One year ago…

Though in many ways it seems longer, it was a year ago today that the Lord gave us a great gift in the form of a miracle.  We know it was by the grace of God that Timothy, who was deathly sick with cerebral malaria, awoke from a coma.

Our family had been at the Oregon Coast for a family reunion; Timothy had just returned from Ghana, West Africa.  He was sick and getting worse by the day.

After several days and medication for what was thought to be Typhoid, his condition was grave, he was so thin and frail; hardly responsive at that point: we knew Timothy needed to get to a hospital right away.  Clearly, the medication he was taking was not addressing his sickness.  It was there after some initial treatment and many liters of fluids that Timothy was slipping into a coma and the doc in ER of Samaritan Hospital began the transfer plans to have Timothy airlifted to OHSU in Portland.  I wrote the story of this whole miracle — you can read it here.

I don’t really know why I snapped the photo (below) with my cell phone that day… I guess it was perhaps a thought that it would be my last opportunity.  I don’t know.

More from my journal that day: “I cannot be bitter should it be God’s plan to take Timothy.”  I read a quote that afternoon inside Timothy’s Bible, “The sovereignty of God is a precious thing if you’re on the right side of it.”

Later, I wrote, “It’s the middle of the night… the waiting room looks strewn with sleeping bodies — all like me, waiting for news, waiting for the morning or maybe the mourning… It just struck me as the nurse told me to come back in 45 minutes, Timothy might not make it.  We might leave here alone — without him.  The thought leaves me unable to breathe.”

It’s a bright and sunny day… it’s now a year later.  Timothy doesn’t remember much of that week, very little of the time in the hospital after he awoke and now, so much has transpired from that time to this.

Timothy has once again traveled to Mexico, to cities in the States for the gospel tent meetings and just returned from Ghana, West Africa.  There is so much work to do, so many who need the gospel… the Lord is not yet finished with his servant, Timothy.  I’m so thankful.