Homeward Bound...?

Well, after three and a half weeks here in the hospital, it looks like I'll be going home tomorrow. There have been a ton of healing thoughts, fasting, and prayers offered in my behalf to make this happen. I am so thankful for all the hundreds of people who have kept me in their thoughts and prayers. I do not believe in miracles...I KNOW MIRACLES HAPPEN! A few weeks ago, Noelle and I were walking the halls and we bumped into a member of our medical team. We told them that we expected to be out of here by Father's Day, and they drew back a little and told us that our expectations were too aggressive and suggested that we should revise it to be closer to my birthday. Noelle and I refused to revise our expectations, and here we are. I believe strongly in the power of positive thinking. I believe you get what you EARNESTLY and PRAYERFULLY seek. Yes, I said prayerfully. This is my blog , so I'm allowed as many "soapbox moments" as I want, so here we go...

God is a real being. He is our creator. Also the Bible says, He created us in His image, which means that we are like him. He is not some nebulous thing floating around somewhere. He is our Father. He loves us, His offspring. He is perfect, and His love is a perfect love. He knows all things, including the lessons we most need to learn and the best ways to teach them to us. Sometimes, as good parents do, He lets us suffer a little so we can learn our lessons more deeply, more thoroughly, and so we can develop traits that make Him perfect and make us more like Him. These are traits like love, compassion and patience. His Holy Son, our perfect Brother, Jesus Christ, said that our responsibility as Christ's followers (disciples) is to become perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. We can't develop perfect patience or compassion without having suffered a little...or perhaps a lot. When, in the midst of our own struggles and afflictions, we reach out to our Father in sincere prayer, He listens, and always rewards our humility with what's best for us. Sometimes, what's best for us is the answer, "No." (Remember Christ's supplication of his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking Him to remove the bitter cup if He were willing to do so. It needed to happen, so the answer was "No.") Other times, what's best for us is precisely what we seek, because what we seek is in line with His will. (Also remember Christ's humble plea, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.") My point here is this: dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people have been praying for me to enjoy a speedy recovery. Last night, I wrote on Facebook about Noelle's and my desires for me to be home for Father's Day and mentioned the need for my neutrophils to be at 500 or higher by Friday morning. Lots of people saw that and prayed for what we needed. The neutrophils jumped from 200 yesterday to 700 today. I just had a visit with Dr. Ford, who says that unless my white cells or neutrophils take some unexpected dip over night, I can expect to go home tomorrow. That is God answering prayers and providing a miracle for one of His children. Our prayers were in line with His will, and the miracle was provided. 

Lessons have been learned over these past few weeks, lessons that couldn't have been learned without some suffering. I have increased in patience. I have increased in compassion. I have increased in love for my wife and children, for my donor, for the dozens of individuals here at the hospital who have had a hand in taking care of me, and for the hundreds of family and friends who have followed what's been going on and who have been sending me their healing thoughts and healing white light, and sending their prayers up to God in behalf of me and my family. I'm so blessed to have amazing people in my life.