Unexpected & Expected

The sirens blared. Wild crazy winds and rain blasted against the windows as we
hunkered down in our safe place. Years ago I participated in the Community Emergency Rescue Team (CERT) training. I knew two separate tornados heading to our city to be dangerous.
My husband and I prayed for safety for our city, our neighborhood, and all the states in the path of the storm.
I hold a deep respectful personal awareness of the dangers of lightening and thunderstorms. I go on high alert. My Uncle taught Biology for many years and during the summers he worked as a lifeguard and I believe he was a Ranger at a State Park. During a frantic search for a lost swimmer he was struck by lightening while on the rescue boat. This episode stole his memory.
An unexpected event that changed his life forever. He had to relearn his content and create and maintain a booklet of all his business transactions. I am thankful he survived and adapted. Not everyone is so lucky when unexpected storms arise.

God answered many prayers during this past storm and we continue to pray for those who lost loved ones and all this world's belongings. We are thankful for the only loss we suffered was a 35 year old Hawthorne Tree in the front garden.

Sometimes an unexpected loss makes us remember the way things were. All the years we enjoyed the Solomon seal, daffodils, and woodland phlox. It reminded me of the Sir Duke dog path we made with stepping stones for that Vizsla of ours just had to traipse through every flower bed in search of bunnies! Sir Duke died the same week I retired. A sad unexpected event in our lives. And we miss him, but cherish the memories.

Easter is approaching and I also remember one of my favorite times in my nursing career when I worked at Duke University Medical Center. A beautiful picture of an expected end for a faithful family and an unexpected event for us nurses.

Johnny was only twenty-four years old and had suffered for such a long time. Cancer had eaten away at the left side of his face and jaw, and he was heavily sedated because the pain was excruciating. He had put up such a fight and his struggle was soon to be over.
Johnny's loving and supportive family stayed at the hospital night and day. They were people of prayer and great faith. They were so eager for his suffering to cease.
Not feeling the need to be in the room when he passed away, they went to get some sleep in the waiting room. They knew the nursing staff would be with him through the night.

Tight bonds of love develop between nurses, patients, and families in intensive care units.

Whenever a patient spends his last moments on earth in a hospital setting, he is seldom alone. Nurses have a tendency to draw near. One nurse was holding Johnny's hand and quietly talking to this dear young man as we all watched the EKG monitor above his bed. His heart rate began to slow severely and it wasn't long before his heart gave up the battle and the flat line appeared.

The very moment Johnny crossed over to eternity, the windows of the hospital room flew open.

Wide-eyed and covered with shock and fear, we nurses looked at one another in amazement. This room was located in the older portion of the hospital. The architecture was gothic stone and the windows were framed in black wrought iron. Not one of us had any idea that these windows could even open. Our minds began to try to find a logical explanation for this happening. We thought that perhaps a change in barometric pressure, a southern storm squall, a tornado, or some other weather event caused the windows to burst open.
But the windows opened to a lighted courtyard, and in the midst of the yard surrounded by landscape lights stood a beautiful tree. Not one leaf of that tree stirred. There was an eerie stillness in the dark of the early morning. It happened to be Easter.
We gathered our wits about us and made our way to the visitor's lounge to awaken the mother and sister. Once they were awake, I quitely relayed the anticipated news. "Your prayers are answered," I said. "Your son's suffering is over. It's Easter morning and you son and brother is spending it in heaven."

Without any hesitation whatsoever, the mother grabbed a hold of my arm and with a tremendous degree of expectation and wonder she asked me this question.

"Was there a sign? We've been praying for a sign!

Was there a sign?"

I looked at my co-workers and with tears in our eyes, I said, "Oh boy! Do l have a sign for you!"
I have always treasured the memory of that Easter so many years ago. I haven't any idea what the significance of this mother's sign was to indicate however, I will never forget her faith. She had asked God to do somehting extraordinary and He did. She was anticipating, watching and waiting.
Sounds like a strategy worthy of repeating in our own lives, don't you agree?
The unexpected events are a promise in this world of storms and warnings.
But we can live praying with expectation and wonder.
Stay safe. Know you are so loved. Our dear Heavenly Father does answer prayers and is with us all through the expected and unexpected. Always eager to carry our burdens and give us peace and rest.
For those of you who love the old songs, I found this family singing a favorite that fits so well with the season we are living through.

Enjoy the harmony of "When the Storm Passes By!"

https://youtu.be/D02oXVXUWwk?si=FnbSCzJ5qN4qXg-W

Thanking God for you and yours this Easter.
Blessings and Joy,
Dr. Donna

Matthew 11: 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.