Day 5 (Saturday 06/07/19): After a good night’s sleep I sat in the window and watched the dawn. Then I emailed an update based on my experience of Psalm 27 v 13 on 01/07/19. Most of the day spent reading or listening to Billy Graham – summaries of his life, and clear teaching about death and Heaven. Tour de France Grand Depart from Brussels.
I think one of the main things I learned from this experience is the brevity and fragility of human life. I knew this in theory, of course, but now I was confronted by this truth in experience, and it is humbling, and rightly so.
During the hours leading up to the operation, all I could was to pray and meditate upon God’s Word, and I especially focused on the first 30 or so Psalms, noting down every verse that talked about God being our salvation, refuge, stronghold, shield, rock, deliverance etc. There are many such verses; almost every psalm contains at least one or two.
Perhaps the key verse for me was Psalm 27 v 13, “I BELIEVE that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living”. This is the perfect example of walking by faith and not by sight, ‘I believe…’.
When the morning of the operation came, and I was wheeled out of the ward, up the lift and into theatre, though it was scary I was not scared. I am sure that is because more than one of you specifically prayed that I would be delivered from fear – and I was!
And when I came round from the anaesthetic about 12 hours later (7.30 pm), I felt exactly as I predicted I would feel – an overwhelming sense of relief, almost euphoria. I thought, never mind about the discomfort and pain, never mind about all the tubes and lines and wires. I had made it! The operation had been successful and my heart was fixed. I was alive! I was seeing the GOODNESS OF THE LORD in the LAND OF THE LIVING! What I and many others had BELIEVED – had actually happened!