Sunday, December 15, 2013

December 15, 2013

A Mixture of Emotions
December 15, 2013

This morning was beautiful!  It was cold, crisp, and mostly clear.  Such a beautiful way to start a Sunday!  I got several things done before we left for church.  We had a great group in our Sunday School class.  As we usually do, we started our time together by sharing prayer requests.  The prayer requests are often for someone who is sick, or has been injured, or is going through a difficult time.  Often there are notes on the list to thank God for answered prayers or praising God for good things that have happened.  There were some of each type on our list this morning, but there were so many young and old with serious health needs.  I mentioned to the class (most of us are over 55 years of age and many are much older) that as we age, we expect to face health issues, but on our list today were so many young adults with serious health problems.

One of those requests is close to my heart.  There is a young man who grew up in our church.  He was always a courteous youngster.  He went away to college, met a lovely young woman and married her.  He joined the reserves and did his military training.  When his wife was pregnant with their first child, his reserve unit was called up for duty in Afghanistan.  They allowed him to switch to another unit to await the birth of his child.  They had a beautiful little girl 2 weeks before he reported for duty.  While he served on the other side of the world, I committed to pray for him.  I often sent cards with photos of the lovely birds in my yard.  His time overseas was not an easy desk job.  He had some really rough times.  We were all so delighted when he safely returned late this summer to his wife and daughter.  He had a couple of health issues to attend to - he had his tonsils out about 3 or 4 weeks ago.  He had mentioned that it was really hard on him.  He was still having vomiting and assorted problems after 3 weeks.  It now turns out those problems were probably not a part of the tonsil surgery.

This morning I found out that he is in ICU in the hospital in North Texas, with bleeding in his brain.  Then this afternoon a note has come from his dad saying there is a tumor/growth in the brain in a place that will be very difficult to reach.  The surgery will be very complicated and difficult.  We are so sad for this precious young family.  We know that God holds them in the palm of His hand.  We do not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future.  That may sound "trite" to some, or like just a "phrase you say when things are tough".  But we believe it.  We believe that God is still in control of this young man's life, and we are asking God to bring complete healing to him.

There were other requests and as I have mentioned before, I am so glad I can hear them, thanks to my Cochlear Implant.  This morning for some reason, I had some trouble hearing, but got most of what was said, but not all.  Another request was for a man who sits on the row behind me in church almost every Sunday.  He was taken to the hospital due to a mini-stroke.  There were just a lot of serious situations today.

In the worship service, the children's choir put on their Christmas musical.  They did an amazing job today.  There were about 25 or more adorable kids on the stage.  Our church is blessed with some extremely talented children.  Many of them are willing and able to sing solos beautifully.  They have so much ability and the lady who directs them has such creative ideas and knowledge in how to bring out the best in the kids.  I enjoyed watching it.  Hearing it was a different story completely.  I could not understand any of the music.  It was all just a rumble to me.  It is always hard to understand the words that children say and sing on the stage, but I really couldn't get any of it.  It was fun to watch - especially since I had a grand daughter in the group, but my comments on the individual talents in the group is based on past experience of hearing these specific children sing before I went deaf.  I am disappointed in my inability to discern music, but was warned by the audiologist to expect that problem.

That is our oldest grand daughter on the left carrying a snowflake.
This was a delightful addition to the Christmas season. 

After church we came home and my husband left to go take care of a variety of issues at his mother's house.  I worked on cleaning my house.  Yes, the house keeper was here yesterday, but she surface cleans.  She doesn't clean cabinets or drawers, and things like that.  I got a lot done and am pleased with our progress toward a houseful of company next week.  I also sewed for a while, making another pillowcase. 

Once Ron got home, we sat on the sofa and talked for a long time.  We talked about our young friend needing the brain surgery, about his mom, and about getting the house ready for the family coming for Christmas.  I spent a good bit of time after that, wrapping some Christmas gifts.  At least there are now a few under the Christmas tree.  I was very surprised to find out that gift wrapping could be very painful.  Something about turning the packages over and maneuvering the wrapping paper left me yelping "Ouch" a lot this afternoon.  It was nothing serious, but again it was unexpected.

My plan tomorrow is to spend the morning shopping.  I hope to finish in a few days, using the mornings to do the shopping when stores are not very crowded.  Then I will spend the afternoons at the office.


No comments:

Post a Comment