And lo, I am with you always

God found me today at Vanderbilt. Had I not arrived an hour early He might have lost me in the crowd! But nevertheless, He let me know again today that He is waiting for me in the "belly" of this thing.

You've just got to hear how He's been waiting for me every step of the way. Two weeks ago I finally got up the nerve to call Dr. Caudill's office. You see I knew I was having a problem, but I thought I could fix it with yogurt--you know the activia with "bifidus regularis"--sounded medicinal to me! But Tom kept encouraging me to call his friend Max. (Max Caudill, now one of my favorite doctors in all the world.) Tom and Max grew up together, been knowing each other since the 5th grade.

Now isn't that nice? Tell me, all you women out there reading my blog, is that the doctor you would want to call for a problem like the one I was having?! NOT!!!! So I looked in the directory of Williamson County medical professionals and decided Max was the kindest looking (that is a subjective opinion, I'm sure the others are great), took a deep breath and called Tom's friends' office. This is how it went...

"Good morning, Dr. Caudill's office, this is Ruby." (I can't write it southern saturated with sweet tea...but just imagine because that's how she did it.)
"Hello, Ruby, this is Leighann McCoy."
"Well, hello, Leighann, how are you today?" (still sweet tea, deep south overtop friendly).
Before I answered I smiled and thought, "they sure are friendly at Max's office." When it dawned on me that I might know Ruby!
"Is this Ruby Barnhill?"
"Yes, it is!"
"Oh, my goodness, Ruby. I'm SO glad it's you..." After which I told her more than she probably wanted to know about the reason I was calling.

When Tom and I came to Thompson Station we went door knocking on the first Saturday we were in town. At the first house we met a mean woman who told us she knew where to find us if she ever wanted a church (which she apparently did not!). At the very next house we met Sweet Tea Ruby Barnhill and her wonderful husband and son. Not long after that her husband was the first person to pray to receive Christ in our ministry at TSC. This was 21 years ago.

What are the odds of me needing this exact kind of doctor, of him being Tom's childhood friend and of RUBY being his receptionist???? I would venture to say they are greater than .2% of the population!

But that was just the stepping on place. Since my cancer has been diagnosed, Dr. Caudill gave me a "dangerous prayer" on his prescription pad (I'll blog about that sometime later); he prayed with us, my surgeon is a believer, and even in the "cancer mill" at Vanderbilt hospital, today

Rosemary (member of our church) met me in my little cubicle thrilled that we ended up in her world, Melanie asked if she could pray with me (both she and Rosie prayed with us), Dr. Sumner whom I'd never laid eyes on before today (the one performing the ultrasound) shared with us that he too was a believer and praying for me (then he held mine and Tom's hand while Tom prayed for us both), AND Dr. Herline (my surgeon) all ministered to Tom and me as if we were mere patients and they were our pastors!!

Now, how can I be bummed about cancer when God is showing off so beautifully!!! I'm in for the show, I don't want to miss one minute of this. What a tremendous privilege to be loved so sweetly by the CREATOR of the Universe. To think of all the other things going on in the world, and He found me in suite 1649 at Vanderbilt Hospital today.