Last Monday seemed like a bleak day. We were gathered for our monthly ISI DFW Staff meeting. Usually a good thing. But on this particular Monday, several things were weighing heavily over us. Little did we know that God was going to use this to grow our faith…

Our colleague Derrah, spend the last couple of weeks struggling with a medical situation with his mother Polly. This normally vigorous nonagenarian recently fell on a outing with her Sunday school class and then later again at the ER. This was very uncharacteristic of her. The result was a couple of hematomas in her head. Then they found out that the reason she fell was that she had a couple of silent heart attacks in weeks previous and a part of her heart and lungs were failing. Fearing a stroke because of the hematomas the doctors did not want to do surgery but her body had other ideas. She began to suffer from dizziness and disorientation. They couldn’t figure out what was going on. Bounced from the internist to the neurosurgeon to the cardiologist, it was looking bad and she was getting progressively worse. Some said seizures, others, pressure from the hematomas. About the only things they “could” do was surgery to relieve the pressure. Surgery seemed out of the question… She would not likely survive it. But, by last Monday, she was determined to have surgery to relieve the pressure. Whether it was successful or not, it would be a win for her… to be with the Lord or to “hopefully” get her functions back. So on Monday, we were praying for Derrah to have courage and wisdom to do the hard but right things in the spirit of her wishes.

At the same time, our colleague, Ministry rep, Pat Bradley had struggled through some things too. Earlier in the week she had heard from her doctors that they would not treat a condition that caused her constant pain because there was nothing left that they could do. She felt the need for prayer from elders. One of the other staff shared both of these needs with me and we decided to devote much of our meeting to praying for her and Derrah’s situation.

Be began by praying for Derrah, and then we prayed over and for Pat at our meeting. It was very intense. In addition, we have had our network of prayer warriors on both of these prayer needs for several weeks now. It was clear God was there. His presence was palpable and it was exciting. But at the end of the meeting, Pat got a call and we found out that her also nonagenarian father had a stroke. Oh man… we let her go and prayed over lunch for her. On Thursday, both situations came to a climax and we just happened to have our staff Christmas party. Neither families were there. While we had fun a the parties, we were all aware of the life or death situations going on in the lives of two of our compatriots… We prayed then too…

Then… we began to see God work… at the end of the party, we got a text message from Derrah saying Polly made it through surgery… Then we started hearing reports that she was progressing quickly. Pat shared with Derrah that since the prayer, her pain was much reduced. Wow… what was going on? God answering prayers the way we asked… in His will? Pat’s dad, while still very bad, was walking and stuff… she was able to be his advocate… By this Monday, the storm clouds, while still present, seem to have dissipated much in energy. Things are better… and God not only answered ours but your all’s prayers!!! Below is an e-mail sent by Derrah…

Dear Friends and Family,

God continues to answer prayer in unbelievable ways concerning my 90-year old mom (Polly Jackson). Tonight she came home with us—discharged from ICU to HOME! Five days ago a surgeon drilled two nickel-sized holes into her skull to relieve pressure to two large subdural hematomas. For the five days before that she could not speak three words together, remember anything, walk, or use her right hand… and more than one MD was ready to write her off at that point as incurable with brain damage and to send her to a nursing home to die! The hospital social worker met with me to arrange it. But God has other ideas…

Despite not having walked for 10 days, today she got out of bed at the Physical Therapist’s request and walked the equivalent of one city block unaided except by her walker. She took care of her own toilet needs, needed no more nursing care on her two head incisions, and was stable on all her meds and vital signs… so they let her come home! One nurse in ICU told us that instead of four DAYS, most folks who had what she had spent four WEEKS in ICU.

The hospital was full and there was no bed for her on regular nursing floors. Since she no longer needed ICU, and I asked the MDs what prevented her from coming home. They shrugged their shoulders, and I said, *Let’s make it happen.* And they did! So at 6:00 p.m. this evening, we drove mom home… by God’s love and grace… and in answer to your faithful prayers! The unbelievable happened. Her neurosurgeon was amazed!

How can we say THANKS sufficiently to you for your prayers and TLC? Simply give us the privilege of praying like that for YOU and your needs!

Below is a pic of mom taken tonight. Pam gave mom a pink cap a friend had given Pam recently to cover mom’s shaved head and keep it warm. Mom said, *I always wanted to be able to wear a ballcap!* [One of the reasons she made it to 90 may be that kind of positive attitude in the face of adversity!]

Derrah (for Pam and Mom too!)