Elisabeth Arnold – 12-9-2020
We are so thankful for your persevering and committed prayers on our behalf. Each day is filled with helping My Man feel and get better. Each day is filled with doctor’s appointments, scans, labs, decisions etc. and My Man needing to rest. Each day is still getting over jet-lag. Each day is transitioning from normal life in Senegal to emergency on three continents to transitioning to life here in Jacksonville for the next month or so.
Today we got connected with a brilliant primary doctor who helped us get a lot of balls rolling especially the physical therapy. This doctor cannot believe how great My Man looks from all that he heard happened to him. Tomorrow we will find out definitively about My Man’s clavicle. Each day we offer everyone and everything into our Abba’s hands; we steadfastly hold to His guidance in this unexpected adventure.
Many amazing people have written and commented – each of you has been strategic to our hearts and journey!! Just to read your words and know you are standing with us in love and prayer and support and finances and care. Thank you for holding up our arms as we journey onward. Please forgive us if we have not yet replied and feel free to re-send; you are important to us!!
Many generous people have asked repeatedly what they can do to help in any way; we are profoundly touched and hugged by your great kindness and goodness toward us. It is not that we hesitate to make known our needs; it is because our Abba Father through you has magnificently and lavishly provided for us even beyond what we need. Thank you for making it easy to share our needs with you!!
Elisabeth Godbold Arnold
Bad News:
After 10 hours in the Shands Jax ER – My Man is exhausted and in pain!!
Found more broken bones – Transverse Process Fractures T5-8 in his back
Good News:
We are back home and My Man is in bed and asleep with some pain meds
Shands ER saw us and have accepted us as patients of their Trauma Team
Transverse Process Fractures heal on their own
The scapula will heal on its own – it was fractured but not in the danger area
The ribs will heal on their own and he will be able to do more and more each day
The bleed in his head is non-existent now. Still has concussion issues.
The orthopedist said that with clavicles it is better to see how it heals on its own with physical therapy than to mess with plates and screws etc.
The lung still has fluid pressing on it which the team debated long and hard about whether to do surgery, but ultimately decided not to, but to watch it carefully.
We are to return if ANYthing changes at all
We are to have follow up in 2 weeks for the lung to be checked again and then physical therapy can start.
Best News:
God is still on His throne
God is still Jehovah-Rapha
God is still Jehovah-Jireh
God protected My Man in his fall – every doctor says he is a very very lucky man!!
God protected My Man all along the way over and over again
Tomorrow is a Holy Day for rest and worship – I need both!!
The Family of God is beautiful, unique, and a blessing!!
12-7-2020
Rick exudes joy and peace, and his glowing wife is full of the radiance of the Lord. Together, they are true beauty to behold!
Thank you, Family of God, for praying our Brother and his wife through their traumas. Now, they are finding rest and stillness in this new place God has set them down in.
The God of all Comfort has indeed walked with them each step of this journey! Thank you for your prayers, Dear Ones!
Julie, for the family
ELISABETH ARNOLD 12-4-2020
Good Morning from CDG Airport in Paris, France
Praise Jesus!!
I forgot to bring a jacket from Senegal for My Man and God provided a perfect one at the last minute!!
Got up, Got dressed, Got a wee breakfast (Each step is huge!!)
Got a taxi
Dropped off at Terminal and slowly made our way in
Delta knew us and welcomed us and gave us seats away from crowd (so important for My Man)
We are all checked in and waiting for wheelchair assistance
Got the wheelchair- huge help – and through the formalities and security. The lady who helped us with the wheelchair is from Burkina Faso
Thank YOU for praying with us!!
We’re in our seats; Delta has been so kind, helpful, and amazing!! AND guess what!!! We have a spaghetti noodle Doctor on board from Gabon and two other new friends!! All the way Our Saviour Leads Us!!
Elizabeth Arnold – 12-1-2020
Two weeks ago today
Twas a morning like any other
Exercise on the roof
With the beautiful Senegal River sunrise
Devos together at breakfast
As usual a difference of opinion or two
A three breath hug
And a kiss for the day
Steadily working through the morning
Office work for me
Prepare for the rainy season
Work for him
A loud crash and silence
A rush to the window
Calling, “Is all well?”
Nothing replied…a breath of relief!
Desperate shouts begin
Repeating my name ever more loudly
I turn to the door and the stairs
My heart tumbling over and over
My legs would not move as fast as I needed
The muscles froze, but I pushed them
I rounded the corner, and I saw
My Man on the concrete ground midst the rubble
Groaning far too deep for words
Twisting this way and that
Blood coming from his head and ear
So hard to breathe–
Was this the end?
Was this the unexpected goodbye–
Right in front of my eyes
In terrible pain and agony?
I called to him without response
I told him I was there
I repeated, “I love you!”
I committed, “I’ve got you!”
While our friends got the firemen
I steadied my heart on Jehovah–Jesus is GOOD!
With shaking voice, I called for medical evacuation
With trembling fingers, I sent out the call for a spiritual army
Our dog was licking at My Man’s bloodied head
He was frightened just like me
I couldn’t hold him and hold My Man
So I wobbled with him to the leash.
All alone with My Man
While we waited for each next second
He without coherence or consciousness
I without comprehension or consecutive action
Like Hagar of old,
I held to El Roi – the God who sees me
Here far away from any help
The God who watches over me.
And I prayed over My Man’s body
Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
I refused any strategies against My Man
From the enemy of the Most High King I serve.
When admitted to the regular floor
In The American Hospital in Paris
My Man told the nurses of my help
They turned and called me, “A hero”
The name did not fit well–
I am five loaves and two fish,
A little flour and oil, two very small copper coins
A slingshot and five smooth stones
We together are two spies’ report, a donkey’s jawbone
A mustard seed, a little mud with spit
A little cloud the size of a man’s hand
We are two or three gathered in His Name
Two in the Bible
Is a symbol of beautiful union
Or a symbol of
Grievous separation or division
Together we stand strong and can resist
We can lift up each other, keep one another warm,
We can carry one another’s burdens
A three-fold strand is not easily broken.
God Almighty is the Hero of our Story
Jehovah Jireh, Rapha, Emmanuel
Our small story has meaning in Abba’s Great Story
Across the ages and Eternity
His nail-pierced, sovereign hands
Authors every word of our story–
In the context of the power of His resurrection
AND the fellowship of His suffering.
We live in a broken world between the Garden of Eden and Heaven.
We live in the middle of a War of the Eternal Ages
Between the Most High King and his enemy, the Evil One.
God has promised us safety for our hearts and souls
In His character, in His heart, and in His eternity.
HOPE is Jesus – the Way, the Truth, the Life
By quiet rivers and in the valley of the shadow of death
A banquet in the presence of enemies,
He is never-stopping, never-giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love!!
Our God ALWAYS shows up
Our God ALWAYS answers prayer
Our God ALWAYS works all things
Our God ALWAYS is power, is good, is love
November 30
th, 2020 from Jim Arnold, Rick’s brother: Rick, they have him up and walking. Maybe by the end of this week he will be able to fly home and they are going to try and get him into Mayo Clinic in FLA. He will need surgery on his broken bones, etc.
Sunday 29, 2020 – Elizabeth Arnold
Today was a beautiful Holy Day unto the Lord – first Day of Advent – HOPE!! It was a wee bit chillier than any day before, but for someone from Senegal and Florida, it was special to be COLD! My ride to the hospital was a taxi-driver from Congo. We actually did dicker over the price, and we were both pleased with the end result.
Today My Man’s face is changing back to his normal face — not a face filled with such terrible pain nor a face filled with confusion about what happened or is happening. He said his doc came in and was super impressed with all that he could do getting out of bed, getting a shower, and walking the hall with Claude. I am married to a WARRIOR!! They are giving him anti-coagulant shots which is good. I helped him put on his shoes and socks (first time since the accident), and we took a walk holding hands around the halls. #OOOlalaDatewithMyManinParis I climbed into bed with him so we could just be close together!! Then we got to talk with most of our kids!! I helped Rick to la toilette and of course had to take a pic (of the toilette not My Man – LOL).
I walked home and enjoyed the beauty that our Creator God lavishly spreads around me!! #DailyBeautyTreasureHunt I spent a few minutes in the little church I was in before – the beauty of the architecture and stained glass is just so uplifting! When I got to the hotel, I had to speak with one of the personnel, and she had a beautiful shape of Africa necklace. She said she was from Ivory Coast, and I told her that my husband was born and raised in Ivory Coast. #DivineSpaghettiNoodles A friend stopped by to connect and pray and have a chai, and we found out that she is connected with the same church that my sister attends on Lookout Mountain, GA.
When I finally got to my room, Abba Father poured out more gifts – a wonderful place to stay and beautiful transportation for when we get to Jacksonville, FL!! #MoreNoodles He is already making a way before us!! Thank you so much for journeying with us so we are strengthened together as we love and trust our magnificent Saviour!!
Please PRAY:
***Do we need a Covid test to leave France? I know we don’t need one to enter USA, but need to prepare if we need one to leave.
***The Evac Co is paying for My Man’s ticket. I would love to be on the same flight and next to him, so I can help him expend the least energy possible, so I need to figure out how to coordinate our tickets. I will talk with the Evac co tomorrow I hope.
***The medical connection that will work the best for My Man when he gets to Jax – we are looking at possibly Mayo if that is workable, and whether it will be a direct transfer or incoming.
