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Years ago now, back when I was a nurse anesthetist, I had a patient for eye surgery (corneal transplant and lens implant). Patient was 72, and in ill health, with high blood pressure. The surgeon ordered a general anesthetic, over our objections that her blood pressure was too libel to extremes. Well, my chief and I went ahead and put her under general anesthesia. I was giving a muscle paralyzing drug to keep her from moving, (along with enough drug to keep her "asleep") monitoring her unconsciousness with EEG, and her paralysis with a nerve stimulator. Her blood pressure - as expected - fell very low, and then rebounded high. Finally we got to a balanced BP. Just as I was reaching for the syringe to give more paralyzing drug, she "bucked" (coughed on the endotrachael tube) just a little. Her blood pressure shot up, and she ruptured a blood vessel in the choroid plexus. The retina floated almost out the open pupil. My chief and I went around to look through the microscope. The retina was floating in blood. "That's it for that eye," the surgeon said. He finished stitching the corneal graft on, but said she would never see again, and he might have to remove the eye entirely. I was devastated!!! I had NEVER had a patient sustain an injury under my care. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I sat on my bed and rocked, and rocked. This happened on a Friday. I went to my SDA church on Sabbath. I asked the head elder to offer a prayer for my patient during church service. He did. The whole congregation prayed for my patient - by name. Afterward, I learned that the next day, her congregation did the same, at her son's urging. That afternoon, I was still praying. Suddenly, I heard a voice say, "I have healed her." I looked around. "Please say that again", I said out loud. Once again, the "voice" said, "I have healed her." On Monday, I went to work. At lunch time, I went into the "eye room" to give one of the CRNAs a lunch break. It was dark in the room, but the surgeon heard me - the same surgeon from Friday's procedure. "Is that you Rachel." "Boy have I got news for you." I stopped still. "Mrs Poole's eye is OK, isn't it," I said excitedly. The surgeon stopped, and looked around the microscope at me. "And just how did you know this?" Everyone in the room was looking at me. I hesitated for just a second. "God told me," I answered. "That's what she said", he replied. "She came to my office this morning. She told me, 'Don't you worry. God has healed me.' I took off the bandage, covered her other eye, and held up 3 fingers. 'Three,' she said. Rachel, there wasn't even any blood in the globe. It was like it never happened!" He went on, "Rachel, I searched the data bases looking for something like this. I even called my preceptor at the Mayo. He told me, 'Give it up John. You're looking at a miracle.' I've never believed in miracles, but I'm gonna have to rethink this." EVERYONE in the large anesthesia department heard about it, I think within one day. The chief who was working with me in the case, was a devout Hindu. He had recently read the copy of "More than a Carpenter" that I left in the anesthesia lounge. I believe this miracle effected many, many people. I had more than one person come to me asking that I pray for them. I kept protesting that I wasn't anything special. I didn't have any special power with God. When I get to the Kingdom someday, I want to know the ripples from that miracle. Did the LORD heal Mrs Poole because a large number of people prayed? I doubt it. But their knowing of the miracle was certainly a blessing. PS: I still HAVE the copy I made of that anesthetic record. We didn't have all the confidentiality laws back than.

From my observation, worldwide constant SUFFERING is perhaps the greatest reason why believers become un-believers. I have been thoughtfully considering this subject for some time now. I think I was pushed towards this because I myself suffer chronic pain, in the form of very frequent migraines. I have seen miracles - several of them - during my life so far, and I couldn't figure out why the LORD wouldn't heal me. I'm left with the nagging question --- Did it really HAVE to be THIS BAD? I'm reading through Richard Rice's book, "Suffering and the Search for Meaning". He really does a good job, summarizing the different views. My husband was born in Germany. The story of his parents highlights the problem of suffering. His parents were engaged when his father was drafted into the German navy at 18 years old. It was the height of WWII. One month out on a German destroyer, and it was captured by a Russian sub. He spent 4 years in a Russian prison camp, often tortured, and came back home weighing 80 pounds, and bald at 22. He had also decided that there IS NO GOD, because, if there IS, then HE is a monster for allowing this!!! He was abusive as a husband, and as a father to his three boys. He ultimately committed suicide at 72. Of course he was suffering from untreated PTSD. There was no treatment back then. My mother-in-law didn't fair any better. Her biological father was killed in a Brown Shirt riot, and her mother abandoned her to the state. She was often abused in foster care. At 16, she was working at a troupe hospital rear the railway. While walking back to the state owned farm where she lived, she was raped and knifed and left for dead at 16. But she never gave up her belief in God. She remained a believer, and attended church well into her 70's. I never got to visit with her enough to know whether she was just "buying fire insurance" or really believed in the goodness of God. I believe that God feels our pain. "In all their affliction, He was afflicted." Therefore my response is to believe that God would NOT have ALLOWED this horrible mess, if it was not absolutely necessary. It's just difficult for me, when my head is pounding, to think, "THIS is necessary."

(((Kevin))) I too, just read this and got caught up. So sorry for your loss, and also happy for your reunion.

By the way, welcome back!

I just noticed this, too. I am so sorry for your loss! Am glad, though, that you have some good coming from another direction. ((( Kevin )))

Just reading this thread now. Beautifully written. Do you have hope of seeing your cousin when Christ returns? If so, then there is no real loss, and God can ease your pain. It appears that reuniting you with long lost friends is one method He is using. It looks like He is comforting you already. Praise God. God is good. "Blessed [are] they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." (Matthew 5:4, KJV)

We still HAVE some dinosaurs roaming the earth today. Crocodiles, lizards, Komodo Dragons, etc. etc. etc. And many artifacts have been discovered depicting human WITH dinosaurs that were believed to have gone extinct long before man existed. The Creation Evidence Museum has some on display. I visited there recently, over at Glen Rose, Texas. The LORD spoke to Job about Leviathan. It must have been in existence at the time.

There is nothing in the Bible or in Science which I fear, because I believe both sing from the same hymn sheet. Both proclaim the glory of God, and both can be reconciled to each other. If you want to go on a journey with me exploring the geologic time scale and record in the rocks, then welcome aboard. This will not be for the faint hearted, so if you do not want to leave your comfort zone then stop reading now ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notice the completely different biome change from Cretaceous to Tertiary.PROOF OF A CREATION EVENT between the two.YECs believe that mankind lived alongside all the animals on the above chart, 95%(??) of which are now extinct.Imagine how crowded the pre-flood earth must have been.But then YECs believe palaeontology fits into this category...1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:My belief is that it is not false science we should fear, but false theology. Chart above from https://sepetjian.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/geologicscale.jpg

Here I think Christians have missed a great opportunity, confusing evolution as being the same as an old earth. I believe in an old earth and multiple creations after multiple mass extinctions. And the fossil evidence totally supports this Creationist view. For instance at the KT boundary, where dinosaurs suddenly go extinct and mammals suddenly appear. Evolution has no answer for this. In lower strata, all dinosaurs. Next strata, all mammals. To me this demonstrates a Creation event. Thus I believe all empirical evidence supports Creationism far more than evolution. But we entrenched ourselves in the young earth 6000 years only idea and missed a huge opportunity to PROVE the existence of God to palaeontologists and science in general. If nobody can find missing links connecting Cretaceous and Tertiiary animals, THERE HAS TO BE A GOD.

There's a book, available at amazon, by Glenn Beck, titled "It is about ISLAM". It contains quotations from ISLAM showing the source of their Jihad. It's good for sharing, to show others the source of the Jihad movement, so they cannot say the Jihadists are non-Muslims.

Now with this sadness, today something happened that also brings great joy. In 1982 I worked in Israel with the Jerusalem Passion Play and Nativity Play of Bethlehem. In the Nativity play there were 4 girls who became super close friends. Two cousins, Gehan and Mai. And two girls who the older sister of the one was married to the brother of the other. We became like brother and sisters. Now the one girl was only 14 but you could tell that she was going to grow up to be a beauty. Anyway I also befriended 2 Israeli girls from the neighborhood where we were living. One I was starting to go out with. Then due to the drop in tourism because of the Lebanon war the play closed and I had to say good bye to my friends. Then in the spring when we were to return for the next season tourism was still down so the company went out of business. I had to write my friends letters saying I was not coming back and good bye. The next fall I went to Andrews, and on the bulletin board was a poster for a class in Biblical Geography being taught in Israel. It would be 14 months after I had left. I was able to take the class. Sadly the one girl who I was starting to go out with was 2 months into a new relationship. But it was fun to see two of the 4 girls from Bethlehem, and when I saw that second Israeli girl from the neighborhood told me that she wanted to be more than friends. So we considered ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend, but with in a few weeks the class was over and I was back at Andrews and the following October she met someone new. But we have still always stayed the best of friends. And I was also the best of friends of 2 of the 4 girls from Bethlehem. After Andrews I joined the Army. In army training in NJ and at church I met a girl who we went out once or twice then I went to my permanent duty station on the other side of the country. That lady would call me, write me, make food and send to me and her brother lived an hour away from the base so she decided to move out there. As her brother and his friends helped her move she became interested in one of her brother's friends. Instead of telling me she called my first sergeant to tell me. I did not know her that well so was much more embarrassed than hurt. Went to the mail room and there were two letters. One from my "girlfriend" from my second trip to Israel, and one from my Bethlehem friend who had grown from a 14 year old who you knew would be a beauty she grew into being an 19 year old beauty. I wrote both girls telling them what happened and thanking them for the perfect timing of their letters. The 19 year old wrote back "I'm sorry for what that lady did to you, but don't forget, she's a stranger and doesn't know you. But you have been my best friend for 5 years, come on over to Bethlehem and let's see what can happen with us!" Well, I went and had a wonderful time seeing my friends over there again. While it was good to be with her she was more casual friendly and she and her brother-in-law were not doing the arranging that I thought was going to happen. Her sister-in-law, one of the 4 friends from the play had married a couple years before and had a child was taking time talking about how she met her husband. He worked in the bank and she caught his eye so he arranged with her family to marry her, so they formally met and married. And she reminded me that is how her culture was and that I needed to know about that. If she did not really like the guy she could get out of it, otherwise no. But she was glad that she had gotten a kind man for her husband. Then it was explained to me that the father of the other girl did not know about me and the plans that we were making and one week before I got there her dad came home with a surprise for her, and arranged marriage to a distant cousin. When he was told about me he apologized, but he had made the arrangements and it was with in the family and was too embarrassing to cancel. After I got back to the USA she wrote me one last letter apologizing for how it turned out, but she was glad it was not like her sister-in-law who married a stranger, this was someone she grew up with. Now I had stayed in contact with this family through her sister's husband and we stayed friends for years through him. In 2001 when I moved from California to NY in my unpacking I could not find their address. Thus I lost some of my dearest friends. One Christmas, about 9 or 10 years ago I was watching CNN. They were talking about Bethlehem's poor economy and they had a guest a girl with the same name as my friend who looked like her, but they gave an age that was a few years different from what her's should be. I tried to get a copy but CNN did not save it to sell. Wednesday night after leaving my late cousin's I stopped at the mall. There was a man selling olive wood carvings from Bethlehem. I asked if he knew these families. He knew one of them and told me I can find him on Facebook. I had looked for them a few years ago but did not find them. Well I looked and found a name that was similar (turns out it was his daughter). And looking at her friends I looked at one of their friends and found a girl who looked like my long lost friend. I wrote asking if it was her, and today got confirmation that it is! She is currently in San Francisco. She is looking for churches to buy and sell olive wood carving from Bethlehem hoping to help their economy. It was her who I saw on CNN she said she had to give the wrong age and some other misinformation to keep terrorists from wanting to do something. And she has also been on 60 minutes talking about the issues in Bethlehem. She is a strong Christian wanting to follow her Lord by helping the poor. We talked to each other on the phone. On the one hand I am in strong pain with loosing my cousin. On the other hand my heart is full of gratitude with being reunited with these special friends. It is like loosing family and gaining family. A mixture of the sadness of hell and joy of heaven both with in a few hours.