Like Ocean Waves

2009 has been a great year in many ways for me and in other ways, it has been stressful and filled with grief with many serious prayer needs. My father died at the end of January...that definitely tops the stress and grief scales. My mother is doing well, she has Alzheimer's and thankfully lives 6 blocks from me.

My husband is the legal guardian of his aunt Margaret. She will be 90 in Sept. She resides in a nursing home about 60 miles from us and is completely senile. She fell last Sat. and was rushed to the hospital, thankfully she was not seriously injured...I sped on the way to the ER with tears at the surface, memories of 2008 and Jan. 2009 were flooding into my mind, my husband resisted the urge to tell me to slow down, he knew (we thought hospice was being called in for his aunt) I wanted to get there in time for him to say goodbye.

I have attended 6 funerals since 01/01/2009 plus my father's and skipped 3 others because I just could not do it. I talked to my friend's parents Arch and Betty yesterday. He has leukemia and Alzheimer's, decided to go off all meds and let leukemia do it's thing, I certainly understand. Betty has blood clots in her brain, we prayed yesterday, she has surgery in 2 weeks. She is stressed about who will care for Arch. He doesn't do well without her and heaven forbid if his routine is interupted. He was in the past yesterday and wondered why I didn't spend the night with their daughter anymore. (He remembers the laughter and shrieking I suppose.)

Water got into 1 room of my house Saturday during storms. I think about 2 inches...some items in the room floated. It's a mess. My husband said not to worry about it, so I cleaned part of it and left part of it. (I can follow advice when it suits me!)

We all have times where life seems to buffet us like waves crashing into the shoreline. My life is not unique. Each and everyone of you has seasons where you think, come on - enough is enough. There is sickness, disease, teenagers, school, spouse issues, parents, jobs, elections, all kinds of things that cause problems in our lives.

I don't know how people who do not believe in God or believe what He says endure times of stress and grief. I know the reason I have been able to have extreme joy through my grieving process is because the joy comes from the Lord. His joy is my strength.

If you believe in God, but don't know enough about what He promises us, please begin to read the Bible. I think a good place to start is the Gospel of John. Find a version you understand such as the NIV or the Amplified Bible. I think King James is a little difficult for many people to use at the beginning. The New King James Version is wonderful.

These are a few of God's promises to us:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff,they comfort me.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.