Kingdom Rest 3

Thanks for hanging in through Part 3 of Kingdom Rest. Today I will discuss my testimony of a recent “Rest” event.

In the last year and a half, I’ve had several surgeries: a golf ball sized cyst removed from my back, a venal closure in my left leg, a hernia repair and a gall bladder removal, not to mention contracting COVID-19 in Jul 2020 with my wife. Yet I’m still ticking. The only time I missed work was for COVID. Then in Jun of this year I was diagnosed with cancer in my left kidney for the third time. A third of that kidney was removed in 2010, polyps sprung up 4 years later and they were zapped away. So it was an easy decision, after determining my right kidney was 100% functional, to just remove the rest of the left kidney this time around. That happened on Aug 10. Something else also happened that day. God gave me true rest.

In the days between the diagnosis and the surgery, I wondered about what blessing God would present to me in the way of ministering to someone through this kidney cancer. Upon waking from the anesthesia in the recovery room, I soon discovered the ministering would be for me. As I came to and realized I was waking, I thanked Jesus, then began to launch into a larger prayer. I was stopped. I heard the words “Be Still,” and I fell asleep. This happened several times, until the medical staff determined it was time to fully awaken, and I was wheeled to my room. My wife joined me, we talked for a bit, and decided that she should leave and not worry about coming back to the hospital every day till my release. Visiting hours were over an hour after she would get off and she’d have to fight rush hour traffic. We’d stay in contact by text and phone. That was Tuesday afternoon when she left. I started to pray and give Jesus thanks again. This time I didn’t fall asleep right away. First God told me again to rest, that the Holy Spirit would pray in my stead for a few days. Then I fell asleep. When I was awakened a short time later for rounds, I realized I couldn’t keep my eyes opened because I felt a burning sensation, so I kept them closed, and fell asleep. A few hours later I was awakened because I started to vomit dried blood. They eventually elected to put a tube down my throat to remove the dried blood. That’s how I was for three days. I couldn’t keep my eyes open, I couldn’t talk (which meant no phone conversations with Pat), and every time I tried to put some thoughts together, whether in prayer or not, I fell asleep.

That first night, as I struggled with the tube down my throat, and my eyes shut, I noticed something strange. You know how when you’ve been staring at the TV and you close your eyes, you see a reverse image, one that moves with the movement of your eyes and stays centered on the eyeballs? That’s not what I saw. With my eyes open briefly, I’d see the décor in my room, before I was forced to close them due to the burning sensation. In my mind, it was if the channel had changed in my vision. There was no reverse image of what I’d been seeing. It was a clear picture, usually of a white wall or dry erase board, with trees behind as a backdrop. As I moved my eyes around the scene would shift as if I was looking all around me with my eyes open. Occasionally indecipherable writing would scroll on the white walls/dry erase board. Whenever I would try to make sense of it, I’d fall asleep. That sleep would be short lived time wise, as anyone who has spent even a single night in a hospital knows, the medical staff is constantly making rounds like every hour or two. Yet every time I awoke, I felt so refreshed, as if I’d slept for 10 blissful hours. That was my Tuesday night, all day and night Wednesday and Thursday. By Friday, the tube was no longer sucking up dried blood from my stomach, so it was removed. I had to have a bowel movement before they would talk about being released. That didn’t happen Friday. I looked forward to a good night’s sleep without the tube down my throat, but no such luck, as my bowels began to waken and I was heading to the bathroom every half hour or so, just to make noise. Finally, as the sun rose, my bowels moved and I was released Saturday around noon.

It was sometime Friday afternoon, I was able to get prayers in without falling asleep. So I had a chance to ask God what had been going on. His response? He had some great plans ahead for me, plans that needed my body to have complete rest. So for three days, I could not see, talk, even think and pray. While awake or asleep, I was at complete rest. When I asked about the white walls, He said that was the new chapters ahead in my life. My future was going to be unlike anything I had ever experienced, that we would write that future together, and that was the purpose for the complete rest.

Despite the surgery being the toughest the surgeon has conducted in years because of the scars from previous surgeries, I healed quickly. Don’t tell anyone, but I was out and about by Tuesday, driving myself (someone had to pick the grand daughter up from school.) Despite not returning to work (I retired on the day I was released to return to work,) I quickly was back to the level of busy from before the surgery. I have not yet been clued in on what God has in store for me, but I am ready to respond without hesitation.

You see over the recent years, I have learned that the only way forward is to be all in, complete surrender to the will of God. Immediate obedience. It’s taken some time on that last part, but I am pretty close to that now. That was the reason for retiring. Knowing God would take care of all my needs, and that He wanted all of me full time, I made that possible by retiring.

I know this blog was titled “Kingdom Rest.” It could have been called “Kingdom Surrender,” but the rest I received was made possible because of my faith and surrender, so that my future obedience would be assured and strengthened from that rest for the plans to come. I am resting on God’s promises, continuing to study and meditate on His word, and preparing myself for the revelation of His plan for me.

I give God all the praise and glory for those days after my surgery. My intention today is to strongly encourage you to surrender to God, be still to hear what He has for you and humbly accept His grace. When He comes calling with an assignment, be ready to obey immediately. Rest in His yoke of guidance and teachings. Be Blessed!