Living Life by Design

Before I was finally cleared for spinal ablation surgery for my neck, I was hopefully addicted to pain medication. The pain had gotten so incredibly ferocious, I was taking 3,600 milligrams of Gabapentin per day, synthetic morphine every 4 hours, and Norco ever 4-6 hours. After surgery my doctor didn’t say anything about tapering the medication, so I didn’t. The pain of the compressed disc was gone but my adventure was just beginning.

I spent two weeks in a fetal position, rocking back and forth contemplating subside. The feeling of hopelessness was 100 times worse than the pain I endured before surgery. It was the most horrific experience of my life. 

Two years later when a second disc in my neck failed, and the pain began to intensify, I cried out to God to intervene. He did so by sending me my own daughter. She encouraged me to try CBD’s which helped her with nocturnal epilepsy. I was very reluctant but agreed. To my utter and complete surprise, I was able to endure the pain with only CBD and extra strength Tylenol. After surgery, I had zero pain, no withdrawals and for two weeks only took Tylenol. 

I’m not writing this to encourage anyone to try CBD. I write this to show how faithful God was, and continues to be in answering my prayers. I had a choice to make, and I chose to accept what God had provided me even though it wasn’t in the way I expected. It was much like the following joke I’m sure you’ve heard before…

“A man fell overboard a cruise ship. When the ship didn’t stop and try to rescue him, the man was confident and said to himself, “God will rescue me.” A short time later a boat cruised by. One of the crewmen yelled, “We’ll throw you a line.” The man in the water said, “No thank you! God will rescue me.” The boat continued on its course. A short time later, another boat came by. For a second time, the man yelled, “No thank you. God will save me!” Finally, a helicopter came flying overhead and dropped a ladder. The man for the third time said, “No thank you! I’ve put my trust in God. He will save me!” So, the helicopter flew on. Finally, the man drowned. As he stood before God, he asked: “I put my trust in you Lord to save me. Why did you let me down?” God looked at the man perplexed and said, “What exactly did you want me to do? I sent two boats and a helicopter!”

God answers prayers. It my not always be in the way you want, but His answers are always the rights ones, in the right time. Be open…listen to Gods Holy Spirit as he speaks to your heart. Don’t miss the blessing just because it didn’t arrive according to your specifications.

TODAY…Relax…Trust God, and keep breathing in and out. Don’t get them mixed up.

Do yourself a favor. Take the first boat…