He Knows My Every Move

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you." 

 Psalm 139:14-18

Sunday morning at 4 a.m. I woke up with abdominal pain. I thought that it was just a bug and that I would be feeling better once I got up out of bed. The pain began to increase and my mobility decreased. Finally, I was in such immense pain that I began to weep. I told Kendall that I needed to get to the emergency room at a nearby hospital. Our fellow missionary, Cindy, came and picked me up and took me to the ER. When I arrived I was in such great pain that it was almost unbearable. 
Quickly, the sisters (nurses) began to draw my blood and give me medication for the pain. The doctors immediate diagnosis was food poisoning, but I knew that this pain was quite unique and more unbearable than food poisoning. He was not so sure about his diagnosis, so he called the surgeon to come to the hospital. 
Cindy went home and she and her husband, Truitt took care of our kids so that Kendall could be with me in the hospital. Robyn, another missionary friend, fed my kids and made sure that they were well taken care of as well. 
We waited, and finally, Dr. Robert Zulu arrived. He was not the surgeon on-call, but he was the doctor that God wanted to see me. After a few minutes of examination, he informed Kendall and I that I was going to have to have my appendix removed within the next hour to hour and a half. We began signing papers and prepping me for surgery.
As we sat waiting for the theater (operating room) to be prepared and the anesthesiologist to arrive we just began praising the Lord for the many blessings that He had already bestowed upon us in this situation. Just then, the phone rang, and another fellow missionary, Josh called and told Kendall that he came to sit with him during my surgery. Kendall and I were overwhelmed with the outpouring of love from our mission family. Later, I found out that Kevin had come and Suzie had emailed the whole mission and that the missionaries at the International Bible Study had prayed for me.
The surgery went so well, the surgeon was a Zambian man and the anesthesiologist was a Russian man. God had orchestrated these men to take care of me. The surgeon said after the surgery that if it had been another 3 hours my appendix would have ruptured. After my surgery, these missionaries came to see me and prayed over me, Paula, Betty, Franklin, Dwayne, John, David, and Janet. Then another Zambian man that did not even know me came and prayed over me. GOD BLESSED ME WITH AN AMAZING MISSION FAMILY! Our whole Zambia mission family came together to lift me up to the Father.
That night, David and Janet spent the night at the hospital with me. The next day and night, Betty spent the night with me. Mat and Janet from Malawi also came to pray with me in the hospital. 
I walked out of the hospital on Tuesday morning with Kendall and attended our annual mission prayer retreat. We have so much to be thankful for!!! Here is the list in no certain order: I was IN Lusaka near a hospital, our mission family was in town and helped with our kids, our mission family came together to minister to all of us, our mission family and many people in America prayed for my quick healing (which is a miracle!), the surgeon that I had took great care of me and was kind, the sisters (nurses) were a blessing, I was able to pray and share words of encouragement with those in the hospital with me, and that through ALL of this, GOD REMAINED FAITHFUL, LOVING, CARING, and HE NEVER LEFT ME!! I felt His presence in amazing ways that I will never forget. Please join me in PRAISING the Father for His AWESOME handiwork in keeping my life and protecting my every step! HALLELUJAH TO THE CREATOR!!