Monday, February 22, 2010

Reminders

I woke up yesterday with a nagging dry cough. I set the CPAP machine’s moisture level to “zero” Saturday night to see if I can get by without the humidifier part of it for the trip to Russia. That’s probably why I have the cough – still.

Several years ago I developed the same kind of cough but didn’t think much about it. Then four years ago I came down with pneumonia – unrelated – and in the process of doing chest x-rays, my doctor found some abnormal lymph nodes in my chest. We used words like “Lymphoma” and “cancer” over the next couple of appointments. I had scans and tests and finally had a procedure to remove a node for biopsy. The good news is that I don’t have cancer but I do have another disease called sarcoidosis – my lymph nodes affected are shot.

The nagging cough, as the surgeon explained it, was my nervous system’s way of getting the enlarged lymph node away from the nerves in my throat and lungs. The cough served to shake things up a bit. I don’t think today’s cough is for the same purpose but I am remembering those months in 2006 when I was unsure of my condition.

Although I didn’t know what was wrong, I did have a peaceful demeanor because of my faith in Christ. I knew that no matter what happened I would be OK. Maybe not OK physically in this world, but OK because he loves me. I wanted everything about this experience to glorify Christ. If nothing was wrong – praise the Lord! If I had a disease but was healed – praise the Lord! If I had a disease but was cured – praise the Lord! If I had a disease that would claim my life – praise the Lord! I made up my mind to accept God’s will and praise him no matter what.

That nagging dry cough is only a nuisance. I really praise the Lord for it because I am reminded of his presence in my life. Yellow butterflies also remind me of the Lord’s presence but I’ll save that for another post.

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