Miracles Abound in Him 10-20-14

“For I have come down from heaven 
not to do My will

but to do the will of Him who sent Me.” Jn. 6:38

“Walking on the water is easy to the impulsive pluck, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is a different thing. …It is inbred in us that we have to do the exceptional things for God; but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things.” O. Chambers

Personal story: Many of you know that Betsy has increasingly struggled with being able to focus/think clearly this the last year. Doctors recently discovered the primary reason:  a node in her heart throwing an extra 30,000 beats a day, causing decreased oxygen to her brain and extremities. Long story short, Betsy underwent a heart procedure 2 weeks ago to “kill the usurping node”. And this is where we witnessed 2 miracles:

First miracle: 4 days prior to heart surgery, Betsy went in for a normal teeth cleaning and showed the dentist a loose crown. Over a 2 yr. timeframe she’d regularly told him this crown was loose, but this time he agreed that he needed to take a closer look.

~By the end of the next day, Betsy had undergone oral surgery to clear the reservoir of infection, place an artificial bone in her jaw, graft gum tissue to cover the hole, and infuse her with antibiotic to kill any remaining infection.

Miracle: Had Betsy not had the routine teeth cleaning, the large infection would have gone undetected and Betsy could have died with the heart surgery 4 days later.

(Additionally, Betsy shared the Lord with her oral surgeon who enthusiastically exclaimed, “I know why this happened to you, Betsy…so you could come share Him with me.”)

Next miracle happened on the operating table 4 days later: Betsy underwent a 2hr 40min. heart procedure with ZERO anesthesia (the doc needed to “jack” her heart and took no risks with sedation.) ~Infused with adrenaline, Betsy was “hyper aware” of the lively discussion taking place in the operating room. As the docs administered drugs to give her a literal heart attack, lying motionless, naked and hurting, she candidly shared the Lord and His promises.

~At 2 hrs 20 min. the procedure appeared to be complete, and 3 of the 4 catheters to her heart were pulled. THEN, as friends from all over prayed: “the 4 sec miracle”. Betsy’s heart started throwing PVC’s every beat (the usurper node was still alive, and 1 cath was still in)

~The doctor became animated, ecstatically barked orders, and told Betsy “brace for pain”. The room became a fluster of activity as the doctor went into Betsy’s heart through the one remaining catheter, found the “usurper node” (who was nuzzled up next to her aorta), burned him dead twice, and then enthusiastically verbalized this miracle to his entire team!

Now, breathe….…and let’s return to Oswald Chambers’ quote of being exceptional in the ordinary things. ~We fully recognized heart and oral surgery aren’t “ordinary”. The point is, in our own assessment we Cleary’s have felt somewhat sidelined from what we thought was our “calling” this last year, sidelined from “doing exceptional things for God”.  How wrong.

God is in charge of the calling. God engineers the circumstances. God gives the platforms.

Our job is to be so tightly connected with Him, we live and breathe His essence, infusing His glory into every circumstance/relationship we find ourselves, whether grand or ordinary.

May we choose to live light in His love and strength this week.
Much love, ~Shaun and Betsy



A picture of Betsy before her first swim, post surgery. Happy girl.