Tonight I went with Mom and Dad down to Park Cities and prayed for Wynette and the upcoming transplant.
The transplant will likely be postponed until mid-August. You wouldn't believe how many logistical things have to fall into place for things like this.
Mom will have a team of doctors operating on her. Wynette will have a separate team of doctors. All of whom have to be available.
Mom and Wynette have to be COMPLETELY healthy. So if you've got the sniffles, STAY AWAY.
And apparently transplants are only performed on Tuesdays, and if the O.R. isn't available--- tough luck.
Some offices have Taco Tuesdays. I guess the O.R. has Transplant Tuesdays. To each his own. (Although I personally think Taco Tuesdays sound more fun.)
Tonight a group of about 20 of Wynette's friends met in a home to pray that everything will go well.
And I wish that every person who has ever been disillusioned by church could have been a fly on the wall.
I know I've been disillusioned.... But I guarantee you'd have come away from that living room tonight with a different view of what church can be.
Church is when people come together and pray.
I don't want to argue about where you draw the line on [fill in the topic]. I don't want to debate politics. I don't want to worry about funds and styles of music. I don't care what you're wearing or what you did last night or where you were last week. That junk is so divisive and distracting.
I just want to know that you believe that God is who He says He is, and He can do what He says He can do.
Tonight was church.
People prayed out loud that "we're grateful we can turn to you, God. We don't know where else to go."
Church happens when your face is down and your heart is poured out, and you acknowledge who you are and who God is.
One by one people acknowledged that we're weak. We don't know the future or any of its purpose. But we know that He does. He has purpose in all of this.
It's not about what we can control or what we understand. It's not about choosing the perfect doctors and scheduling the perfect operation date. It's not about holding our breath and white-knuckling this whole thing.
We don't have to know how it's going to turn out because He does. And whatever happens is exactly what is supposed to happen. And in the midst of the not-knowing, He gives peace that truly surpasses any logical understanding.
My mom prayed a prayer of thanksgiving. She's thrilled to be able to give her kidney! God always knew this day would come and her cousin would need a kidney. She feels so honored to have literally been created for this-- [a nearly perfect genetic match]. She's such an awesome example of joyful sacrifice.
The prayers that went up for Wynette and her recovery and her peace of mind were countless.
Talk about finding purpose in this awful sickness-- Dad prayed, "God, it occurs to me that if it weren't for Wynette's kidneys, we'd never have known Layne and Caroline."
(Remember I told you Layne and Caroline were adopted because Wynette didn't want to pass down this hereditary disease.)
Layne was there tonight. (I love her so much...) She prayed a sweet prayer for her dad who's going to have to do a lot of the work after the surgery. And she thanked God for my mom, and said, "Of all my mom's friends, I can't think of anyone who matches Mom's energy and loudness and connectedness to life and people more than Karen."
Wow.
Church gets so convoluted. People like me and my friends and my parents and their friends-- gosh, we screw it up.
Thank God for what you have. Acknowledge your weakness. Ask God for what you need. Thank Him for loving you enough to listen, and confidently trust that He has everything already figured out.
Encourage each other. Pray for each other.
Pray Scripture. Hold God to His word. Tell Him what He promised and claim it.
That's church.
And it happened tonight. :)
