11/8/09 Glory bumps……………an ljj e-mail informed me of this pithy term---2 short words with a big connotation. It’s similar to the goose bumpy feeling that one gets when reading a Hallmark card or a story that touches the heart. But “glory bumps” are more than that. Glory bumps are precipitated by an awareness of a “God thing” --- those incidences in our lives with a spiritual connection. God incidences--not coincidences! Glory bumps might result from seeing a miracle or a moving of God’s hand or just from experiencing the grand sense of LIFE that is beyond our comprehension/understanding.
That term, “Glory bumps,” has given me “pause to ponder” today. I have had more than my share of glory bumps these past 11 months. Here are a few of the earthly unexplainable incidences that come to mind and keep me all “a shiver” to the depths of my being.
MAC GLORY BUMPS
1. Michèle---a fellow MAC cancer survivor found by “my” Molly’s tireless “google” search before I even knew much more that the name of my very rare cancer---certainly not the extent of it. Meeting her stateside was a lifetime of glory bumps—one giganic glory bump in and of itself.2. The Ridleys---Mary Flo and Dave who opened their home and their hearts to me in Dallas before God even completely secured my team there. (Thanks to Sally Klinke, a 1st Evan friend, and her “best friend” connection to Kari S. at Park Cities Pres in Dallas, who knows Mary Flo very well) The Ridleys continued to open their home for each subsequent surgery and for my bevy of nurses that accompanied me. I now call them friends---dear, dear friends.
3. My Team---only God leading Dr. Louis Carter from Africa and Dr. George Burruss from Memphis to a team in Dallas that went full circle from an original recommendation from Dr. Jay Burns (son Buddy’s friend in Dallas) to UT Medical, to Methodist Germantown, to St. Louis, Houston, Dallas Southwestern, and back to Dallas Baylor and Dr. Richard Ha at Dallas Plastic Surgery Institute, office of Dr. Fritz Barton, Dr. Rod Rohrich, (friends of Dr. Carter) and their colleague, Dr. Burns---Buddy’s friend! What a full circle---one that truly reflects the hand of God!
4. Jesus Calling---the little devotional book by Sarah Young that has kept so many of my family, friends, and cyberspace acquaintances on the “same page.” My family tried, unsuccessfully, to find info about this special author on-line, but to no avail. But God………..through a forwarded e-mail from friend, Beth, located her for me. We have since been in touch (from Memphis to Nashville to Overland, KS and to Perth, Australia) Sarah has become a prayer partner and encourager. I hope I have become the same for her.
5. dotsydetails.blogspot.com---Last January, I didn’t even know what a blog was ---but God…………has used it as a way to connect with so-o-o many folks, both known and unknown to me. The blog has allowed others to view “my Dance” with all my missteps and challenges and to learn with me along the way.
6. Prayer---from the first one I prayed on January 10, 2009 after reading the Jesus Calling entry from that day. “Lord, if it doesn’t matter for eternity, may the storm that’s coming into my life not be cancer.” (It was very much cancer--a very rare cancer--so I knew it mattered.)
- Jeff White, pastor at Park Cities Presbyterian in Dallas, during staff prayer time “chose” my name and realized that he in fact, knew that name because Larry Liles had been his racquetball coach at UM. I now know what it feels like to be “be lifted up in prayer”---like a calm after the “glory bumps.”
- Surgery Day prayers at First Evan
- My name above Dr. Albritton's desk to remind him to pray.
- Muslim student telling me that she had never seen faith like mine.
- Worldwide prayer warriors---it would take pages to explain the breadth and depth.
- Brother Buddy and Charlotte being baptized Easter “09---it has mattered for eternity and that’s all that really matters.
7. Connections and Reconnections---distant family, my 4th grade teacher, life long friends, high school chums, college roomies, Rawls Hall folks, Pi Phis, former students (and their parents and grandparents) HHS faculty and staff, 42 years of education colleagues and new cyberspace acquaintances-----to name a few.
8. BEST possible outcomes for each surgery. The first prognosis was so grim that Larry asked the docs about tattooing me so that he would know for sure that he would be taking home his wife. I am indeed a “walking miracle” as Ann E. dubbed me. “The most astonishing thing about miracles is that they do happen.” G.K. Chesterton
9. Insurance coming through at just the right time on several occasions-----11th hour took on new meaning!
10. “Puddle Experiences”---a result of too many glory bumps at once—which reduce me to tears! The surprise from friends who lined the end of my street in March with balloons and posters to send me off on the first surgical part of my MAC journey, immediately comes to mind.
GLORY BUMPS, INDEED!!
MY REMINDERS OF GOD’S GOODNESS! I TREASURE EACH ONE OF THEM---THOUGH THE NUMBERS ARE TOO HIGH TO COUNT!
TO GOD BE THE GLORY
