A little thought...

I was reading in Hebrews tonight and started thinking about this verse - Hebrews 2:3 "how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation." It sends chills down my spine to think about this verse. To me these are very powerful words! Three words stick out. The first one is escape. What do you think of when you hear the word "escape"? I think of people escaping a fire, a killer, a bad life. These things are all bad but there is hope for escape. However if we neglect Christ's offer for salvation we won't be able to escape. There is no escaping God's wrath. He will take vengeance on those who do not obey Him. It is serious and we must think about the consequences of our actions.

The second word I think about is "neglect." What happens if you neglect your marriage or even something simple like your flower beds? They die. We do not need to neglect our relationship with God or it will die. We will die in our sins and we won't have Christ to save us from that death. It is easy to neglect this relationship but it is in our hands. God has extended His offer and He is waiting on us to accept. His invitation is always open. So it is important that we do not neglect it but accept it on His terms.

The last word that sticks out to me is "Great." His salvation is great. It is something to be excited about because if we do not neglect His salvation we will get to spend an eternity in Heaven. What a great motivation to keep on doing what is right! Keep it up! Don't give up! This life is hard but we have a GREAT salvation if we will do what He wants us to do. A great salvation - do you want to pass it up for the things in this life? I can't think of anything that is worth loosing out on the only thing that will matter when this life is over!

It's been a L-O-N-G week!

Last Sunday morning I woke up, got everyone & myself ready for church. I wasn't feeling that well but wanted to go to church anyway. I was having a little pain in my back. You may remember in my last post that I had a kidney stone & was pretty sure that it hadn't passed. Well it was still with me & was on the move! When we got to church it started getting worse and I finally told Josh to take me home halfway through Bible class. I took same pain medicine and slept for an hour or two. Josh came home and put Jaiden in bed with me so he could clean house. Hannah was with Billy & Mary. It didn't take long for the pain to become unbearable! I was rolling around in the bathroom floor ~ it was NOT pretty! I finally relented and let Josh take me to the ER. I really didn't want to go but I really needed to go. Susan came to get Jaiden & we went to UAB.

The ER waiting room was filled up. I was in so much pain! I have never had pain like that & I hope I never do again. I was leaning over on Josh when a crazy, old lady came & sat in the chair right next to mine. Okay first of all it bothers me beyond belief for a stranger to sit right next to me in a waiting room if there are other chairs. Is one chair apart a common courtesy or am I alone on this one?! There were five beside me but she chose the chair right next to mine. Then she starts to rub my back. I really wanted to punch her but just turned a little and said "please don't touch me." Josh told her I had a kidney stone and tried to be nice but I wanted to scream at her. Poor lady she wasn't right. She did listen and stop. We were called back to a room a few minutes later.

It seemed like hours but was probably 30 minutes before a nurse came in. I was moaning and rolling around on the bed - again NOT pretty! I looked a hot mess too. I had my hair back in a little clip and by the end on the night the clip was hanging on the bottom of my hair and it was sticking out everywhere. At the time I really didn't care! The doctor came in and examined me. He ordered a CT scan and pain meds! I wanted to kiss him!! Okay not really but I was very thankful for relief from the pain. My nurse was wonderful & she told the lady who was taking me for the CT scan to wait until she got my IV & medicine in. I was so thankful she didn't send me before. They pumped me full of morphine and then took me for the CT scan. The pain was easing up and it was wonderful! I slept on & off the whole time we were there. I vaguely remember the doctor & nurse coming in & out of the room. The doctor finally told us that the kidney stone was obstructing my kidney & it was not likely that it would pass. It is 7 mm. It is almost to my bladder but is stuck in the ureter (the tube that connects the kidney & bladder). So he sent me home with medicine to keep me comfortable and told me to call the urologist in the morning (well he told Josh to call ~ I was in la-la land). We went to the pharmacy to drop off my prescriptions. Josh brought me home and went back to pick it up. I was so happy to be in my bed. I slept good that night especially after being in the Er for 8 hours.

We got up the next morning, Josh made me an appointment and we went to Kirklin Clinic to see the urologist. He agreed with the ER doctor and set me up to have surgery the next morning to laser it. We were at the admitting office at 8:00 the next day. Everything went as planned, they prepped me, & put me to sleep. When I woke up the nurse says "they weren't able to do the surgery. They put a stint in and will try again in two weeks." I was thinking "surely this is the anesthesia working and I am still asleep." Unfortunately it was true. When the doctor put the scope in, my ureter was too small & he was afraid to damage my ureter. So the stint was put in to make it dilate where they can successfully complete the surgery. So I am set up for a pre-op appt. on the 8th.

My pain is much better. I haven't taken much pain medicine since Tuesday. I am fine as long as I am sitting down. When I move around it seems to aggravate it. I did go to church yesterday and since we had our night service at 1:00, I went to the grocery store after we got home. That was one step too far and once I got home, I almost had to crawl in the house. I had sent Josh hunting that afternoon and thankfully he was almost home so he got the groceries in for me. I know I need to rest but I am so sick of laying on the couch, watching tv, reading, & being on the internet. I want to be out of the house. I want to shop and take Hannah to Chic-Fil-A to play. It won't be long but it is driving me crazy! I even missed going with Hannah & Josh to the circus on Saturday! I am just ready to be rid of this little pest and pray I will not get another one. I think dealing with it for a month is way too long!