Don't Give Up...

The other day my daddy called to let me know I had been on his heart and that he was praying for me.  This make me cry like a baby.  Why?  Because of the amazing transformation God brought forth in my dad!  
For over 20 years my mom, sisters and I prayed for my dad to come back to the Lord.  We tried everything, anointing cloths under his pillows, anointing his clothes, praying over his truck and his desk at work!  When we finally gave up & told the Lord to do whatever He had to is when things began to change.
My dad is literally a walking miracle.  When he was in his early 20's he passed out while driving and had a head on collision with another car.  He went through the windshield and had severe trauma to his chest.  In his mid 30's he had to have experimental open heart surgery because he had an aneurysm on his aorta valve.  He has had multiple pace makers to keep his heart beating.  After all that God had done to spare my dad's life, we knew God was not going to let go of him easily.
In 2001 my dad went in for his yearly heart check.  No one expected anything abnormal to be going on. During the heart cath, they discovered that my dad had another aneurysm where the artificial valve was from the original open heart surgery.  They immediately sent him to Houston, Tx to the best open heart surgeon in the US at the time.  
During this time, God was working on my dad's heart.  My dad was terrified because he knew what he was going to be facing the second time around.  He remembered how painful it was & what a long recovery he had when he was in his 30's.  He could not imagine what it would be like in his late 50's.  But God was ever faithful.  God sent so many people to my dad with the same word- that God was giving my dad a new heart.  That this was more than just a physical operation, it was also a spiritual operation.  My mom was told that she was getting a new husband- that he was going to come out of this a new man.  
God was faithful to His promises.  My dad is truly a new man.  God gave him a new heart- one of flesh.  God gave him a new spirit & new love for Him too.  My dad now spends time in the Word & we talk about what each of us are studying!  
If you have a loved one you are standing in the gap for, do not give up!!!!  God is faithful!!!!  If he did it for my daddy, he can do for it anybody!!!!    
Mary Beth