Holding the Fort

This week, we are holding revival meetings at our home church.  The weeks previous have been filled with special cottage  prayer meetings and earnest individual preparation.  The opposition to this meeting has been tremendous, especially in our own family.  I was unable to attend two of the three prayer meetings because Josiah had a severe earache.  While he had no fever, he was in a lot of pain, and I thought it best  to keep him  home, although I hated to miss the special times of prayer.

Sunday morning, I took the cotton out of his ear to put in his ear drops, and saw blood and pus (ok – I know that is really gross) in the ear canal.  I was instantly more concerned than ever.  Of course, nothing is open on Sunday morning, so I could not get him to the doctor until Monday afternoon at the earliest.  He still had no fever, and said the pain, while less than it had been, was still there.  I really didn’t know what to do.   I thought perhaps the eardrum had ruptured, but was unsure of what to do in that situation.  I knew the devil was really fighting this meeting.  We went to church anyway, since he couldn’t get in to see the doctor, and he wasn’t feeling too badly.

Monday afternoon, the doctor checked him, and thankfully, the eardrum was not ruptured.  it was however, sucking inward, due to the negative pressure coming from his throat and nasal passages.  I had never heard of this before.  I am still not sure how all the discharge got in the ear, but I was glad there was no damage to the eardrum.  The doctor also swabbed his throat, since it was all red and inflamed, and I was not so happy to find out that Josiah had strep throat.  Who knows how long he had been sick, and he never complained of a sore throat, didn’t sound stuffy, he just had the earache.

That day, our toilet also decided to stop working effectively, and bubbled ominously whenever flushed.  We debated on what to do, and there was a fruitless search for the plunger.  Random question: do people pack their plungers in a box when they move, or do they just throw them away and get a new one?   Whatever your answer may be, ours was nowhere to be found.  I had to go buy another one, and thankfully, with a vigorous plunging, the toilet is now back to normal.  Disaster averted!

Now that Josiah has been on antibiotics for 24 hours, he will be able to attend the services the rest of the week.  I however, think I may be coming down with something.  I guess only time will tell at this point.

In spite of all the opposition to the meeting, the services have been good, and God is working in the hearts of the people.  We are already seeing answers to prayer.  Thank God that He is the Overcomer!