I love you,
Grandpa
3-23-02 I Love You Grandpa
Friends and Family,
Sorry for the delay in getting all the details of yesterday's update to you. For the record, this update is on the events of Thursday night and Friday during the day over there. We apologize to those of you who sent e-mails yesterday that we have been unable to respond to. Please be patient with us. The reasons "why" will be able to be shared soon...hopefully by late tonight. God was busy working miracles ALL day on Friday not only with the Wombles over there and but with those that love them over here in the States..
Jeff's condition
Jeff has a broken cheek bone under his right eye which they are not planning
to do surgery on at this time. Pray it heals correctly. He has severe
damage to his inner ears and eardrums which cannot heal on their own.
Surgery will be required. He also has a deviated septum which has created a
100% blockage. This too will require surgery to repair. Infection continues
to be the greatest concern for Jeff's condition.
Pray for his complete healing and that he will "stay in his room." He needs to be kept on his IV for antibiotics, but he keeps wandering to Cindy and Samuel's rooms. The nurses have had a difficult time keeping up with him. :)
Cindy's condition
Surgery was very succesful. The bone has been stabilized by two steel plates
with bolts. They feel the bone is healing. The Xray showed the bone in
marble sized pieces all disconnected about 1 inch long. The wound is now
closed. Rees thought it was about 18 inches long, but according to Cindy
it's only 4-6 inches long. There is a 5-10% chance of infection spreading
into the bone. The prayer is she will be walking on crutches on Monday.
PTL!!! Cindy feels better, but has intense pain. She had a very difficult
night. Continue to pray for her healing, the pain will subside, and she will
be able to start using the crutches soon. Please continue to pray she would
be able to visit Samuel.
Samuel's condition - our miracle of miracles! Grandpa Rees spent the night with him - prayed and sang to him. He moved his head and rolled over. Samuel kept trying to take out the drain tube that goes from his nose to his stomach. At about 11:30am 3/22/02 they (Rees and nurse) were giving Samuel a bath and he woke up....
Samuel looked around and saw Rees. He said, in words Rees and family will never forget, "Hi Grandpa...I had a bad dream." Grandpa said, "Sam, it may not have been a bad dream...but you're going to be okay. We can talk about your bad dream if you want...." Samuel then drifted off back to sleep. He woke up a little later and said "I want Mommy. I want Mommy. Grandpa, I want my Mommy." Grandpa replied, "Samuel, she can't come right now she's in the hospital. You are in the hospital. Mommy's here in the hospital with you but she is in another room. She loves you Samuel, and you will get to see her soon. Samuel, you are not in Pakistan anymore." Samuel dosed again and woke up again a little later. After recognizing Rees, he looked in his eyes and said, "I love you, Grandpa." God is so good!!!!!!!
At other times Grandpa could tell Samuel was getting upset and he would stroke his head and say "I'm here Samuel" and Samuel would calm down. Each time he woke up and spoke, Rees told him he loved him, Mommy loved him, Daddy loved him, that he was okay. Praise God we were able to get Rees and Frankie over there!!!! Rees is praising God he was able to be with Samuel when he first woke up. He was very full of emotions as he told his story. He was very full of thankfulness to the Lord, hope for a positive outcome, and joy that words could not express.
Samuel is doing much better and beginning to come out of it. All reflexes are ok. Doctors said his eyes and ears are working. They have found very minor perforations in his ear drums, but believe the perforations will heal in time. He is doing much better. Thank you, Lord!!! We still need Samuel awake fully so they can completely evaluate his situation. Pray he awakens, the pain is not too severe, and for a FULL and COMPLETE healing.....
Emily and Luke
Emily and Luke are doing well. They are getting to play, watch videos and
enjoy being with Grandma and Grandpa. Pray for quietness and stillness so
Rees and Frankie can get rest and sleep when they have the opportunity to be
in the apartment. After being at the hospital all night with Samuel, Rees
returned to the apartment to rest and be with Emily and Luke. Rest? Grandpa
spent the afternoon playing with Emily and Luke at the park. He is enjoying
being with his grandkids!! Thank you to Bell Shoals Baptist Church and to
our special other friends for providing them a way to go over to be with the
Wombles. God has used you!!! Please pray rest will come soon for Rees and
Frankie. We can hear the weariness in their voices even though their spirits
are soaring.
Rees and Frankie's condition. They are both tired, but thrilled to be able to be there. Pray God will continue to sustain them. They have been overwhelmed with the responsibility of watching the kids, being with Samuel, and watching out for Cindy and Jeff's best interest. Friday evening a friend of the family was arriving to help. PTL!!! She was already over there in the general vicinity and will be there through the weekend. Other people will be there to help by Monday. Perhaps by then they will begin to get some rest.
Susan Womble's condition
Please continue to lift Jeff's mom Susan and other extended family up in your
prayers. It is hard to be here when your heart is so very far away. Pray
for continued peace, strength and rest for them. His Mom is very thankful
God spared all of their lives and is very confident God "will work all of
this out for good." Susan has indicated she believes with all of her heart
MUCH good is going to come from this situation. She has a vision of many
people coming to know the Lord for the first time and for those who have
strayed away from Him to be brought back into the fold. My friends, for
those of us who know them intimately, we know that is the heartbeat of the
Wombles' desire for their lives...to help others, to share God's love, to be
a witness of His Grace and Power! We serve a Great and Mighty God. Her
message to you..."what satan meant for evil, our God is going to use for
good."
Safety
Please continue to pray for the location of the Womble family to remain
undisclosed. It has been made very clear to us their lives could be in
danger if their location is disclosed. There have been terrorist cell groups
identified in their general area. We have worked very hard to protect their
security and privacy during this time. We ask you would pray for their
continued protection. We need God to continue to intervene on their behalf.
We also need the media to be sensitive to the risks involved for the Wombles
and those over there and use wisdom in their reporting. Please pray...
Testimony time
Thank you again for the prayers you have offered on our behalf. God is not
only working miracles in the Womble's family over there, but is touching our
lives as well. Testimonies have been flooding in about how God has used this
tragic situation already to touch those of us who are a witness to the power
of prayer. God is so Loving and Gracious and Faithful!!! In time, we pray
we will be able to share all those stories. If God has worked in your life
or the life of someone you know through all of this, we would love to hear
from you. It will help the families so much to KNOW how God is moving...
We want to share a verse that is very dear to Nick and my heart. The first words I ever heard Nick speak were in a prayer at a college and career Bible study. He prayed an excerpt from the following verses..."Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me..." Many years later, Nick is once again praying, along with all of us who know WHO has done this mighty miracles,
"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's....Bless the LORD, O my soul."
If you have a Bible, you can find these verses in Psalms 103 verses 1 through 5 and the last part of verse 22. We have poured over its pages this last week. Our comfort, our strength, our peace, our grace, our trust, our hope, our love, our words...we have found in the pages of the this Holy Book. The love that let Jeff risk his life to protect Cindy and Samuel's by throwing them to the ground and using his body as a shield...that love came from what Jeff found in this Book. The hope that has sustained Jeff and Cindy and their extended families in this tiring and emotionally exhausting week...they found in This Book. The strength and grace we have chronicled that Rees and Frankie and other family members have walked in...they found in this Book. The trust that God is still on His Throne and our willingness to surrender total control of this situation to His Perfect Will...that trust we learned as we read of His Faithfulness in this Book. The miracles you have heard about and the ones that are to come...they are happening because what is found in this Book. The sadness and helplessness many of you have felt during this time...there is help and comfort in this Book. It is not only What but Who we have found in this Book. Jesus Christ is Who each of us have found in this Book. It is our knowing in our heads and believing in our hearts that God sent His only Son Jesus Christ into the world because He loved you and me. It is knowing and believing that Jesus willingly came because He loved you and me. Jesus lived a perfect life here on earth. Then He died on the cross. Did you know He did that because He loved you and me? He did. You see, "all of us have sinned, done things wrong, and come short of the glory of God." No sin can enter Heaven. What that means is just one sin, one little sin, is enough to keep us from spending an eternity in Heaven. Friends, God loves us. He loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to earth to live a perfect life, to die on the cross, to be raised again from the dead in three days so that our sin payment could be made in full. Jesus paid the price for you and I. Jesus loves you and I so much that He gave His Life so we could have eternal life with Him in Heaven. This Book tells us that He did this as a free gift to any and all who will ask for it. It doesn't matter how good or how bad you are. The Bible says in Romans 10:13 that "Whosever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved." Whosever means you. Whosever means me. Jesus Christ is Who we found in this Book. His Salvation is What we found in this Book. All we had to do is ask. We simply asked Jesus to come into our hearts, to forgive us of our sins, and to allow us to receive His Gift of Salvation. If you have never done that, we invite you to talk with Jesus about it today. We can not imagine having walked the roads of this tragic situation without the Presence of God in our hearts. Our prayer is each of you will find the same "Who" that we have in the pages of this book - Jesus Christ. Our prayer is each of you will claim the "What" we have found in the pages of this Book - His Salvation. John is a really good book of the Bible to begin with if you have never read the Bible before. John will tell you of this incredible Jesus that we know as our Lord and Savior. We do not know many of you who will read this e-mail, but we pray we will meet you one day in Heaven. We want to see you there and be able to thank you for your love and support during this time. We pray for all of you that you have been drawn a little closer to God...for He does love you...
Rejoicing in His Faithfulness,
Nick and Donna Nickerson
