Saturday, January 22, 2011

How My Stroke Is A Blessing-Part 1

In the late afternoon of Wed., Jan. 19, 2011, I suffered a stroke—and I thank God every day since…)

“Sir, can you hear me?” “What is your name?”
“Stev…….en…….Ken…..dall,” I said, with great effort.
“Can you understand me, sir?”
“Qui, je comprend,” I replied.

“Is he speaking in French?” asked one of the paramedics.

It was after this exchange with the emergency personnel when I realized that I was unable to speak in English without long pauses between each word.

I was able to speak a few words and phrases I learned from taking French in college over 3o years ago.

I was sitting on the living room floor of our apartment, able to understand everything that was said to me, but only able to speak without difficulty in French.

In the emergency room I continued to answer questions in the few French words and phrases that I could still remember.

Once this bout of "expressive aphasia," as it is called, passed after two hours and my language skills returned, several doctors and nurses remarked that I looked happy and told them I was. I said, "It's a blessing this happened so that you all can hopefully find out what's wrong because this also happened to me 10 years ago…To be continued



To Learn More about Strokes and how to prevent them, please visit: Stroke.org

Monday, January 17, 2011

Thank You God, For Dr. King

Amen!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Learning When to Move Forward

Another lesson God taught me in 2010, which continues into this new year:

Sometimes the Holy Spirit will stop you from going in the wrong direction, even when you think you're doing God's will, or have His blessing to continue.

There are times when God directs us by stopping some opportunities so that we will focus on the path He's prepared for us. If you're hard-headed & move forward, doing things your way instead of His way, you'll mess up every time.

Acts 16:6-10

 6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
From BibleGateWay.com

What God Taught Me Last Year

Instead of making New Year's Resolutions, I'm thinking back on what the Lord taught me last year and applying it more this year. Overall, I learned to be patient last year, pray and wait on the Lord to help guide me. 
 14Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. (Psalm 27:14, King James Version)