Hi! It’s Lee-Anne, and for those of you who don’t know me, I am pretty new to Philpott. I want to thank those that have really reached out and touched my life already!
I shared with Todd yesterday one of the most amazing things that has happened to me! I wanted to share it with you all for some encouragement! It is one of the hugest things of prayer for me inYEARS.
Long story short, I had knee surgery on my left knee 8 years ago. It has only gotten worse every year. I found out I had arthritis when I was 16 and it affected both of my knees and feet severely as well as my hips. I have worn braces most of my life on my knees because of this.
In December, 2 days before graduation, I fell and dislocated my left knee, tore my miniscus, my ACL and my MCL. I have been waiting for surgery since. When I came home, I got fitted for new more permanent braces, and at $1600 I thought there was no way it would ever happen. I had insurance through my Dad and so we got approved for one, but since I turned 24 two weeks ago, I lost all coverage. Without these braces, I would not get to have the surgery when a time comes available.
So, I decided to pay for one and then wait on the other one once I saved money for it somehow. Tonight, I went to get fitted at the surgeon, and he, for the first time in 20 years, submitted the measurements for the custom brace for the WRONG KNEE! Therefore, since he can’t do anything with a custom brace, I GOT IT FREE OF CHARGE. Not like a win on roll up the rim to win, but an actual health changing, life changing neccessity. Next Friday I get fitted for the second and have to pay the $1600 for it, but I can now be on the waiting list for my surgery! I can’t believe how amazing this is! Nothing, and I mean NOTHING has ever happened to me like this.
I want to thank everyone for general prayers for my life. By giving God my listening ears, I can only imagine what I might get to do to help someone else, since this is how he helped me. You know, to pray for $3200, I had no faith, but I didn’t even think to pray that just SOMETHING, ANYTHING would happen, and now, the worst doesn’t seem to even matter anymore!
I really just needed to share that with someone, and since I don’t have any contacts from church, I thought you were the best person to send this info too! Plus you’re a huge encouragement! So thanks! God really does work in mysterious ways, especially once you have already accepted something will never happen!
I first saw this story as a little wire feature in the newspaper on Monday… during my procrastination in blogging about it, the story has become quite a bit bigger. It’s happening in Afghanistan, where a man is now on trial (with the maximum penalty being death) for… becoming a Christian. Read more about the details here and here. The gist of the case is that under sharia law in Afghanistan, it is an offence to commit “apostacy” (i.e. decide to cease being a Muslim if you were born as a Muslim) - this article from an Islamic scholar explains what it’s about. The man on trial converted to Christianity while working with an aid group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan 15 years ago and now is facing execution for that decision. Obviously this is a huge geopolitical issue (considering the U.S. has 20000 troops and Canada 2000 troops right now in Afghanistan to support the government currently taking this case to court). However, it’s even moreso a very real reminder that we in Canada should not be taking our freedom to believe what we wish for granted. It’s one thing for us to call ourselves believers - it’s quite another for somebody to refuse to renounce his beliefs under the threat of death. Something challenging to think about for sure…
- Todd
UPDATE - Good news - the case was thrown out due to “lack of evidence” and the man is now seeking asylum abroad - Italy has apparently offered asylum. Read more here
Ah, the joy of being five again!Or is that the shame of being twenty-seven and learning things that any five-year old already knows?Perhaps I should explain myself.
Do you remember the first time you learned to tie your own shoes?Before yesterday, I did not.But today I can recount the pure delight of learning to tie my own shoes and remember it as if it was yesterday.Why?Because it was yesterday when I first learned to tie my shoes.At least tie my shoes correctly.I must confess it was a deeply profound, nearly religious experience realizing that I had never tied my shoes correctly before; it was as if a fundamental truth was being shaken.
I was on the internet looking for different ways of lacing up a new pair of shoes that I had bought, and stumbled on a link about tying shoelaces. At first I was intrigued, but that intrigue quickly turned to dismay as I learned the horrid truth that the way I was tying my shoes my whole life was just plain WRONG!Thankfully, that dismay quickly turned to joy.The joy of a five year old kid learning to tie his shoes correctly for the first time. I felt the immense satisfaction of a boy learning a new skill that had eluded him for so long. The pride that makes a kid go up to his parents and loudly proclaim “Look mom. Look at what I can do!”And then it hits me.I am not five. I am twenty-seven.
On the bus ride to church today and during Oxygen, I could not help but look at people’s shoes and more specifically how people were tying their shoelaces.Quite frankly, I think some of you are making the same mistake that I have been making all my life. The ‘correct way’ of tying your shoes is not just some crazy talk of some knot-loving purist.It explains why my shoes always keep coming undone, why I often feel the need to double knot my laces, and why the bows that I tie on gifts never look quite right.Do yourself a favour and take a minute to look at this site; it just might change your life.
(This post is way off-topic and definitely not as serious as the typical Oxygen blogs.But Todd seems to be taking a break from his regular posts …
Essentially, babies with diagnosed terminal illnesses can now be legally killed in the name of “mercy” to ease their suffering. This is taking what is a truly difficult debate into end-of-life decisions and ramping it up to a whole new level by permitting the supervised death of babies who couldn’t possibly give their input on the decision (the article actually cites a mother claiming that the baby’s continual spitting up of milk was a sign that she wanted to die… what other kind of baby would spit up food? Unheard of!).
Although there is certainly a heavy emotional card to be played in these debates regarding easing the certainly intense pain some people suffer through, all these conversations only make even a bit of sense to me if we, as a society, decide that we don’t need and/or acknowledge God anymore, so we might as well play the role ourselves. Holland is generally 10-20 years ahead of Canada in adopting these types of “progressive” policies, so we’ll see how long it takes until this becomes an issue here.
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