proclaim what the Lord has done

I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone. Psalm 71:16

it has been nearly a week since my last blog post. i keep trying to decide what to blog about. but i think i have decided to blog about a recent event in our close little family.

i believe that the Lord wants us to give him glory for the things he does. he wants others to know how he shows his grace, the various ways he answers prayers, heals people, and how he shows his deep love for us (among many other things). the bible has many verses that talk about proclaiming what he has done.  so that is what i want to do, proclaim what he has done.

we went to minneapolis about two weeks ago so shaun could go to a pastors conference and so the girls and i could hang out with my aunt, uncle and grandma. as always we had a great time and then came home on thursday. the very next day i received a phone call from my mom saying that my uncle stephen had a stroke and was being taken to the emergency room by ambulance. my aunt ne-ne (denise) was on her way to meet him at the hospital.

my uncle had been sitting at his computer at home when he started to not feel well.  he went to get my grandma who lives with them and as he got into the dining room he lowered himself to the floor and called for my grandma (who by the way is almost 94), who thankfully heard him. he told her to call 911 and that he was having a stroke. he also reminded her to unlock the front door so the EMT crew didn't break it down (my uncle is a very practical man, even in times of emergency!).

after he arrived at the emergency room they did a scan and confirmed that it was in fact a stroke. he couldn't move his right side and couldn't see well out of his right eye and couldn't speak very well. this was very devastating news to our family. my uncle has always been very active, is in good health, and only 61 years old. we immediately started praying for him.

 the hospital administered TPA which breaks up any clots in the brain. by that evening he had a painful headache and was beginning to be able to move his hand and foot.  since he was stable and doing okay my aunt decided to sleep at home that night since my grandma was there too. my aunt called several times during the night to check on him and each time the nurses kept saying "he keeps improving!".

by mid-morning the next day i talked to my aunt and she had talked with the doctors who were thrilled and nearly in disbelief because my uncle no longer had any deficiencies. meaning he no longer had stroke symptoms. he had full function of his right side, equal to his left side and could see normally out of his right eye and could speak in a normal way. in less than 24 hours my uncle had suffered a stroke and then was able to function normally. it was unbelievable and a huge answer to prayer.

his doctors wanted to do some tests to see if they could find out what had caused the stroke before they released him from the hospital. after running some tests they found out that he has a hole in his heart which ultimately allowed a blood clot to go the wrong way, instead of being sent to the lungs where normal clots of blood are taken care of, it traveled to his brain and caused a stroke.

so after the very long story let me just point out some incredible ways where the Lord was at work and protecting my uncle:

• my uncle helps take care of my grandma during the day, mostly cooks her lunch and hangs out with her, etc. and this time she was able to take care of him. if my grandma wasn't there my aunt would have found him after she got home from work hours later.
• my uncle could have gone to lay down in bed because he didn't feel well. if he had done this my grandma would have just assumed he was taking a nap and wouldn't have disturbed him, instead he went to get her help.
• the TPA worked extremely well on the blood clots in his brain. the neurologist said it was prayer that helped more than the TPA.
• he was healed over night
• the doctors found out the cause so now he can be treated and use a blood thinner
• he was able to go home in 3 days with no restrictions

isn't it amazing what the Lord can do? God is so gracious. He was so gracious and merciful to my uncle stephen. and in turn He was so gracious to my family. 

i just wanted to "proclaim" what the Lord has done!