Tuesday April 5 2016  HOW FAST OUR DAYS DISAPPEAR

Yesterday can never be recaptured.  Today, this moment is where life lives.  And I cannot live in tomorrow-land until it arrives.  And yet, it never comes.  Because when I wake up in the morning it has always scooted ahead of me and is again out of reach.

So…I choose to live now, remembering the pleasantry of yesterday.  So many different experiences always happening as we live in the cocoon of our world.  I have a dear friend in Wisconsin who sent me an email that I received about midnight last night.  Three of Michelle’s children inherited a heart condition which makes it necessary for them to have pacemaker/defibrillators implanted in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  One of her teenage daughters underwent such a surgery on March 17.  Following is part of Michelle’s email.  I am sending it and asking that you will pray for her daughter during this crucial situation.

“Urgent Prayer request please.  March 17 (daughter) had a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted because of her condition (heart block and had deadly arrhythmias on a heart study) she is in ICU now with complications.

She was very swollen so I took her to ER.  She had a drain tube put in to drain fluid off heart last night.  If the bloody fluid doesn’t stop it means a hole in heart from the lead that must have perforated wall of heart.  Then they may need to do a revision surgery Thursday…”

Michelle went on to explain that she herself is scheduled for surgery on Thursday for cancer.  She has thyroid cancer.  She postponed her cancer surgery so she could be with her daughter through her surgery on March 17^th and help her through recovery time. 

As you can see, not everyone had such a wonderful day yesterday.  Michelle and her daughter are in need of our combined prayers to God.  Please ask for their protection and healing through these next few weeks.  Please pray for them as thoughts of them come into your mind.  Does God need reminding?  No, but we need to be reminded in whom we place our trust and faith.  Thank you friends and family for your prayers.

IT IS GOD WHO PICKS YOU UP

By Kathleen Martens

April 5, 2016

When the hour seems the darkest

Know God is by your side.

Regardless what you confront

Strength from God abides.

He is with you every step

Through both the big and small.

He is only a breath away

When on His name you call.

It is God who picks you up

And sets you back on course.

No matter what is your need,

His strength is your source.

Thank You Lord for a healthy body.  Let me never take it for granted

Thank You Lord that I awoke this morning.

Thank You Jesus that You are our Healer.

Thank You Father that you take care of me even when I am not aware of it.

Thank You that Your Holy Spirit abides within me, wherever I go, no matter where I am.

Thank You for friends who know how to pray.

Not much happening today as far as exciting excursions.  Rebecca is off to an appointment and I decided to write my blog early so we will have time to play cards this evening.  Oh, by the way, THE WOMEN WON BIG LAST NIGHT!  I mean we really destroyed our opponents.  It was awesome!  We had to gloat just a little bit.  We didn’t want to do it too loudly lest we eat crow for later games.  Oh, how I cherish these precious times with our daughter and her husband and their dog boys.  We see them so seldom and every hour is so precious.

Two of my very favorite people in the world were my Aunt Estell (my mother’s sister) and her husband, my uncle Horace (always pronounced uncle Harce).  Dave and I would play cards with them by the hour during the times we were together.  After I was an adult and moved away I didn’t get to be around them much.  As they aged and we “matured” we would go visit them for periods of time and they would drive to Wisconsin from California and stay with us several days.  Uncle Horace was the father I never had.  My father died when I was 17 years old.  Uncle Horace was the one to give me away at my wedding and the one I went to for help and advice and love.  Oh how I cherished him.

Well, I gave you a little look-see into my past so I could tell you what I am about to write.  As I sit at the dining room table playing cards at our daughter’s home, my memories escape back to the years when Dave and I played so many hours of cards with Aunt Estell and Uncle Horace.  In their later years they were about the age Dave and I are now and we were about the ages of Rebecca and Neil.  I remember Dave and I doing all the shuffling of five decks together and they would count the cards out on their turn.  Very slowly and methodically the cards would be sorted into the required piles.  I would sit there and marvel at what age had done to them and knew in my heart at that time that they would not always be with us.  I remember thinking in that moment that this was a memory I always wanted to cherish.  I waited patiently as they dealt the cards, wondering if that is what it would be like for us someday.  I intentionally tucked those memories into my heart so I would forever keep them with me. 

Now the tables have turned.  Dave and our daughter do all the shuffling and we each take our turn to deal the cards.  My hands do not work so well since I have lost flexibility in the joints of my fingers.  Our two young’uns (Rebecca and Neil) in the crowd sit and wait patiently as I perform my turn.  They say nothing but I sometimes wonder what they think.  I hope someday they will be able to look back and remember with fondness how much fun we had playing such competitive games, regardless of how long it took mom to deal the cards.  We all need to feel we are needed. 

Footnote:  When Dave and I play together we just put all the cards on the table face up and mix them heartily.  And our games are still just as fun.  I will say that it is because of Neil that I can still play cards.  Several years ago he realized how difficult it was for me to hold my cards.  He surprised me by designing a card rack for me so I could place my cards in the rack and set it on the table.  Oh…what a great gift that was and still is.  Later he made one for Dave too.  Of course we brought them with us.  I’ll include a photo with today’s blog.  He even did an original hand painted design across the back that all can read.  I LOVE IT.  AND I LOVE BOTH REBECCA AND NEIL AND GRAN-DOGS, COAL AND JACKSON.  I feel like a very rich woman!

Hope your day is a good day!

GOD BLESS YOU!

P.S.  Not only do our days disappear, so do our years!  Live each hour to its fullest!