Here Comes the Bride
Apr 24, 2022 | by The Fellowship
My youngest niece has been planning her wedding for several months. The upcoming event is a source of great joy for all of us in her family because she did not marry right out of college like her sisters. The years have rolled by and, despite dating many guys, the Christian man she felt the Lord has purposed for her did not appear … until early last year! They met through an online Christian dating service. He also had never married! They began dating, quickly fell in love and became engaged last fall. A May wedding is planned. And for their honeymoon trip, they have chosen the Holy Land!
Three weeks ago, my niece woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating abdominal pain, the worst pain she has ever experienced. She tried soaking in a warm bath, but the pain only got worse. “I thought I was dying,” my niece said. She woke up the friend who shares her townhouse, and the friend called my niece’s fiancé. The moment he got there and saw the agony she was experiencing; he summoned an ambulance. Within a few minutes they were on their way to the nearest hospital in their metropolitan area in another state. Frantic prayers were storming heaven!
At the Emergency Room, it was quickly determined that she had a bowel obstruction and needed immediate surgery. The surgeon on call for the hospital that night was summoned. Time was critical because whenever the blood supply is cut off to the intestines, the affected tissue quickly begins to die. Also, rupturing can occur -- which dumps bacterial content into the abdominal cavity.
The Lord demonstrated His foreknowledge of all situations when He inspired the verse in Isaiah 65:24 – “…before they call, I will answer.” Out of 14 surgery specialties, the physician on call for the hospital that night was a Colo-rectal specialist! He had all the skills and experience needed to save her life.
There was no way to tackle the surgery laparoscopically (using several small incisions and a camera) – which would have been much less invasive. This emergency surgery required a long incision to access her large intestines (bowel) where a knot had tightened and closed the passageway as well as cutting off the blood supply!
It was necessary for the surgeon to remove one foot of the six feet that make up the large intestines and then reconnect the two pieces. Sometimes, in cases like this one, the surgeon must perform a colostomy to divert the output of the bowel into a sealed bag outside the body, either temporarily or permanently. Yet again, the Lord showed His mercy when this was not necessary.
The surgeon said that she probably had been born with the twisting or knot in her intestines. All her life she has been plagued with unexplainable “stomach aches.” One of her sisters as a newborn was diagnosed with the same problem … and also required emergency surgery to save her life!
The staples from the surgery have just come out and my niece is healing well. The surgeon is very pleased with her progress and has given permission for the planned wedding travel. She must, however, continue not to bend over and not to lift anything for an extended period of time until they are absolutely certain that she is completely healed.
How thankful we are for all the ways our Lord has shown his tender care and sovereignty in this critical situation! My niece was in the perfect place at the perfect time for this medical crisis to occur. If it had happened on foreign soil, the outcome would be hard to predict!
In three weeks, my niece will be married! God’s timing allowed six weeks for recovery and the ability to carry on with the planned wedding events! There is no love that begins to compare with the love our Lord lavishes on those who are part of His forever family!
O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath,
keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants
who walk before you with all their heart.
1 Kings 8:23