FOLLOWING THE MUSIC

                                                     FOLLOWING THE MUSIC                          
                                                                                                           T. Wieland Allen
   As we walk in this thing called life on earth, things can change quickly from the normal cadences of life and all of a sudden we are plunged into unfamiliar territory which can be either glorious or frightening.  As we age, it seems like we can adjust to the changes more easily because we have experienced so many disruptions and eruptions in the many preceding years and we have found that the incidents did not kill us, although at the time there was an alarming fear that many of the incidents would be catastrophic.
   I just walked though such a situation, but this time it was different, very different.  First you must know the incidents which unfolded almost ceremoniously. 
  Four days ago I had noticed upon dressing for bed that my ankle and calf on my right leg was a little swollen, not dramatically, but the affected ankle and calf was a little larger than the left one.  I was puzzled, but the next morning the swelling was gone.  I had no pain in that leg.  That's interesting, was my thought, so I ignored it. 
    The next evening, the same thing happened.  My right ankle and calf was again slightly swollen, plus my right calf seemed warmer than my left one.  I was puzzled, but since I had no pain I decided to give it another day before seeking medical help.  The next morning the swelling was down and the ankle was almost equal in size to the left one.  It was a strange situation, one I had never heard of.  I surmised that maybe I had been bitten by a spider and could not locate the site of the actual bite, or it could be cellulitis, but there was still no pain, only the swelling and the feverish calf.
    The next morning, a Thursday morn, did not duplicate the previous two mornings.  In fact, I guess the swelling persisted throughout the night because in the morning my calf and ankle were still swollen, plus my calf seemed more feverish than the previous two days.  I didn't have any anxiety about it, no fear or panic, just the realization that I needed to be diagnosed by a medical professional, surmising that it would take a simple fix for what seemed like a minor malady.   
    Was I ever wrong.
    After eating my breakfast I made the decision to drive to the Urgent Care facility close to my house instead of going to my primary care physician whose office is 15 miles away.   Realizing that I could be in and out of that good Urgent Care medical facility faster and then be on my way to complete three errands, I was at peace with the decision.  My experience twice in the past two years had proved that I would get a good diagnosis at the Urgent Care and be on my way speedily. 
    Was I ever wrong about the time element.
    It was 10:30 in the morning and I remembered that it was flu season and there were many people being diagnosed with the flu in our town, so I was surprised that there were only two patients in the waiting room.  That Urgent Care facility was voted the most efficient in town and the doctor was voted the best doctor in emergency situations in our town, so I was lucky it wasn't crowded.  It was only a few minutes before the nurse called me back to be examined by the doctor.  A new physician greeted me and looked at my ankle and calf on my right leg, commenting that he needed to call in the other physician to also examine it, which he did.  Dr. Shaun walked in, looked at my leg and said that he wanted me to have a sonogram on it to rule out a blood clot.  He said for me to go to a cancer treatment center five blocks up the road and he would call ahead to alert the staff  there so they would be ready to do the sonogram. 
   I drove to the cancer treatment place, walked right in, filled out the paperwork and was immediately called by the technician into the sonogram room where she did a very thorough examination on my entire right leg which took about 20 minutes.
   When finished, the tech said that the attending doctor at the cancer clinic just happened to be in the building and she took the sonogram to his office to be examined by him.  She said she would be back to tell me the results soon.  I still had no panic, no anxiety, as if I were walking a path that had been peacefully prepared for me.  The efficiency of the staffs at the two medical facilities was impeccable, for which I complimented them.  It was reassuring to know I was in good hands.
   The sonogram tech came back to the exam room and told me that I needed to go back to the Urgent Care facility and see Dr. Shaun for the results of the sonogram, which I did.  I got in my car and drove the six blocks back to the Urgent Care facility, still with a sense of peace and tranquility which seemed to envelope me.  I waited a few minutes in the waiting room and then was taken back to a conference room where Dr. Shaun entered in about five minutes and told me that I had a blood clot in my right leg and I needed to be immediately admitted to the hospital which was a block away.  He informed me that there was no room available for me but the hospital was working to arrange a room for me, so he instructed me to go home, to put my leg up and wait for his office to call and let me know that the hospital had a room ready for me. 
   I left the Urgent Care, got in my car and wondered why I was so tranquil and peaceful when I had just heard such bad news.  While driving to my house, I got a text from the Urgent Care facility, so I pulled over and read it, which said for me to turn around and get to the hospital immediately, which I did.  I pulled into the front parking lot of the hospital, parked the car, began to get out of the car but remembered that there was a big hill that I had to climb to get to the entrance to the hospital.  Since my leg had begun to hurt a little since the sonogram, I decided to call my son who works a couple of miles from the hospital, arrange for him to pick me up in the parking lot of the hospital, take me to the entrance and then park his car before meeting me at the admissions room.  I texted him, told him I was being admitted to the hospital with a blood clot in my leg and asked him to meet me in the parking lot.  He didn't question me; instead said he would be there in ten minutes, which he was.  As God's orchestration had planned, he had just returned from an early lunch.
    These words came to my mind, "It's called God's orchestration, and you are merely following the music."   I looked at my watch and it was 12:02, an hour and a half since I had walked into the Urgent Care facility.  I had been to two medical facilities, been examined, had a sonogram, been back to Urgent Care and I was in the hospital in which a room had already been assigned to me.  It was as if time had stopped and I was walking a path that had been carefully laid out by God.
    It almost took longer to fill out the paperwork in the admissions office than the previous hour and a half at the two medical facilities.  The kind woman in the admissions office got a wheelchair for me and escorted my son and me to my room on the third floor.  Just as we exited the elevator on the third floor, the kind admissions woman said, "Well, look, there's your new doctor waiting for you at your room."  She was as amazed as we were that there was a doctor waiting at my room for me, a cardiologist whom the Urgent Care doctor had called into the case.  Following the music of God, the Great Conductor, was allowing me to experience a miracle every minute.
    As she pushed me down the wing, the cardiologist, met us halfway, called my name and asked if that was me.  I said yes, and he told me to go ahead into my room and he would be right back because he had to sign in at the nurses' desk.  The admissions lady was still in shock that a new doctor had met me at my hospital room instead of my having to wait for him for hours and maybe an entire day.  In the room she allowed me to get out of the wheelchair and sit in a chair.  As she exited the room, she said, "I know that Jesus is going to give you peace while you are here."  I replied that yes, He already has and I told her that I know Him well.  She was thrilled with my statement.
    It was 1:30, only three hours since I walked into the Urgent Care facility to be examined for what I thought might be an insect or spider bite and there I was with a diagnosis of a blood clot in my leg, and the protocol for the hospital treatment was already in the computers.  It was a miracle after a miracle, after another miracle and after more miracles.  
    How Our Heavenly Father did it, I'll never know the steps by steps until I get to heaven.  However, that night after I conferred with the doctor about the protocol which would happen at the hospital, after I had an IV hooked up, after I had a shot in my stomach and was settled in for the night, I asked Our Father how it was all orchestrated so perfectly even before I knew what the problem was. 
   Immediately the scripture came to mind, "Pray for one another so that you might be healed."  Then these words came to my mind, "Because you have interceded so diligently for so many other people for so many hours and so many days lately, I orchestrated these miracles for you through your intercessory prayers also, as well as sending solutions to problems for the people for whom you were praying." 
   That is what He meant in that scripture when He caused it to be written in His Book, that when we pray in the Holy Spirit's intercessory prayers, if there is any evil assault planned by the devil for us, Our Powerful Father speaks the solution to our problems out as well as the solutions to the problems of the people for whom we are praying.
    What a wonderful, efficient orchestra conductor He is.  I witnessed His perfect orchestration in my behalf to supernaturally and speedily get me into the hospital where they know how to treat the problem because He has trained the physicians with His wisdom also through medical schools.
    No one else could do that kind of supernatural intervention in the life of one of His children, no one except a Loving Father.  
    My mind is still in awe of Him, but I lived it and I witnessed it.  It was the actions of a Wonderful Father who loves His children and meets our needs before we even know what the need is.  That is what is so magnificent about it.  He said he knows our needs before we do.  He can only meet our needs when we pray; and the most powerful prayers are spoken when we pray in the Holy Spirit because they are God's solution to our needs and problems.
    These miracles are even more powerful reminders to Me to pray in the Spirit at all times as led by Him.  After following the music of His orchestration, I understand His will in a deeper way.  Praying in the Holy Spirit brings heaven to earth with all of its excellence.
    His prayers and His praise will continually be in my mouth.  I hope this testimony brings praises to your mouth, too, so that you will pray in the Holy Spirit at all times and in all places which meet the needs of people in the earth.