I have a friend, her name is Dedra, words are not enough to express what she means to me. We met through church, and we grew slowly (which I have decided is what makes such a dear friend). "Good things come to those who wait!" The Lord has molded our friendship and manicured it, He has taken the time to watch it grow and waited until we were ready to allow us to become what we are now. I treasure her, she is the one I go too, she makes me wiser. This is what friendship is....
Dedra came over today for lunch and brought her three beautiful daughters. Josie, Kate, and Anna. Kate is two weeks younger than Emma and I feel that they will become the greatest of friends as well. The kids played and Dedra and I talked. It was a nice time.
One of the things we discussed was dad....
Dad received the news we all dread two days before Thanksgiving. He has liver cancer. It actually started in the bile duct, it is called Cholangiocarcinoma. He went on December 5th to the Oncologist and they told him there is no cure and that he will probably only live 6-12 more months. Wow! All good things must come to an end..what I mean by that is I have never had to really face death or anything really tragic involving someone I care for and love so deeply. The time has come. I feel the Lord has been preparing me for this for some time. I pray that I make God proud through this.
How do I feel?
I desperately don't want my dad to die. I want my dad to take Luke fishing. I want my kids to remember their Papa and what an incredible man he is. But I will NEVER ask why! This is life, it is what it is...all I can do is pray for God's incredible healing and enjoy every second I have with my dad. I PRAISE GOD through this, He will NEVER leave me nor forsake me. I begged God for years to protect dad and to help him get saved. God protected him, he got saved, and so now regardless of what happens, my dad is and WILL be protected. God is good and faithful and mighty to save. All things work for the glory of Him. Dad is going to heaven...whether it be now, 12 months from now, or 12 years from now. How can I complain! I'm excited for him, it will ALL come alive to him, everything we have told him about heaven and God, all the things he understands and all the things he still doesn't understand, it will ALL make sense. Praise God! With that said, God is still in the miracle business, He is still alive, He is still on the throne, the doctors may have said 6-12 months, but God gets the final say. I ask that anyone who reads this will pray for God's healing power on my dad and in his body. I pray that God shows off what He can do. But if He chooses not too, well I will still Praise Him, because my dad will be with Him for eternity! :)
Dedra and so many other of my friends have already been so good to me through this....this is what the body of Christ is about...lifting one another up in love, in prayer, and in fellowship. I am a truly truly blessed woman.
4 comments:
My dear sweet Laura;
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, love, and sincere hope for healing for your Dad. It is nice to see pictures posted of Doug and his precious grand babies spending time with him. I know Doug loves his grandchildren as I do mine. I kid people and tell them "if I knew grandchildren were this much fun, I would have had them first." Little humor there.
On the serious side, we are all praying that Doug will beat the odds and that our Lord will heal him so that his grandbabies will be able to share many memories with him. As we all know God is the ultimate healer whether healing comes on this earth or in Heaven.
We are attempting to keep any negative thoughts and only allow positive thoughts to rule each day. We will keep your family as well as Debbie, Holly and the extended family in our prayers each day. I will also pass along this blog to my Central classmates who continue to ask about Doug each day. I think the pictures will help them to get to know Doug a little better and can put a face to a name. I think this blog is great!
I appreciate your selfless comments and your sincere efforts to keep this about Doug and his life and his ultimate healing (we pray). Please keep us posted so that we may stay updated with any treatments. Also pass along to Debbie (my sister) that she and Doug have shown remarkable strength and courage through all that they face now or in the near future. I know you must wonder how they can do this but as parents we continue to teach our children how to handle life so that when you must face a difficult situation they have taught you how to survive.
Our love to all. I await the next posting.
Hey Laura, Glad to see you blogging! I love you ever so much. I know the pain you feel in thinking about your dad not being there for things in your kids lives. Both my dad and Eugene's dad died years before we met. Not only are they not here to meet our children, they weren't there to see us married, or even meet our spouses. It hurts at times, but we try hard to remember that they are in Heaven, hopefully watching us and seeing our kids every day. They are in a much better place with no suffering. It's hard not to be selfish and miss them, but it's comforting to know they are with our Savior and we will see them again!
If you need anything during this time, let me know, yah, I'm far away, but I can still help some.
Your Dad will be in my thoughts and prayers! You know God makes any miracle happen. Remember that HE is in control.
Someone recently told shared with me this...As Believers life on earth is our hell. For non-believers, this is their heaven. Really puts things in perspective. I am thankful that this is your hell and that there is something so much greater waiting for you, your dad and the rest of your family. Thank you for the faith in our savior. Can you imagine going through this without him? Wow I surely can not. I will pray for your dad...though you will see him again later, that you will be able to keep him a little longer now! Much love!
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