New year, new Ebenezer. This year's is "WAIT." I guess I needed to have strength to learn to wait... Not patience, nor longsuffering, but WAIT. I now understand a little more about the why of "WAIT." In January after Vince had the flu (two weeks with swine) there erupted on his leg a sore. It took two weeks for him to show it to me. When he did it looked scaly and strange. By the next week it had doubled in size (about 2 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches). At which point I made a doctor's appointment for him, went home from work, woke him up and took him to his appointment. The doctor seemed concerned and wanted him to see a dermatologist. She off-handedly said, "Just to make sure it's not cancer..." That set off an internet search which led to squamous cell skin cancer. The sore on his leg was the perfect example of those posted on the web. He had an appointment with the head of dermatology at EVMS in Norfolk the following Wednesday. With Vince being diabetic, she took the cautious approach -- rather than cut it out first, since diabetics heal slowly especially on the lower leg, she prescribed a cream that he needed to apply twice a day. The 8 am, 8pm routine began. With a followup visit to the doctor two and a half weeks later. Looking back on the experience Vince called it his being "washed in the Jordan seven times."
I shared the concern with our small Bible study group on Weds evening and the women began to pray. We were praying for a rash rather than cancer. After a week of treatment, the scaly center patch was gone. There was still a large lump in the middle of it which looked red. Another week and he complained of something coming off and it hurting like heck! A little red line remained but it looked clear compared with what we started with. The women had faithfully prayed and God had answered their prayer! On our return visit to the doctor, Vince was given a clean bill of health. He told Sara and Stephanie God had healed his leg and then testified to it in Sunday School this week. We give all the glory and honor to God who is our Great Physician.
It will be interesting to see how "WAIT" plays out through our year.