The last few days at I.T. were a little rough, due to an ear infection I had coming on. I'd never had one before, but ended up going to two urgent care clinics, getting a shot for pain (I NEV.ER. request a shot, but the pain won out this time!), and missing out on some of the fun that could have been had during our stay with Justin and Lluvia. God blessed me with a few hours of good time to spend with them though - we hadn't seen them in over a year, so it was great to catch up and talk about good times!
Word to the wise - NEVER get on an airplane with a perforated ear drum. Seriously. Dude. But that's what we did. And I think God taught me a lot from that experience. This may sound exaggerated, but I have never experienced as much pain for such an extended period of time as I did with this infection. And on the plane from Chicago to Portland, I couldn't think straight. All I could do was cry out to God that He would make it stop. I remember that one of my college professors said one time that during a particularly painful child birth she decided to use that time to praise God that she was having a baby, and praise Him for who He is. And that scenario came to my mind. And I started to sing (in my head, not out loud!) praises to God. Sometimes the pain was unbearable, and I cried, and I think JP was close to tears a few times, and the kid sitting in front of us definitely thought I was off my rocker! But the phrase that kept running through my head was "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." I can't find that exact phrase in the Bible, although I'm sure something similar is there. But I just knew that God was in control - He has the power to heal and the power to not. It's His to decide, and if He decides not to heal when I want, I will still praise Him.
Then I kind of hoped that after that revelation God would instantly heal my ear, but He didn't. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. A lesson - or TRUTH - that I will never forget.
We spent uncomfortable two weeks in Salem (I kept telling myself my ear was on the mend even though all signs said it was not) before getting BACK on an airplane to go to Colorado (will post more about that soon!). I thought I was healed enough to go to Colorado, but apparently not. The plane ride was a killer again, and our friends Walt and DiAne who hosted us in Colorado Springs changed our plans to go to Breckenridge to take me to the doctor, which ended in a minor surgery to get the *fungus* out of my ear. The doctor was afraid that it had penetrated into the bones in my ear (I freaked out when I heard that!), so he put me under and cleaned it up, and it wasn't near as bad as he'd thought. Then the rest of the time in Colorado was quite pleasant, since my ear quit hurting three weeks after it started!
Here's me and the nurse post-op in the hospital. They gave me a Coke to wake me up! :)
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