Thursday January 7 2016  THE KEEPER OF OUR SOUL

 

I enjoy listening to books on CD’s when driving in the car.  I am currently listening to “EISENHOWER, THE WHITE HOUSE YEARS”, by John Newton.  As I was coming home from my 90 minute massage (doesn’t that sound opulent) the  reader was reading a segment that took place in the early 1950’s.  Polio, known as Infantile Paralysis during those years, was claiming record numbers, both in death, and long term crippling.  In 1952 it became epidemic in number with 58,000 new cases and 3,000 deaths.  Eisenhower was very instrumental in making it possible for Jonas Salk to develop the vaccine.  Eisenhower did everything he could legally do to help the vaccine become available to the public. 

In 1954 I became very ill.  To the best of my recollection, through stories told to me by others, I awakened one morning and couldn’t walk.  My mother finally came into the bedroom where I shared a bed with Carolyn.  I told my mother that Carolyn had slept on my legs and they were numb and that I couldn’t get up.  I remember that happening but it is more of a picture in my mind than the words I said.  I did believe my words to be true.  At first my mother, in her stern way, just told me to get up and stop that story at once.  I didn’t have any other explanation.  I must have shown other signs of being sick because I eventually ended up in the hospital.  I don’t remember getting up and I don’t remember arriving at the hospital, but I do have vague memories of being there.

First of all, I was PUT INTO A BABY CRIB with high steel bars.  I don’t remember being “put” there but I remember later being in that crib.  I was mortified!  I WASN’T A BABY!  I remember that thought very well.  My sister Velma, being quite a few years older has a better recollection of that time than I do.  Again, if I remember correctly, Velma told me that mama came home and told my sisters that I would not be coming back home but would be going to live with Jesus.  I guess I must have been quite sick.  I was later told I had a high fever and was extremely ill.  One other memory I have are the shots I received each day with a needle that seemed to be about the length of my leg.  IT WAS SO BIG!  

My mom once told me that she called the church she attended and asked the church to pray for me.  The church set up a prayer chain, so there would be someone praying around the clock for my healing, until I came home.  I think I was in Brookside Hospital in Richmond California for about two weeks.  I am hoping my sister reads this blog and can enlighten me on my memory of this event.  Now remember, when I sit down to write I never know what is going to pop into the forefront of my brain.  And remember also that my sister is hearing impaired and I can’t just pick up the phone and have a quick conversation with her to get the facts.  If I don’t know what I’m going to write, she certainly doesn’t know ahead of time either.  When she finds it necessary to correct me about one of my distorted or fragmented memories she usually sends me an email the next day.   It would be awesome to have her responses before I start, but like I said, I never know what is going to be written.  Poor planning?  Maybe.  But actually, I like the spontaneity of being open and free to write whatever comes to my mind each day.  So sister dear, please enlighten me if there is anything anything you would like to add.

I remember Velma sharing with me how devastated she was when mama and daddy told her the news that I wouldn’t be coming home.  She harbored a lot of hurt for that comment for many years. That was probably way too much information for a young adolescent to handle.  I do hope she has recovered from that pain of the past.  Actually, she was like my second mother.  I rode her hip as a baby and was probably her shadow the rest of my childhood.  She was a safe harbor for me when I was a little girl.  I learned to stay out of the way of my other sisters.  You think I talk a lot now?  Well, my incessant talking drove them crazy when we were kids.  As you can see, I’ve had many years of practicing my speech.

Now, this next incident I am going to tell you about, I do remember.  I remember the day I stood up in my crib.  It was a shock to the doctors, not to mention my mom and dad.  I didn’t see what the big deal was about because I knew all along I wasn’t a baby.  Eventually I was discharged.  On the last day I was there my mom and dad brought me a coloring book with my own crayons.  We were poor as church mice and that was a great boon for me to have a coloring book and colors!  I stood in the crib and my dad colored the last page in the book.  If you only knew the impression that made on me!  That was just not the dad I knew.  But I knew my parents were happy because they were usually more stern looking.  After that visual memory I don’t remember anything about coming home.  Though my mother always believed that my coming home was a result of all the prayers of her Christian friends.  And in my heart I too believe that to be true.  I have had no lasting crippling affects attributed to the polio.  However, I do have one leg that is noticeably smaller in muscle mass in comparison to the other leg.

I had not thought of this memory in years.  This afternoon as the book jogged my memory, it caused me to reminisce back over my life and discover a whole lists of miracles that God has done in my life since I was that little girl who lived  to come home to her sisters.  I think it would behoove us to occasionally stop and look back over our lives and to give thanks once again for all that God has done for us over the years.  And when I pause to look back over my parenting years, and remember all God’s provisions and miracles, it’s as if I can never thank Him enough for intervening in so many ways regarding our children.  Both of our children are alive today because of great interventions of God’s miraculous touch. 

Stop a moment today and think back to some of the pivotal points of your existence when God’s involvement had profound results in your life.  When you lack something today of which to give thanks, think of all the other times His power has had intervened for your safety or decision making.  We worship a mighty God.  We can never give Him enough praise and thanks just for being who He is.

 

THE KEEPER OF OUR SOUL

By Kathleen Martens

January 7 2016

 

When we least expect it

God shows His hand.

He is the first and the last,

The world He commands.

 

When we call out His name

We never walk alone.

And if we so choose,

We are one of His own.

 

God gives us strength

For He is our strong tower.

He fills us full of His Spirit,

Which fills us with power.

 

It is through faith that we walk

The righteous narrow road.

And He is right beside us

To take away our heavy load.

 

So much praise due our God

And hallowed be His name.

All the earth will one day bow

To the King who died in shame.

 

All so that we would live

Forever with God above.

Our protector and defender,

Pours over us His love.

 

So remember to take time

To shower Him with praise.

He is the keeper of our soul.

And the one who numbers our days.

 

I pray that God will be with each who read these words.  That He will keep you in the hollow of His hand, protecting and defending you.  I pray that one day you will know the depth and height, the length and breadth, of His love for you.  Amen

God bless you!  Have a great day!