Today has been long and scary and grace-filled. At 6:30 AM my husband Andy had quadruple bypass surgery. As a minister’s wife, I’m used to other people’s spouses in recovery and waiting rooms. It is a new experience for me to be on the receiving end of the prayers. Andy is thin and a non-smoker. He’s not an obvious candidate for heart disease.

The long wait for news from the operating room and the scariness of the procedure are obvious. (The long wait was actually broken by hourly updates from the OR nurses–an amazing practice of kindness.) What i never expected was the “surround-sound” of love from all around the country and beyond. Emails and texts from Maine, Florida, Washington, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Oregon, California, Louisiana, Delaware, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Sweden,…continue to arrive. A virtual prayer vigil has been operative for the past forty-eight hours–since we found out the surgery would happen.

There was also a little Praying in Color vigil at the hospital in the cafeteria. Friends Randall, Sharon, and Susan and I sat in the cafeteria and prayed and drew. My prayer is below.

I am overwhelmed by the vastness and wideness of love poured out on Andy and me. Thanks be to God and to friends.

There are so many wonderful heart passages in Scripture. Here are two I have held close to my heart today:

• So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 2Corinthians 4:16 (NRSV)
• A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26 (NRSV)