House of Hope Online

November 10, 2024

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This week I would like to ask for your prayers for my upcoming surgery, on Thursday, November 14.  If you are new to this blog, or the podcasts, I am scheduled for aortic valve replacement surgery next week.  I had the same open-heart procedure in 2015, but recent tests have shown moderate to severe leakage of the valve, and doc wants it replaced to avoid any damage to the heart muscle and function.

And so off I go this week to that place in the Spirit where “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:7).  One saving grace of open-heart surgery is that it takes you to that place, to a place of total reliance on the Lord for everything. 

That is the place where the Lord wants us to live every day.  Too often, we take the reins back from Him when the crisis is over.  Let us all resolve to live in total subjection to Him, and total trust in Him.  Blessed are those whose trust is the Lord.

The Lord brought these scriptures to me this week.

Psalms 34:

 18 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart… (NKJV)

While my heart is not emotionally broken, when you have a pump with a leaky valve, you have a broken pump.  I welcome the nearness of His presence Thursday.  I am praying for His anointing on my body, and on the minds and hands of all who are in that operating room.

Job 33:

 4 “The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (NASB)

Restoration of aerobic capacity is one of the challenges of the post-op recovery.  May the Spirit of God make me a new heart valve and may the breath of God restore me and give me life!

Psalms 27:

 5 For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. (NASB)

The tabernacle (tent) of the Lord is where we want to be, hidden in His secret place, where He protects us in the wildernesses of life.  He will lift me up from this surgery wilderness and place me on the Rock that is Jesus.

Proverbs 16:

 9 ¶ The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. (NASB)

Many of you know I dreaded this surgery and asked the Lord to heal me.  After each of the two tests indicated surgery was needed, Jesus spoke into my spirit.  After the first test, the word was: “I am not going back to Egypt.”  My Lord and Savior said to me that I would not go back to a place of unbelief as the people of God wanted to when things got difficult for them in the wilderness.  I needed my faith to be encouraged in that moment and Jesus did that.  His word uplifted me and put me on the Rock.

The second word came after my second and final disappointing test result.  I had latched on to the following scripture from Mark 11.

Mark 11:

 23 “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be [granted] him.

 24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be [granted] you.

I felt such a peace as I went through the last test, and even after the doctor gave me the unfavorable result.  I asked Jesus if I had unbelief preventing my mountain from being cast into the sea.  And the Lord so, no, your faith is fine, you were simply wrong about what the mountain was.  The mountain I had was fear of the surgery, and that fear was cast into the sea.  That is why I had such a peace on the day of my test.

I review all of that with you as context for Proverbs 16:9.

Proverbs 16:

 9 ¶ The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. (NASB)

My plan was healing and no surgery, and I prayed for that plan, but the LORD directs our steps.  In His wisdom, casting out the mountain of fear is His perfect will for my life, and for my family.  He is directing my steps.

Closing Prayer

And so, as surgery day approaches, I want you to know that it will probably be a few weeks before I am able to do the next podcast.  Please pray for a speedy recovery, and please join me in this prayer:

Father God, I covet the peace that surpasses understanding.  I pray that I will rest in the knowledge that the Lord is directing my steps here, and that He has prepared more works for me, that I should walk in them.  I pray that You will again lift me up upon the Rock of Jesus after this surgery.  I receive the truth of Your word that the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.  And finally, I pray the scripture that the Lord is near those who have a broken heart.  Lord, heal my broken heart, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.