The following day my brother called from Europe to talk to Dad! He said Dad sounded good but tired. Dad had done a lot of work that day with physical, occupational, and speech therapy. He still had the feeding tube, but the speech therapist was going to see whether he could eat pureed food. He said the one thing getting him through was knowing that each day was a day closer to getting home to Mom! He was amazed and humbled by all of the wonderful people who had been praying for him.
During the first weeks of Dad's hospitalization, I was worried about him, but I knew that at least he was sedated so he didn't understand everything that was happening to him. Now that he was awake and aware, I began worrying about him in a different way, especially since he was all alone there and still trying to make sense of everything. We didn’t know it at the time, but he was still dealing with hallucinations throughout his first week at rehab. He was also terribly weak and had a hard time moving at all. He told me later that during the first week, he was so discouraged, wondering how in the world he would ever regain his strength.
When my brother and I were talking later, he said something that made me think of Psalm 124. "If the LORD had not been on our side...the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us... Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." Truly, God was on our side from the very beginning, watching over us and fighting for us. In fact, He was also by our side, helping us, encouraging us, and leading us through. And for that, we were so grateful!
The next day (June 3), Mom got a call from someone at the rehab facility who explained all of the things that nurses (or Mom) would have to do for Dad when he got home. She said something about it taking four people 12 hours to get Dad taken care of on a daily basis; it was overwhelming. But I reminded Mom that every place Dad had been at, we talked to someone who told us how terrible things would be. We were told Dad might never leave a nursing home, never get off the ventilator, not wake up for months, never come back to us as Dad... And yet each time God had worked mightily and taken care of everything.
So I wasn’t worried for a change! I thought again of the words Jesus said to the Sadducees, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God" (Matt. 22:29). Indeed, God's amazing power had been so evident in even the little things in Dad's life. And so I planned to trust in the Scriptures for a change, holding fast to the promises He had given us, knowing that He could do exceeding, abundantly above all we ask or think. (Eph. 3:20)
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