Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
1 Peter 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
The mantra in our home the past few days is moment by moment. We are trying to squeeze every little pleasure out of our time left with Wayne. At times, there has been overwhelming grief. Then we find moments to laugh and just be intentionally present.
Two things we want to pass on to you: 1) if you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, ask me all about Him and what He has done in our lives. That is the most important decision you will ever make in your life…and it’s life changing! 2)The importance of the gift of time with your family. Take time away from work, the busyness of life, put the phone down, and just be with your family and friends. None of us know what tomorrow holds. Take the photos, make the videos, share your dreams and hopes with one another…make the memories together!
Recently, we have been going through family photos from over the years and reliving memories. It’s fun to laugh and remember funny stories (even if they didn’t feel funny at the time). This is what is important in life…family. I had heard many times this saying, “You never hear someone in their death bed saying I wish I would have worked more or stayed busy. They usually say they wish they would have spent more time with their family.” Even though Wayne has spent hours with all of us, he still wishes he had more time to spend with us. What are you spending your time on?
Our friend from Moody, Matt Shada, preached a sermon today on Hope has a Name. I’m sure many pastors preached on Hope today since it is the first advent candle. But as I listened to his sermon this evening, what he said really struck me. “If we truly understand what Christmas is all about, then, regardless of our circumstances, we have something to celebrate and a reason to worship. If you know Jesus as your Savior, then you have hope! Hope is powerful, but so is hopelessness. Life is at its worst when you feel hopeless…hopelessness is not from God. Our hope, according to God’s Word is not in our education, our investments, our possessions, our status, or how we appear to people or the world, our health, our circumstances, our human strength, for sure not in politics..our hope has a name, and His name is Jesus! Our hope is in the person of Jesus Christ! Our hope is not an idea, a feeling or a season/future outcome, but it is a person…If your hope, your foundation, is built on anything else then Jesus, it will crack the moment life hits you upside the head. BUT, if the foundation of your hope is Jesus, nothing can shake your joy. That is the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness depends on happenings, joy depends on Jesus.”
As we watch Wayne navigate processing his mortality, there is still joy there. His circumstances are terrible: can hardly walk, can’t sing at church, can’t really read, losing sensation in his body, etc. But in the midst of that, he is still present and worshiping God. We talk a lot about how awesome it will be for him to breathe his last here and wake up in heaven! The only thing that makes him sad is knowing that we will be here without him and he knows how painful that will be for us.
Picking up this package broke me. I feel like I’m living in a bad dream that I can’t wake up from. Hospice ordered this care kit for us. I just can’t wrap my head around what is happening.
Thank you for continuing to pray for us as we navigate this time. Wayne’s family starts to arrive tomorrow to spend some time together. We will continue to make as many memories as we can for as long as we can.
