"... in answer to your prayers"

It's not the first call I've had like this one.
But a guy I know professionally called to tell me he'd been reading my blog about MG's accident, and wanted to share that a number of years ago he and his wife had gone through a similar circumstance - except that he was the one injured. He said if there had been blogs back then, his wife would have written almost exactly what I wrote, and he hoped we could get together and share stories.
It reminded me of another friend who came to see me right after the accident happened. He'd gone through his own bought with cancer, and I remember sitting with him in the hospital and again as he was recovering at home, just talking and killing time. He called me and returned the favor, taking me to lunch and we just sat and told stories and caught  up and it was such great comfort to me at that time.

Today I started reading 2 Corinthians. After nearly two months, I got through Jeremiah, which means back to a New Testament book. I thought I hadn't spent much time in 2 Corinthians, but it turns out I had plenty of notes in the margins and underlines and stars - the ways I indicate when something I read strikes me as significant (although too often when I go back later, I can't remember what it was that made that verse particularly significant at that time).
Verse 4 talks about God "who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we have received ..." Now, normally I'd read this and think, "OK, I've got to take what I've learned from this experience and be ready to comfort the next guy."
But this time, I couldn't help  but think of all the people who have reached out to me or been put in my way somehow that have "comforted me with the comfort they have received."
And not just me, but MG and the kids, too.
People I know, people I barely know, people I don't know - I'm amazed at how many people have been there for me, either to share their stories with me, or - as in the case of my friend who is recovering from cancer - just came by to take me to lunch and provide a brief but needed distraction.
I've been flattered that some people have told me the things I've been able to express are exactly what they felt in their similar circumstance. I've had people say things to me that I wish (selfishly) that I'd thought of, because they were so profound and insightful. And I've had people say nothing of consequence, but just by being there brought support and - yes - comfort.
To be honest, it's been very uncomfortable to be the recipient of so much care and concern. We've always been a family that tried to be there for other people, to care for other people when we saw need. To be on the other side has not been easy. It's amazing how hard it is at times to accept favor from people. Yet I'm also aware that if we do not allow people the opportunity to serve, we deny them the blessing of service. That sounds selfish even as I write it - "Sure, I'll graciously allow you to serve me" - but it's true: we deny other people a blessing when we try to handle everything ourselves and exclude others.
Besides, as Paul also wrote in 2 Corinthians, "But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God." I hate that verse, because I want to rely on myself; I also love that verse, because it reminds me that I can't handle everything myself and have to learn to "let go and let God" (cliche!)
And often we're seeing God in action through friends and strangers who feel compelled to comfort us, through the experience of the comfort they've received in the past.

I've lived with this "accident" from the beginning, so I find myself looking forward more than backward. I lived through the scary part, the life-and-death part, the "what if" part.
But every now and then, MG realizes something else that happened to her that she wasn't fully aware of. After all, she didn't experience all the anxiety and worry as it was happening; she had the "luxury," if you will, of being the victim and in a coma. She's still not fully aware of all the "insults" inflicted upon her body, and truthfully while I've tried to let her know gradually, sometimes I forget one or two myself.
For example, the other day she was with the trauma doctor. MG came back and said she was so focused on the orthopedic injuries that she'd never given much credit to the trauma doctors. However, the trauma surgeon told her the orthopedic surgery was only necessary because the trauma doctors had saved her life.
MG continues to get glimpses of just how serious her condition was. Every now and then she realizes the potential severity of some of the individual injuries - what if the fracture of her C-1 vertebra had been a clean break? What if the bruised heart had been worse? What if the liver had not been repairable? What if? It's a game that will likely go on for a long time .... but every time I hear it I can't help but think, "I've already dealt with that,'' and have to realize "this is all still new to MG."

Now that I'm back at work, I'm seeing MG making progress like crazy. SB texted me a picture that I couldn't really see very clearly, but it was of MG standing up with the aid of her walker. What I didn't realize until I got home was that MG was not just standing up; she's standing up to brush her teeth and comb her hair; she's actually able to stand up out of the bed on her own and use the walker to kind of hop and slide around the room.
And that's wonderful - except, as is always the case, there is a down side. The more movement and control she regains, the more pain comes along with that movement. The more her pelvis flexes, the more it screams because it has come to like being in one position. Again, go from the top of her neck and play the "neck bone connected to the collar bone; collar bone connected to the ...." game all the way down to MG's left toe, and you'll find some measure of recovering going on.

Today, however, was major. Christian Service Mission was dedicating one of the 10 houses it is re-building in Pratt City, an area that was devastated by the tornadoes of over a year ago. This house was one MG had worked with from the beginning, and she really wanted to be there when the family moved back in. I remember going with her as we worked with various student groups from local colleges, hauling junk and damaged parts and moldy carpet and wall board out, filling (I think) three dumpsters.
So against my better judgement, I gingerly and carefully and extremely cautiously helped MG get out to the car, loaded her in, drove ever so carefully to Pratt City, participated in the dedication, then came back home.
She was out for over an hour!
When we got back home, it was "nap time." And the muscles spasm and the bones ache and legs swell and there is pain. But it is still a huge step forward. Huge.

MG hasn't lost her sense of humor. It was a very sleepless night. She describes it as the pain just "grabbing" her. It doesn't build, as if the pain medication is wearing off. It just grabs hold unexpectedly and won't let go.
So today, we were sitting on the side of her bed talking about it ... letting her vent ... when she suddenly said, "If Jesus comes back tomorrow this is really going to seem so pointless!"

Later in that same chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul writes, "... Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."
I do hope that many of you do indeed give thanks for the way our prayers have been answered. We're not out of it by any means, but MG's progress is - we both believe - due in part to your prayers. We hope that you share in our joy and sense of accomplishment with every step she takes (literally).
And we ask that you do indeed give thanks for the gracious favor granted us - in answer to your prayers.
Please don't forget that.