To Dad

Well, Dad, I know I'm a few days late with this post. I tried all day on July 31st to figure out what to say. It's certainly not that I haven't missed you and shed my share of tears mourning your loss over the last year. But all day whenever I would think about you being gone all I could see was you sitting in your recliner with your oxygen mask in place. I couldn't get past the fact that you don't have that silly thing hampering you any longer. And because of that, I could not bring myself to shed one solitary tear.

I received a text message from Janiece that afternoon telling me she was thinking of me. My response (and one that I think you would be proud of) was, "Well, I'M thinking of YOU." You taught us to think of others and not put ourselves and our agenda before theirs. You are already gone and there is no amount of tears or grief that can bring you back. But how much more appropriate would it be to spend the thinking of and praying for some of my dearest friends while they spend the last few days of their mother's life by her side?

Then today while I was going through some emails from last week, I saw one from Wanda Sprauer Viehdorfer who suggested that I listen to this song. It's lyrics so completely fit your circumstance and my feelings. I can't wish you back. I know you're having the time of your life and that's what you lived for. See ya' later!

Have you prayed for a loved one
Struggling hard with pain?
You ask the Lord for healing
But that healing never came;
And in spite of all your efforts
The good Lord called them home;
It's hard to let go
When you're trying to hold on

Now you're down in the valley
Looking up to the sky
And you pray, "Lord, You know what's best
But I don't understand why,"
If you could hear your loved one
Speaking now to you
They'd say, "You wouldn't be grieving
If you only knew."

"If you only knew I'm just going home;
Your prayers have been answered
My sickness is gone;
Things look much better
from Heaven's view
The sun always shines, we're having a time
If you only knew."

"To be absent from the body
Is present with the Lord;
I'm in the arms of Jesus now
And I'm not suffering anymore;
Hand in hand we'll stroll together
Down Heaven's avenue;
We're having a big celebration
if you only knew."

"If you only knew I'm just going home;
Your prayers have been answered
My sickness is gone;
Things look much better
from Heaven's view
The sun always shines, we're having a time
If you only knew."

A Friend in Need

Please pray for some of my best friends and their family. MaryLee Baker and fellow blogger, Janiece Cooper and siblings are gathering together at their parent's home as I type. Their mother has battled cancer off and on for several years, having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 or 94. It was in remission for quite awhile but then about 4 years ago, she was told she had cancer in her back. I think it may have spread to other organs and she has been on chemo or radiation a lot of the time since that diagnosis.

We grew up with their family in the church. Their older sisters are friends of my older sisters and sang together just as Mary and Janiece did with my sister, Barb, and me. The picture posted is of both sets of parents from Easter 2006 (l to r: my dad, my mom, Maryln and Leland) and it has fast become one of my favorites. In fact an 8x10 is sitting on my piano.

Anyway, I know the family would appreciate all your prayers for safe travels, strength and peace in the days ahead.

A Lesson from Lice

“Are you or is someone in your group in a desperate situation right now? Read Genesis 21:19 again. Might there be a ‘well’ for sustenance, if only you could see it? Pray alone or together, asking God to open your eyes just as He opened Hagar’s and aided her in her desperation.”
“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.” Psalm 138:7
I read these words in my devotion today and fear struck my heart. “Not another tragedy, Lord,” I thought, “I don’t think I can handle it right now.” Then knowing the enemy is the one who instills fear, I immediately grabbed hold of the promise that God has a plan and He knows what it best. He knows how to turn anything to work for my good and He promised that He would be there - always. I went on with my day.
Less than an hour later we received a phone call from the school. You are going to laugh when I tell you what it was concerning, but my heart sank at the words that came out of Tony’s mouth. “They think our kids might have head lice!” he declared with urgency in his voice. I panicked. I freaked out. I just knew my life had ended for the next few weeks. Head lice!?!?! I have three girls - two with very long, thick hair. How will we ever manage to get rid of it and be sure it’s gone? I had not been down this road before as the parent, the one in charge.
While I grabbed a quick shower I do what I often do there and had a little chat with God. I think that works for me right now because it’s the one place where I can have complete and total solitude. I can laugh, cry, sing and weep and no one hears me but God (at least if they do hear me, they have never let on). By the time my less than 10 minute shower was over, I came downstairs with a completely different perspective. Head lice shouldn’t be that big of a deal. It’s not a terminal disease or life-threatening illness. Yeah, we’ll be inconvenienced for a few days or weeks while we do constant laundry and keep vigil over these little critters. It could be a whole lot worse. So praise the Lord we are all healthy!
And now here I sit at the end of this grueling day. Exhausted, weary, hurting because I have had hours of stand-up work to do with a very sore heel; thoroughly shampooing a thick head of hair (only one daughter had it) vacuuming, vacuuming and vacuuming, laundry and more laundry and then getting the bedding back in place so a tired little girl can finally go to sleep. I still have piles of stuffed animals that need tossed in a good hot dryer and we have ordered a better kind of shampoo so there is more work to come in the next week. But for today, my work is done. And as I threw in that last load, I remembered my devotions from this morning. “Lord, was this the difficulty I was to face today? It hasn’t been easy and certainly wasn’t the evening I envisioned. But it could have been so much worse. So if this was it, thanks for not allowing it to be more serious. And thanks for helping me to put things into perspective. That in and of itself is the most important lesson that I could have walked away with today. You are so totally worthy of praise – in good times and in bad times. And if you are there to calm me and teach me when I’m dealing with something as mundane and commonplace as head lice, how much more will you be there in times of difficulty and devastation?”
It's then I remember the last part of the devotion that reads, “Praise God because he is an all-knowing Father who hears the cries of his children. Nothing that happens to us can ever escape his notice." [from something as simple as the call about head lice to something as distressing as the call that your father is gone forever.] And that is a promise we can take to the bank – because I’ve proven it.

Eight or nine students were sent home. We weren't the only ones that had the privilege of dealing with it.