If you were praying for my ability to spend time celebrating Christmas with family, thank you! The Lord granted my desire for visits with my Nonni (grandmother) and my youngest sister's family, neither of whom I had seen since May. He also gave icing on the cake by way of strength to attend a Christmas Eve worship service and lots of attention from the nephew who has previously been most shy with me. I trust the Lord made Himself known to each of you in your celebrations, as well.
As to this year so far, yesterday we received the pleasant surprise of a day off for Big Al (in compensation for a working weekend) and the less pleasant surprise of another doctor for my medical roster. The former explains the delay in this post. On the latter point, when I called my ENT to request a prescription refill, he referred me to a different ENT at a major university hospital near us to see why I still need so much sinus medication after surgery last April. In other words, I think he fired me as his patient.
I hung up the phone gobsmacked and discouraged at starting over with a new physician once again. Allen understood and sympathized with my frustration. My mother, on the other hand, greeted the news with the exclamation, "Fantastic! Those doctors are the best, and you can only see them with a referral!" I'm seeking to embrace her perspective, especially since I'd been praying only yesterday morning that if my previous ENT was no longer the right match for the complexity of my overall health picture, God would make a way to change without him losing face. I read You loud and clear, Lord.
The new doctor has no new-patient openings until February, so this is not an immediate solution, but the Lord is driving the timetable of my recovery, so I'm trusting/asking Him to provide the support needed during the gap.
Thank you for sharing your day and your prayer support with me. I'm grateful we can start this new year together.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13, NIV).
from the gratitude list, #3167-3181:
~the first chapters of this year's Bible read-through
~the Lord's mercies still new, still fresh, every morning of this new year
~the first sunshine and birdsong of 2011
~the first rose bouquet of the year from my husband
~the first prescription filled
~the first new doctor
~the first celebration when my parents' alma mater, also my grandmother's hometown team, won the Rose Bowl
~the first phone visit with my grandmother
~the first memory verse (in progress) of the year
~the first answered prayers
~the first good coffee of the first day of a decade
~the first worship service of the first week of the first year of the decade
~the first nap of the year, all snuggled up with my Ebony-dog
~the first book read this year (started, I confess, last week)
~and, of course, the first blog post of 2011
