appointment

P 2772 How to wreck a perfectly good day!

/ DVH

The other day I had an eye specialist appointment. In the time we spent waiting for our turn, which was about forty minutes, we chatted to a number of people in the waiting room. I was totally blessed to be able talk with a lovely tiny little Indonesian lady sitting across from me. We even hugged each other when we said goodbye. 

She cried, I cried, I was just so blessed by her. She didn’t speak English very well, but somehow that didn’t matter. She told me she felt our hearts had connected. All I know is that I loved her instantly, and we knew each other like 10 minutes tops! Meanwhile, hubby chatted to her husband and shook his hand, and we gave them both stuff. We were so warm with this older couple the specialist asked us if we were all friends who knew each other before! 

When we finally made it in to see him, life took one of its nasty turns. First of all, I was only with the doctor for all of 20 minutes, and after that, the receptionist told us his bill was $400. That, BTW, is $20 per minute! Wow. He prescribed eye drops that can be bought over the counter for only $33, for a teeny-weeny bottle. Mortgage anyone? Did I mention we are pensioners not prosperous cattle farmers?!  

Hubby then patiently explained to me that the doctor had put the ‘liquid gold’(?) drops on a prescription, which meant it was free for us. Even after that I was still pretty ticked off with eye specialists! I need to be truthful, I kind of mumbled about it a lot and let the idea of paying out that huge amount  of money – for only twenty minutes(!) spoil the rest of our morning, by complaining.

In the afternoon, on the same day, I was chewing away on my Rice crackers – yes, I said rice crackers! And I broke a tooth. After a whole lot of effort, we could not find one dentist who was available who could look at said broken tooth asap. So I was back grumpy again, because dentists cost money, and $400 had already flown out of the window. Not to mention the whole thought of drilling, and teeth and stuff! I’m not all that keen on the dentist. 

Finally hubby found one who could see me the next day. This dentist hadn’t worked on the weekend before – they had only just put that appointment in, on the net as a trial! Hubby, bless him, went right on persevering, while I was still grumping about these things. There is a point to this saga, please hold …!!

Next morning we found out good old Medicare has given us $80 back on our $400 investment – many thanks to the Government. That was when I finally began to throw my grumpy ‘attitude’ into reverse. I said all that, to make this point – Father God was already working for me behind the scenes in ways I didn’t even comprehend. I couldn’t see Him, because I was much too busy developing a bad attitude! 🙄  Eventually I figured out my response left a whole lot to be desired, so I took my own advice, and repented. 

I’ve written about my very-bad-awful-terrible day so you can see what happens when someone concentrates on the negative. It means you can’t see the good stuff!  So let’s look at the good stuff and recap. We did have to pay $400, but God gave us $80 back unexpectedly. We sat in the eye specialist’s offices for about 40 minutes, and that meant I met the sweetest little lady and we shared a time of enjoying one another’s company briefly. My horribly expensive eye drops cost us … wait for it … zero. Then I broke a tooth. I went to the dentist on the weekend, gaining a free appointment that wasn’t normally there! And! It cost the same as it would have on a week day.

Overcoming in this life depends on how we look at stuff and that point was really driven home to me. I’m the kind of person that thinks that being grumpy is wasting a day, and I had just wasted one on something I couldn’t change – sigh – I hate it when I do that! The worst bit is, it is way too easy to concentrate on the bad things and totally miss the good. Especially when the bad stuff comes in waves. Are you feeling me right now?? 

So here’s a couple of verses to chew on:“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil;  for He gives to His beloved sleep.” Psalm 127:1&2.  “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch?” Matthew 6:27.

How do you wreck a perfectly good day? You totally forget what God says in the book. Bye. 👋

ps My tooth was fixed with a minimum of fuss, and we now have a new dentist. Like I said, it all depends on what we focus on.

P 2508 People who have authority have great power.

/ DVH

Yesterday, I had an early early appointment to go to an out-clinic at a major hospital. I hate going there. That particular hospital and I are not friends, because I have had some very nasty things happen to me, inside it. Plus I’ve met very grumpy, uninspiring staff! And yes … I have repented and forgiven them. Things are so unhappy in there, to cheer the staff up at Christmas, I give the clinics I attend, chocolates.  

I was kind of grizzle-praying at the Lord about it – I know you would never do that  — but, sigh, sometimes I do. An-y-wa-y … as I was …… praying, the Lord interrupted me, and told me if I gave the whole thing to Him, He would give me a testimony. So I shut up … and gave the appointment to Him.

First of all, we were seen immediately and that never happens. Unfortunately you also never see the same doctor twice, and this one had a Uni student following him around. That fully qualified doctor empowered me by the way he treated me. Instead of the usual brick wall you meet in the hospital… I think I met someone who actually liked people and his job. 

Anyway, at the end of our short time, I told him that in 36 years of attending there I had never ever met one doctor, or nurse, or care-giver who cared enough to ask about my personal comfort: This nice man actually asked me: “How have you been? Do you think, that the medicine you are taking is helping you?” I was gob- smacked … going there often feels like an assembly line: this guy sees my liver, that one oversees my endocrine system, this one my skin, and on and on. No-one asks me how I am. Rather it is like facing a health test, and it seems like I’m failing that all over the place.

Then this very nice doctor utterly surprised me, again. He said, after looking carefully at my chart with all the various clinics, I attend on it: “With all the difficulties you have, you need to be kind to yourself and take it easy on yourself. You have a lot to contend with.” I was totally blown away again. Nobody in 36 years has actually verbally paid any attention to how my health affects my well-being! Colour me astonished!!

They have, in the past, offered me counselling for depression …which would mean more time at that hospital(!) Hah! Like I would say yes to that!! So yesterday, I was so empowered by this nice man’s attitude, I spoke up. I did that mainly because the young student medic was sitting there. I thought it wouldn’t kill this young fellow to learn that people like to be treated like people, not like one sausage in a string of sausages! You know, people with authority can lend you their power, by the way they treat you, and that is an essential part of healing too.  

After the appointment, I spent quite a while thanking Jesus for all that He did. He promised me He would surprise me and He did. When He surprises me, it hardly ever looks like I think it will!  Meanwhile, hubby went to get the car, and left me in my chair by the front door. And then another patient came in. He was incredibly morbidly obese, and it broke my heart. I’m sitting in my chair, NOT looking at him, weeping away behind my mask. (Masks are great for that stuff, they are good for praying in tongues too!) I did both.

I still have tears in my eyes when I think about him. At once I started praying and I will keep on doing it until the Lord takes him out of my memory. This dear man sat down. I immediately noticed that his very very large legs were purple, and his poor tummy was so big it reached the floor from a sitting position. I just sat, and prayed, and discreetly cried for him – I can’t imagine how that man copes in such a judgmental opinionated world.

Outside on his way to get the car, my husband was having his own adventure. He encountered a tormented soul who was screaming at some security guards. They were trying to calm him down, and he was becoming more and more violent and agitated. So hubby started praying for the man as he went quietly by, and slowly this guy started to calm down. It occurred to me, who would pray for all these tormented, and often tortured, very ill patients, if people with faith weren’t around?

As Christians, we are a people with great authority and with that authority comes His great power. This means we can change the atmosphere around us – even when we are learning. You know sometimes we can only actually walk in compassion, through identification. Bye. 👋