God Is Faithful

Moments after receiving the phone call, telling me my sister had gone to be with the Lord, I played this song off her CD. There are no words to describe the wrenching, tearing pain in my heart, nor the comfort. As I listened to her sing, it was as if she was singing it to me from her new home... Heaven. She was singing it with new understanding, new absolute certainty, as she stood before the Lord... God is faithful. God is faithful to see you through this, trust Him. God is faithful to see you through everything He's allowed in your life, trust Him. He's right beside you... even now... trust Him.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed, but He isn't. Sometimes I'm taken by surprise. God is never surprised or taken off guard. Sometimes I 'feel' abandoned, yet He is faithful and never, no never leaves me or forsakes me. I often don't understand why He allows some things, but He knows exactly why. My beautiful sister is with Him now and all is made right. She loudly and beautifully proclaims that He is Faithful and trustworthy.

Debbie and I always encouraged one another, laughed with each other, loved each other. And I'm finding that the legacy still lives. Even though she's moved, she's only on the other side of Jesus... and He is very near.

What legacy will we leave when it's our time to move? Will we still encourage and cheer the hearts of those that are walking out their earthly journey? Will they look at our lives and know that we still proclaim that He is faithful?

He's Always Been Faithful

In loving honor and memory of my dad.

Dec. 7th, 1923 - Dec. 3rd, 2009.

Grief

^{Over the weekend, my dads health has deteriorated. This man, once so tall and proud, is now confined to a hospital bed. His kidneys aren't functioning properly, his potassium level is dangerously high, blood work shows that he's had a heart attack sometime within the last two weeks. He is experiencing severe dementia symptoms and both his hips are now dislocated due to degenerative disease. My tall, strong dad will never walk again.} 

 

^{In the dementia, he was trying to remove the IV's, and other assorted equipment. When the nurse tried to stop him, he became uncharacteristically combative and they had to put him in restraints. He's been experiencing mild dementia for a year or so... but this weekend, it roared through him. The doctor's believe this is tied to the high potassium levels. They don't promise that it will improve if they can get the potassium down, but they're 'hopeful'. That is of course, if he survives this. They have told us that a massive heart attack is imminent if they can't lower the potassium quickly.}

 

^{How do you deal with the heartbreak of seeing your parent suffer these things? How do you adjust yourself to this new picture you have of them... especially when we all long to remember them in their days of strength. How do you grieve the loss of one so special and dear to your heart?}

 ^{I will trust in the Lord. I will rest in the knowledge that my father is being held by his Father. Our Father knows when a sparrow falls. He knows the number of hairs on our heads. He has prepared a mansion with many rooms. He has written my dads name in the Lamb's Book of Life and He is joyously anticipating the homecoming of his son... my dad.} 

 

^{And when that day comes, whether it's now or ten years from now... though this earth will be poorer and my heart will be wrenched, Heaven will be even richer for me.}

 

 

^{1 Peter 5:10} But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. ¹¹ To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

Psalm 30:5 Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.

 

A Sister Friend

How did I find such favor with God, that He would send me a sister friend like Karen?

In many ways, we are two of a kind. We both cry at movies. We both feel things deeply. We both desire to walk with God and be pleasing to Him.

We both like to laugh. A lot. And we often think we're funny.

Karen often looks beyond my words and hears my heart. She listens when I rant. She listens when I whine. She listens when I share a struggle. She chats and plays Word Twist in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. She'll happily climb in the car at midnight to go to Wal-mart and make me laugh when she turns every day oven mitts into full-of-personality hand puppets in the middle of the store.

She's walked through grief with me and never told me it was 'time' to be past it. She's willingly jumped into my projects and made them so much more fun. She's sat in my garden and spent hours pulling dandelions out of my lawn. She's raised a sweat, mixing 80 bags of cement and fussed when I wanted to do it, because she didn't want ME to throw my back out. She's helped me form that cement into a wonderful 'flagstone' patio and walkway. She's hiked through the forest when it was too hot to breath and brought me rocks, because I didn't have enough to finish a rock wall. She's brightened my garden with gifts ... the most important being her presence.

She's helped me paint my house when I've decided it must be done NOW... three days before my sons wedding rehearsal dinner. Not just any plain ole paint job, but a special faux finish that had to be done by hand. She learned how to do a form of tole painting with me, by watching a video in Japanese (I ordered the wrong tape.) She spent hours in a pottery shop painting pieces of bisque because it's what I wanted to do.

She's encouraged me to think that I can do anything... and do it well. She's my cheerleader and my fan. Everyone needs one! And I think she's terrific.

Not many friends would let you take a photo when you both show up wearing the same shirt, but a sister friend will! A sister friend will also forgive when she finds out that you posted those photos on your blog.

I love you, Karen.