God Knows About Her Nose!

This is a little story about the sovereignty of God. As you read on you'll be reminded that there are no surprises with God. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. He is in control and He knows the past, present, and future of all things. For us there is only preparation for the next "event" in each of our lives....and my Father in heaven has already prepared the way to meet our daughter Mary's drastic need.

If you read my previous blog you already know about Dr. David Edwards, the ENT specialist who is a prayer warrior and a highly skilled physician. And then you also know that my husband Don and our daughter Grace have experienced successful and extensive sinus surgeries with Dr. Edwards.
Well, the providence and sovereignty of God continues to unfold: Mary was blessed to attend a weekend retreat in Gatlinburg, TN, with the young adult/college-age group from her church. My husband Don and I had, of course, been praying for her and all of the group.

On Saturday afternoon while Mary was still in TN, she and I were texting (I'm still learning shorthand) and it went something like this:

Me: "Prayin' for an awesome weekend for u. Luvu. Mom"

Mary: "Hey! I'm having a blast but I broke my nose LOL. I popped it back in place!"

Me: "On my goodnezz! What is it withu & retreats? [On her last retreat she had a concussion at a ski resort.] Is it really ok or r u saying it is becuz I'm ur mom????:)) What were u doing when u broke it? Teachin break dancin? Hahahahaha!"

Mary: "I'm really swollen and got some bruises but I'm ok. LOL. Tyler accidentally hit me in the face and broke it so I popped it back in LOL."

Me: ICE!!!

Mary: "We're heading back now and stopping at Rock City yay! How was church?"

Well, you get the idea. It turned out that Mary and her friend Tyler were popping each other on the head with balloons and then all of a sudden Tyler's fist--not the balloon -- punched Mary's face! (Yes, this is a photo of Tyler & Mary. The reason there is a picture of this event is because this whole group loves to have pictures of all of their activities and this one was captured as well!) BTW - Tyler was embarrassed and very concerned that Mary was hurt.

A personal note to Tyler: "Hey Tyler, no problem! Ok?"

Now back to the story: These kids took tons of pictures of the blessed event...it's even on video because Tyler wanted the playful balloon fight on film and it was filmed on HIS camera!

Anyway, here's the photo of Mary right after her nose was broken: note the dent on the left side pushing the bridge of her nose to the right and tip of her nose points to the left. Don't be fooled by her blue-eyed, blonde appearance, remember she popped her nose back in place in front of her friends who all said to her, "Ewwwwww! Gross! " She laughed and said, "Did I fix it? Does it look better or should I do it again?"

Well, after she came home and we saw her we decided Mary needed to see a doctor....and immediately her dad said, "Dr. Edwards!"

We made an appointment and when they saw her nose no one there could believe she would even attempt to straighten out her own broken nose. After that visit we had to make another appointment -- this time to get an MRI at another office. Then back to Dr. Edwards after we made still another appointment to hear the results. Whoo hoo.

Here's where the sovereignty of God glistens: we were told that Mary's sinuses were not in a healthy state.....but NOT from being punched in the nose! They told us she was born with an S-shaped septum which is normally supposed to be completely straight. It has been blocking a flow of oxygen to her brain on one side of her nose. She has one turbinate that is several times larger than the normal size. She has polyps in her sinuses due to the irritation of the deviated septum. And all of this has been causing the migranes she's been struggling with for years! Our first response was, "WHAAAAAT?"

Since our doctor and his wife -- who explained the MRI to us -- are Christians they both KNEW we wouldn't have known Mary had this problem unless she came in with her broken nose! They knew God was working this out. Yes, the Lord knew Mary needed to get this fixed and He orchestrated the events so she could get help.

We do not know her surgery date yet but Mary is already saying, "Let's get this thing done! I'm ready to start breathing better and I want the headaches to stop!" She is a gifted athlete, studying to be a personal trainer, and she can't wait to be able to breathe better and to see the increase in energy and strength after she recovers from surgery!

Hey, talk about a breath of fresh air.......for Mary it will be like the wind of God breathing even more life into her and giving her more strength in preparation for what He has called her to do next for Him!

Hallelujah!

Be encouraged, Sisters. God is with all of His children and He promises not to leave!

Love & blessings,

Polly