Let me define the meaning of a God thing.  A non-believer would call it a coincidence.  When you can’t explain something very unusual happening a believer might call it supernatural or divine intervention.

Our senior minister, his assistant and I were at a Christian leader’s retreat about 14 years ago.  A person asked: “How do you explain what is happening in Las Vegas building a 150,000 sq. ft. church”?  The senior minister said: “Don, why don’t you answer it”?  I said: “I can’t describe it; it is just a God thing.”  From then on, anytime I felt or sensed divine intervention, I would tell my family, a God thing happened today.  One example, every time I went to a meeting I went through eight-stop lights.  I was lucky if four were green.  I was running late for a meeting and all eight were green and I was on time.  Our whole family would begin telling situations that they believed were: “It’s a God thing”.  We then began looking each day to see if any “It’s a God thing” happened that day.  It is amazing how many things we began noticing and praising God.  Want to build you faith?  Try it!

Let me start at the beginning and tell you about the latest “God thing”.  Saturday evening after church services I felt pressure on my chest.  My family took me to the hospital and that evening an angiogram procedure was performed.  They insert in your body so they can take a picture of our heart and its blood vessels to see if there is any blockage.  There was but it was thought it could be cleared with a new drug.  I was in bed for six hours and told not to move, given the new drug and sent home.  Last Monday it became more severe and an ambulance took me to the emergency room.  This time they did an angioplasty.  It is a technique where a very small inflatable shaped balloon is used to clear an artery.  They did that and left stents to keep the arteries open.  You may ask: “What makes that a God thing?”  Let me start at the beginning.

We lived in a rural area on about three acres.  We had a small barn with a cow, goat, chickens and ducks.  We had no electricity or running water.  I had a very close relationship with my father as I followed him everywhere he went.  He worked in a mill a few miles from home.  He got sick, went to the hospital and died when I was six years old.  From that point on just looking at a hospital scared me to death.  Two things I refused to do for many years were to enter a hospital or go to a funeral.  It wasn’t until my wife started having babies that I could walk in without fear.  For some reason I just couldn’t shake the unpleasantness of entering a hospital.

In 1984, as I was leaving the store I had to walk up a set stairs to get to my car.  I felt this heavy pressure on my chest.  The next day I went to work and it had gotten worse.  I went to the doctor and then immediately to the hospital.  That evening I had four-bypasses done and without any fear whatsoever.  I had had a major heart attack.

Years later I had another angiogram, then an angioplasty.  A few years later I had another angiogram and then an angioplasty.  Each time there was absolutely no fear.  As an elder in our church there were times I was asked to go to a hospital to pray for a sick person.  That uneasiness as I entered the hospital wouldn’t go away.

In 2005 I had a massive heart attack and was not expected to live according to what my cardiologist told my family.  They operated and within two weeks I was back working part-time.  They told me my heart was working at about 10% capacity now it 35%, a God thing.  While I was in ICU there were as many as twelve elders and friends surrounding my bed praying for me. They too knew my chances of living were slim.  At no time did I ever doubt that God was with me and there was absolutely no fear at anytime.  Practically every day since I have walked and do exercises to stay in good health.

Between the times I have been in the hospital I have had almost perfect health except for a rare cold. There have been no physical limitations I have had to endure.  Hopefully, you can see why I believe this was another “It’s a God thing”. Two days after the angioplasty I feel I am almost back to normal as I write.

You will read this and say this is all about Don.  But hopefully you can see divine intervention and it is intended to give God all of the glory.  You have no idea how much closer I have come to Him when I go through these medical things.  My faith is sky high and I doubt if it would have been except for the times in the hospital.  I used to wonder why so many Christians had so many medical problems.  If He wants to draw us closer to Him, He may be allowing these situations to take place.  I can assure you; you come out a better person having relied on God for better health than when you were going in.

This is my 276^th blog.  To read more go to www.agodthing.wordpress.com