Prayer Matters

The prayers of a righteous man availeth much!
Yesterday a friend shared how during dinner one evening, everyone at the table took a turn to pray for my husband, Ray, who recently had a quadruple bypass.
We have seen the hand of God at every juncture of the journey.
Ray is strong, but during the past year, he was getting increasingly tired. Not normal for my personal Eveready bunny who keeps going and going and going...
We both thought his age was catching up with him.
It was a bad blood pressure reading that made the doctor think otherwise. So a stress test was ordered. Neither one of us thought anything of it. After all, I had passed one six months before and I am the wimp in the family.
Wrong! He failed. Big time. A heart cath was ordered and once again he failed. Because diffuse disease was found in the "widow maker", he was not a candidate for stents.
His heart muscles were strong. His ejection rate was good. Their only concern was his low oxygen levels. They said he may have to stay on the ventilator longer.
Our daughter, Margie, came up to hold my hand during the surgery. She brought her daughter who always brings smiles. Pastor Benny and Jodie kept me distracted so I didn't watch the clock.  The surgery lasted four and a half hours and went well.
Once he was in ICU, he was off the ventilator in FOUR MINUTES! Only God could have given him that gift to all of us.
Even today he is ahead of the "norm." He begins cardiac rehab Monday less than four weeks after the surgery.
I believe it is the prayers of so many people literally around the world that has sustained him and carried him through.
If you have a friend who is going through an impossible situation, pray. Pray as if their life depends on it for you may be the only one willing to pray through. You may never know this side of heaven how much difference it makes, but God will.
We can't fix everything, but we can pray and that may be key to their victory.
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