God is in the Details!

 About a month ago, I read an Instagram post by Come Follow Me Daily about a young man that had cancer. He had been in remission and had decided to go on a mission.  When he opened his mission call, he was called outside of the States. He was nervous, to be away from his doctors, and away from the health system in the United States. He talked to his surgeon about his concerns. His doctor said that this was the best place he could be called outside of the surgeon's regular area, because he goes to this exact city frequently to work. How amazing is that! 

This is one of millions of stories of God being in the details of someone's life. As I read this story, I was so grateful to have a loving Heavenly Father and Brother, Jesus Christ. I sat and pondered my life at that time, and thought about needing to look more closely into my life to look for Them in the details of my life. 

There are many specific times in my life that I can see His hands. Then there are times that I don't. Is it because He's not there? No, He's always there. It depends on me choosing to see.  I sat in the celestial room that Friday night, in between assignments, pondering that post. My thoughts led me to hoping that everyone can recognize the Lord in their lives. Knowing He's a part of things, makes every aspect of my life better, especially in this craziness of 2020. 

On September 29, I got sick in the morning, my mom got sick that night, and my brother started showing signs the next day, which later led to my sister-in-law and their three oldest all getting sick. We had coronavirus, although not everyone was tested, my mom was on Saturday and I was the following Tuesday. We have no idea where it came from. We've all followed the guidelines, worn masks in public, washed hands frequently. I even sent a text before going to pick my nephews up from robotics, "I have a cold. It's not like I have coronavirus or something." There was no way that I could've possibly caught it, but I did.

On Friday night, I was going to watch my brother's dog, while they went on a weekend getaway with his in-laws. My mom's fever got pretty high - 102.9. I felt like she shouldn't be alone, but I needed to sleepover with Helicopter, the dog. So, I made her come with me. I just knew there was something wrong. Helicopter usually is a roamer during the night. He wanders all over, tries to climb on me, etc. Well, that night, he laid on the floor right next to my mom on the couch. Her breathing was rapid and shallow. I was scared. He didn't leave her side until her breathing returned to normal a couple hours later. So unlike him! However, because of his behavior, I knew when she was better and I fell asleep for a while, until I woke up with him on me!  While I was so nervous about her and being alone, I was able to feel support from the dog.

On Saturday, she was tested and rapid results had her positive within a couple of hours. Our quarantine began. 

Sunday night, my mom's oxygen was low, so I took her to the Instacare at the new IHC hospital in Layton. I was so stressed sitting in that parking lot by myself, not knowing what was going on. I was praying for something to calm my mind. That's when I got a call and Akston wanted to know if I could do a zoom meeting with them. Just hearing their voices made me tear up. I knew that I was being watched over. They talked and danced and Akston wanted to sing a couple primary songs to me. Talk about a little boy that was so in touch with the Spirit. It was exactly what I needed to calm my nerves and distract me from what was going on.

The doctors ran some tests, did some x-rays, said her lungs looked great, and they were going to go off her behavior rather than the numbers that she was worried about, because her tests came back fine and she looked healthy and sent her home. Relief!

Wednesday the health department called and told her if she could go 24 hours without a fever, she would be off quarantine on the following Saturday. Then the Instacare called and said she should make an appointment with her regular doctor, because her kidneys looked like she was dehydrated. There we were in quarantine and I didn't know what to give her and I couldn't go shopping to get something. I got online and searched out what would be a good thing to give her electrolytes. I literally had just found a website that listed berry smoothies as one of the top nine things to help with electrolytes, when there was a knock at the door. There were two berry smoothies on the porch. Talk about immediate answers to prayers. 

I had never experienced anything like that before. It was amazing. I knew that my Father in Heaven was completely aware of my fears and was comforting me and helping her through one of our neighbors.

That night her oxygen dropped again. I called the Coronavirus Help Line, not knowing if I should take her back to Instacare or if I should wait. - FYI, that line is not there to help with medical questions. I don't really know what the point of that line is, but it clearly is not to help people that actually have the virus - . The girl on the other end of the line could hear my concern and apologized profusely, told me again that she could not give any medical advice, but said if I felt the need, I should probably take her to the emergency room.

So, back we went to the IHC. I had to drop her off at the door. That broke my heart. She told me to go home and she'd call when she knew something. I was not about to leave her, so I parked myself facing the emergency room, saw them take her back quickly, with no wait in the waiting room, and I waited. I reached out to my aunts and uncles asking for prayers. I called in after what seemed like an hour, and the nurse said it had only been a half hour and they had no news. She suggested I go home and wait, though. About 15 minutes later, Mom called to tell me they were admitting her. I could tell by her voice that she was so scared. I was so scared and I hated leaving her.

Knowing that I was coming home from the hospital by myself at almost midnight, my boss called to check on me. I so needed someone to talk to and was so grateful. Then I was texting ALee and I told her how horrible I felt leaving my mom at the hospital alone. Without me needing to go into anymore detail, she immediately knew where my mind was, back to the day my dad was dropped off at a hospital and died by himself. Her text about the quality of this hospital vs. that hospital and all that went with it was once again an example of the Lord knowing I needed something and He worked through her.

Thursday, was much the same, full of fear and worry. We had been given priesthood blessings on Sunday, that had given us lots of comfort, but having the changed situation, was stressful. I was wishing that Mom could get a blessing, but with visitors not being allowed in the hospital, there was no way, that I could see, that she would be able to get a blessing. There was a way that God could see, though. At the change of shifts for the nurses, her day nurse offered her a blessing, saying that he'd felt like he needed to offer, but without knowing any of her religious beliefs, he didn't know if she'd be interested. She was, so he went and found her night nurse and they gave her a blessing. I was so thankful!

Friday during the day my cousin Lauri and Aunt Fay brought me a massager thing, that was an answer to prayers. As I was so sick and my back had been killing me for days. Then, that night, my grandma and three of my cousins stopped by with a care package for me. Grandma made chicken soup with homemade noodles, one of my very favorite things from growing up. They had things to keep me busy and to pamper myself a bit in their cute package. There was one teeny thing in there that helped me know that my Heavenly Father was aware of me. It really was such a tiny thing. There was some chapstick in it. With coronavirus, my mouth and lips have been so extremely dry. I would've never prayed that someone would bring me chapstick, I just was going to add it to my grocery delivery order later, but it was there. And there I sat, bawling on my floor, because my family came to offer support from the driveway and were in tune to bring just what I needed.

Through this whole disease and twenty-three days of quarantine, I have been witness to what ministering is. Our neighbors, friends, and family were amazing, from calls and texts at the exact minute I needed it, to driving up to make sure we had everything we need, to going on Kneaders runs. I feel so blessed to have you all in my life. Thank you for serving us with Christ-like service. I hope to become a better person and be like you!