Needs prayers! Please pray for a co-worker's husband as he is very ill in the hospital. Pray for encouragement and strength as they figure out what is wrong! Last I heard, it was possibly a blood clot in his lung or a silent heart attack. Please pray for a proper diagnosis and quick treatment!
Also, please keep my grandparents in your prayers. As many of you know, they raised me. Well...pretty much. I spent many school breaks and holidays with them while growing up, and then they became my guardians when I was 15. They were saints to take me in at the ripe ages of 73 and 75. Things have not been well for them for a while, and it took my a long time to let it sink in I guess. I may be 29, but I still have a childlike mentality when it comes to them I guess. I always knew that old age would come and it might not be pretty, but I just pushed that idea so far back. I did see them last summer (gosh, a whole year...that is sad) and they got to meet Preston, but it was quite a blow to see the shape they were in physically. They were thinner, shorter, less teeth, but were very happy to have us visit. Saturday, I called Annie (my grandmother) to check in as I do weekly, and she informed me that my grandpa is in the hospital. Though she was unable to recall why or when he went, a relative was kind enough to inform me: He is apparently suffering from severe dementia. My heart hurts so bad right now. The two people who changed my life and were the main constant are just not those same people anymore. It just makes me so sad.
Dementia is something I am terribly afraid of. Though my relationship with my dad ended when I was 4, I found him several years ago and contacted him. Turns out that he was diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer's in his early 30's. (Which I am COMPLETELY freaked out about! Now that I will have insurance, I plan to do what I can to see if I have that gene.) I no longer have contact with him again, as he didn't remember me half the time. I don't have a relationship with my mom either. No one knows where she is. (Which is sad, but probably better off. I have made peace with the lack of contact with her when I moved out.) I just feel like I am being left behind...always left behind. I KNOW I am not. I having a great family that I have married into. I have many friends that are always supportive, encouraging, and comforting. I have even rediscovered old friendships from childhood (thanks to Facebook). And lastly, I am the daughter of a King! He will never forsake me. I know all of these things, yet I am so afraid that things will be taken away. I am SO scared that my wonderful memories of my sweet Preston will leave me one day. I would die! I can't imagine not remembering his first smile, favorite word of the month, the way he smiles really big while swinging...Life sometimes is just not fair. Now, I will wipe away my tears and leave this post with some verses that are comforting to me, and might comfort others reading this or have prayer concerns of their own.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. -Romans 8:18
My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life. -Psalms 119:50
For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. -2 Corinthians 1:5-7
And lastly, God reminded me of something that did bring a little smile to my face. When I went to pick up Preston from daycare (he goes to a church daycare), they were singing praise songs and dancing. This is the song that was playing:
Trading My Sorrows lyrics
I'm trading my sorrow
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord
I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord
[Chorus]
And we say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord Amen
I'm pressed but not crushed persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I'm blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure
And his joy's gonna be my strength
Though sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes in the morning.
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