The last 5 weeks and 2 days have had my mom in the hospital. Tomorrow she is supposed to go home. She has (in my opinion) been to hell and back during this time. Chaos, illness, surgery, and more complications and ups and downs than I could have ever imagined have happened during this time. My dad and I have been up just about every day...until we got sick. My dad, my daughter, and I all managed to go down at the same time. My husband is the last man standing. We are all getting better. But today when I got the news that mom gets to come home tomorrow I immediately started praising God. Of course. That is natural. But what I was praising Him for struck me as funny. It reminds me of James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."
I had been on the phone with my dad and we were having a wonderful conversation about the book of Ecclesiastes. I praised God for how my relationship with my dad has grown during this time. We have banded and bonded together, and it is good for us on many levels. I praised God for the prayer warriors who have been with us and stuck by us since day one. I praised God for the prayer warriors that I didnt know were there. I praised God for the all uplifting and encouraging emails, texts, phone calls, face book messages that all of us have received. I praised God that when all of us were ready to give up, that He was there and He was faithful. I praised God for hearing our cries, and they were there daily in multitudes. I praised God for the people who took over without even asking or being asked to step in and help take care of and be there for my mother when we could not. I praised God for such an amazing surrounding of people that I will never look at the same. I praised God because I am so grateful for everyone during this time that my words dont seem to be enough, and that seems to be okay. I praised God for my sister, I talked/messaged with her more during all of this than I had in the whole 10 months they had been gone. I needed that. I needed her. Still do. I praised God at how amazingly well Haley has handled everything from the hospital, to after the surgery, all of it. I praised God for our faithfulness even when we felt tested. I know many years ago, all of us would have handled this differently. I just simply praised God. I still am. I will continue to.
When I first studied James (with my amazing bible study ladies) I looked at that verse with such trepidation. I now know that I have lived it, and it is hard but it is true. There are a few times we weren't sure that things were going to turn out the way we wanted, to put it politely. But we remained faithful in our prayers and in our God. He is the great physician. We have persevered. We will continue to persevere. There is still an uphill battle with her recovery, but He can do it and so can we. We will be strong and faithful. I never would have imagined this road 5 weeks ago, and I dont want to do it again. But I can find the joy in the pain. I was able to ask for help, and when it was offered, accept help graciously, that is something I am beyond horrible at. I am grateful that so many people around us were here for us. It means the world to all of us. Thank you friends. Thank you family. Thank you God. By no means is it over but I feel like she will be so much happier at home. So I praise God. He is great. Tomorrow our new "trials of many kinds" begin, but with God, we can do this. Be faithful dear friends.
Whitney
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