We are booking into next year…it is looking like March…

I started to cry. Right there in the doctor’s office.

I had given up driving at night about a month before, the cataracts making it unsafe. I had cut back on daytime driving to necessities.

But…I still had my family to run.

As a single mom with four active boys, I have a lot to do, a lot to take them to.

I have LOTS of great support from friends, and I knew I would continue to, but…

I just could not fathom depending on them until March!

Heather, the scheduling person, was sympathetic. She patted my knee and said they sometimes had cancellations and might be able to push it up a bit. She said she would talk to the doctor and see what he thought. She left the room, leaving the door ajar.

I started to pray in earnest.

Now, I had already been praying for all of this…and very specifically, too. In my type A brain, I had already determined that the 18th of December was the best day for me to have the surgery. That way, we could get done what we needed to and I could heal and be ready to drive on Christmas Eve. I knew that God was in charge, and that He would bring things to pass in His time and for His good purpose…but that seemed to me to be what I should pray for. I enlisted the help of friends to pray as well.

I continued to pray for God to make a way for this to work. March? March?!

I heard my doctor come out of the room next to me, finishing with the patient before me, saying, “OK, so we will cancel that appointment for the 18th.”

Is that my appointment, Father?

A few minutes later, my doctor, Dr. J, came in and examined me. He said, “We have had a cancellation for the 18th…how do you feel about doing the surgery then?”

I started to cry again, saying, “That is answer to prayer!”

One eye scheduled. OK, Lord, I can do this…I think. If I have that one cataract gone, will I be able to drive at night? Will this work, even if the other eye does not end up being done until March?

He finished his exam and sent me once again to Heather for the paperwork and pre-op instructions. Heather said, “I have good news.” I answered that Dr. J had told me of the cancellation on the 18th.

Heather smiled and said, “…and he will do the second eye on the 19th. It will work out fine to do the eyes back-to-back.”

Quiet sobs…and open praise to our God. How great He is!

This was beautiful on two levels, folks. I was, of course, blessed beyond measure that God was choosing to work this out to heal my eyes. The specific nature of His answer to my prayers still leaves me teary and trembling at the level of care and attention He has for His wayward daughter.

Second, however, was the joy of being a witness to the office staff, and to Dr. J himself. I don’t know how many of them were believers. I may never know.  But, maybe, through me, they have seen something of the working of God that will make them think, challenge whatever constructs they may currently hold about the power of prayer and the involvement of God in the everyday lives of His people. I pray it is so!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. – Romans 8:28