GOD’S MERCY

Following is a letter from our dear parishioner, Yasuko Yoshino:

My routine each day, since I moved into an assisted living facility, is to get up at approximately 4 am and with the aid of my walker I walk the halls of the facility for about an hour.

 

On May 2, 2015, I woke up feeling extremely weak and found that I could hardly move my arms and legs.  Thinking that maybe I had caught a bad cold I laid there talking with God. At approximately 6 am I again tried to get out of bed but found that I was still extremely weak ad could barely move.  Finally, around 9 am I felt some strength return to my arms and by 11 am I found that I had regained some strength back in my legs. I was not worried though because I was convinced that it was all because I had a bad cold so I just stayed in bed and asked for my meals to be delivered to me. During the next three days there was some improvement but I still felt very weak and so I continued to have my meals brought to me.

 

On May 5th, three days later, I contacted Kaiser Hospital and explained to the advice nurse what I had been experiencing.  She scheduled me with an appointment that day to be examined by a doctor. I called Donna and Kazue and they came to the facility.  Donna drove me to the hospital with Kazue following in her own car. The doctor who did the examination told me that I had had a stroke while I was sleeping.  She then ordered for me to have a CT scan on May 14th.

 

Many of my Christian friends were notified of my condition and all began to pray for me.  I couldn’t believe that I had had a stroke but all the while I was not worried because I knew God’s great love for me and that I could rest in His sovereign will.  A few days before my CT scan appointment I was reading “My Daily Bread” and the devotion for that day was about “God’s Perfect Time.” Matthew 6:26.  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they? I knew this was God speaking to my heart about how precious I am to Him and His reassurance that all things happen in His perfect time and plan.

 

That night as I prayed to the Lord, I asked Him to take me home to be with Him while I slept.  This is not because I was afraid but because I could think of no better place that I would rather be.  But instead of taking me home He answered my prayer in His perfect way. I received the results from the CT scan and all was clear, the doctor found no signs of a stroke.  I believe it was through my faith and trust in Him that Jesus Christ performed a miracle and healed me of my stroke.

 

I continue to get stronger each day as my daily walks become longer.

 

Thank you, God, for all You are to me in my life and thank you to all my friends for your prayers during this time.

 

In Christ’s love,

Yasuko Yoshino