Blessed

The first night I was home from the hospital was pretty rough. I hadn’t really slept more than an hour or two for the last four days. The pain was really bad especially when I had to stand up and walk anywhere. Sitting up in bed was an agonizing proposition. I had tried to lie down on the couch but found out that it took me half an hour (not exaggerating) to get back off of it.

I went to sleep that night hoping that being in my own bed would help me have a peaceful, restorative sleep. I did sleep for about four hours until the pain medication wore off. I must have woken up grabbed a glass to drink some water because I remember waking up soaking wet with the glass lying on my chest. I remember having a vague feeling of ‘oh crap’ and I fell back asleep. I finally became more alert and realized I had a real problem. I was in terrible pain. I needed water to take pills to make the pain go away. Since I had spilled the water I was going to have to get up to get more. Oh yeah, I was wet, my pillow was wet.

I decided to get up and watch television while the medication was kicking in. Before I did that I had a verse in my head:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3, NIV)

I wanted to look up the verse on my computer. The verse in the New Living Translation reads:

God blesses those who realize their need for him,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them

I felt pretty far from heaven at that time. I didn’t understand what was going on or why it was going on. I still don’t really understand but I do know that God has been providing for me and taking care of me. For that I am very grateful.