did suffer a stroke because his body was responding positively to the treatment. \u00a0He was going to get to go home after a few days in rehabilitation. \u00a0When he left the hospital he only needed the use of cane to help him with his balance.<\/p>\n

God’s invisible hand was present as I see the case because the diagnosis remained stroke as it has been originally. \u00a0Once the patient saw he was getting better he realized he really was not nearly as opposed to the term “stroke” as he was to how he felt. \u00a0As he began to feel better his trust in the medical team increased and he poured himself into the therapy necessary to regain function. \u00a0I love seeing God’s invisible hand at work in our world! \u00a0Please feel free to post a reply with your encounter with the invisible work of God as you have lived it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of us at some point in time approach a situation with fear that something about it will go wrong. \u00a0Sometimes we have a sense about what the problem will be and other times we just have a feeling of apprehension that we can’t really describe. \u00a0When this happens to me I pray as soon … Continue reading May 17 – The Invisible Hand of God<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41,"href":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/41"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}