A Thank You Note

A Thank You note from my Dad to a family who sent encouragement to say they were praying.

Angela forwarded me your note that you were praying for me and the urgent back surgery. Everything came so suddenly that we only had time to pray - no time to let the evil one get us down. One day I felt fine the next day I had a sore back. A week later I could hardly walk and by the end of the second week I was falling down and could not walk without a cane. My doctor moved quickly to talk to a good surgeon. The surgeon saw me for a consultation on a Wednesday and on Friday morning my surgery was completed. All of this came together in less than three weeks. All my pain is gone, I'm walking with a walker and a cane and therapy has me walking short distances on my own. The doctor bonded # 2 & 3 disks with screws and a rod, cleaned a lot of arthritis junk from # 2,3,4, & 5 disks. He says he has never seen such a mess from such a young man (58). He normally sees this kind of damage in someone in their 70's or from someone who has had a prior back injury. He also said he may have to perform further surgery in 2-3 years to bond a couple of other disks (I wish he would have done that with this surgery). As for recovery. The first 3-4 days are killers. It is very painful getting out of bed, standing and sitting but once you get into your ready position (standing, sitting, lying) it is ok - not much pain. Any way - thank you very much for your prayers. Sometimes at church you here someone give a testimony thanking folks for their prayers and how they could truly feel people praying for them. And while I would be one of those who was praying for them, I would wonder how do they sense or feel the prayers of others. Well I must say that the 15-20 minutes prior to my surgery and then the 30 minutes in the recovery room I truly believe within my spirit I was experiencing an overwhelming feeling of folks praying for me and a peace that passed all understanding. I had absolutely no anxiety - just total peace and calm. So whether your prayers were on time or not, our God it mighty, He knew you would be praying and I believe He counted them as on time.
Thank you once again In Christian love,
Arlin & Kathy Patterson
Angela Glidewell's parents