I befriended a lady dying of brain cancer and in hospice care at the Claire House...I seldom get folks names right, and called her Annie...The hospital I donated most all my crisis counseling hours to was just right down the road, so most evenings before I came home, I would stop by the Claire House & visit with Annie...As the disease progressed, I was told she began to think I was her boy friend, so to a harmless degree I played along...One evening I asked her if there was anything I could get her...& Annie stared at me and said she could really go for a Miller Light, so I told her Ill get her one and ran down to the QT and got her one & a straw...She took a couple of sips and that was all she wanted...As she was getting near the end a newly married couple (1 year) that were close friends came from Kansas to visit her one last time...I got permission to put her in a wheel chair and take her upstairs to a ball room and we all had her favorites from Taco Bruno and listened to the radio...Soon a great dance song came on and Annie said how she wished she could dance...I looked at the newly married couple and told the husband that if he doesnt ask his wife to dance, I will! He turns red and says well I dont know how...I told him to stand up...then ask his wife for her hand and if he may slow dance with her...she smiled with happy tears and took his hand stood up, and then they both looked at me, and I told him to pull her close and for her to rest her head on him and slowly move with the music...They did & had the time of their life...and added new romance to their marriage...Annie just sat and smiled ear to ear watching her friends dance for the 1st time...Annie lasted longer than the limit at the Claire House and wound up being taken care of by her parents in her bedroom...My last time to visit her, she was totally immobilised in bed, but she could talk, so we turned her old radio on a local station and the Queen duo of songs came on and we sat there singing We will, we will rock you & We are the champions at the top of our lungs, loud & proud, lol...So loud her dad knocked on the door and then opened it and asked us if everything was alright? LOL...We laughed and waved at him to shut the door...We talked about HS days...kids...Jesus & heaven...and then it was time to say goodbye...I tell people everyday as I do crisis counseling, that there is no such thing as normal...that normal is just a setting on your dryer...not life...that real life has ups and downs...beginnings and endings...but the key is letting God be your partner...and He will safely guide you through every storm of life...We all have storms of life & we all only get one day at a time...So, trust God, do your best and give the rest to God and He will make you the overcomer...For Annie, death had no sting, as she simply took her last breath in this world with her body, and took her 1st real breath of life in heaven as she crossed over...One day, our faith will become sight as we too cross over into eternity...The Bible says we shall be known as we were known...So the good news is we will one day pick up just where we left off with loved ones and friends...I was sharing with a friend today, that earth is the only hell a Christian will ever know...Thank God for this life being temporary & the most important thing in this world, love, being eternal...Amen...That because of Jesus, and our living faith in Him, one day we will be reunited with our friends and loved ones...This is what is meant where it says O death, where is your sting...for death has been swallowed up in victory! Amen...selah...Rev. Lowder
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 04:23:46 +0000
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