The Comforter

Ready for an update? On Tuesday we were hanging with my parents in St. George. I could tell that Jerry wasn't feeling well. We had lunch and he wanted to go back to our room and rest. He told me that his chest was bothering him. We went for a walk. It got worse. So...we drove to the hospital. I knew that we needed to know if it was his heart, because we have a long wait and there will be alot more stress. They did some tests and wanted to keep him overnight, but he wouldn't because of my doctors appointment the next day. I tried to talk him into staying, but No!!!!!! So the next morning we got up at 5:00 and left for Salt Lake at 6. We got 15 miles out of St. George and he didn't feel well, so we turned around and went back to the hospital. Again, all the heart tests, plus a stress test. They were fine. Thank goodness. I am so grateful that we were able to find out because there has and will be alot of stress in our lives and we don't always want to be worried that it is his heart.
He was released around noon, so we had lunch with my parents, and then headed NORTH!
We stayed on Provo, picked up Nicole this morning and headed to Salt Lake. We met with the doctor and they scheduled surgery for March 18. We really liked the Doctor and was very impressed with him. He seems very confident that the test results are good and that it is contained, but they won't know until they get in there. We will go down on the 16th for tests and pre-op stuff. The hospital stay is only 2-3 days if all goes well.
I have felt the comforter in my life the last 2 weeks. I have a strong testimony of the love our Heavenly Father has for us, and that we can be enveloped in his love and comfort. It is hard, and we will both experience anxiety, but I can feel the loving arms of the comforter, and I am so thankful for that.
I don't even know how to express my feelings. So much love, so many texts, emails, phone calls, cards in the mail, goodies, comments on my blog. My heart just might burst. Love and support from people that I have never met face to face. People I haven't seen for years. Friends that care and love me so much. Family that is so priceless. What a blessing! Thanks......

Lynn sent me this blog and it had this story on it. It is so perfect and it is how I
have felt.....scream and shout that I can't take it, but after all the fire, we become something that we couldn't be without it. Thanks Lynn.

Tea Cup....Love this story or not, you will not be able to have tea in a tea cup again without thinking of this. There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful."As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "Don't do that." "I don't like it!" "Let me alone," but he only smiled, and gently said; "Not yet!"Then WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. "Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to be sick!", I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly; 'Not yet.' He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!" I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, 'Not yet'.When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought. But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Oh, please, Stop it, Stop, I cried. He only shook his head and said. 'Not yet!'.Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering "What's he going to do to me next?"An hour later he handed me a mirror and said 'Look at yourself.' And I did. I said, That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!!!Quietly he spoke: 'I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life.If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.'"The moral of this story is this: God knows what He's doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will.So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this.Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter.