FAMILY.....NO MATTER HOW LONG.....

I just returned from a quick and unexpected trip to visit family in North Carolina. My uncle, who is 92 years old, is very ill. He was in the hospital, and without going into unneccesary detail, he is now on hospice care. We heard from our cousin who told us he might not last very much longer. So I made plans with my sister and her daughter to go and see him. We just hoped we could be there in time to see him. We haven't seen this part of our family for many years, due to sickness in our immediate families and the inability to be away from home. It's a 9 hour drive for my sister, 12 to 13 hours for me. So we decided to drive down together; I would go to Pennsylvania, and then the three of us would drive together the rest of the way. I left at 11:00 p.m. Wednesday night and got to PA in just over 4 hours, 2:15 a.m. TIRED. I went inside and went to sleep. We got up in the morning and took our time getting on the road as my niece had a physical therapy appointment that day. We picked her up at 11:00 a.m. and were on our way. The trip down was fun and we laughed a lot. We stopped for gas and went to a Cracker Barrel store in Virginia. We found everything funny, including how many products had my name on them. Jo, (my sister), bought me a mug and coaster, just in case I forget that I am Virginia. But nobody calls me that. When we got to the house, it was like we had never been apart. But for me, it had been 17 years since I'd seen them. They don't travel due to their business, and we have other issues here that prevent me from being far away from home. (You can't understand it if you don't live it.) We were welcomed with open arms, hugs, kisses, laughter and love. Our uncle was sleeping a lot of the time, but when he was awake he was his same funny and wise cracking self. It was wonderful. My aunt, who is 91, told story after story of when she and our mother were young, how she has been married for 72 years, how big Grandaddy was, and lots of other things. Grandaddy was her grandfather, and was 6'4" tall and about 300 pounds. I remember one time when I was little, we had a pair of his pants. My parents put my brother Al in one pant leg, my sister Pat in the other, and me straddled over the middle. There was lots of room left over. When Jo and I had decided to go south and when we would leave, I knew I needed to talk with my uncle about Jesus. I didn't know what I would say, or when , or how he would respond, but God put this on my heart. The first day there I was able to spend lots of time with him, and I asked him if I could pray for him. He said, "Yes,I would love that." So I did. He held my hand, and placed his other hand on that same arm, and rested in this way while I prayed for healing, peace, rest, that he would know the love of God, that angels would fill his room, and that the peace of God would fill their home. He went to sleep. I stayed and prayed over him for a long time. The next day, we had the opportunity to go out for a ride around their property. They own HORSE HEAVEN FARM, a place for retired horses to spend the rest of their lives. They opened it in 1987. It's a beautiful place with rolling hills, lots of trees, fences separating pastures, and of couse, horses. Later, we spent some time with some of the horses, just because they're beautiful and we love to fuss over them. Before we went back in the house, I was chatting with my cousin and she asked me if I would be able to talk with her dad about Jesus. I said that was one of the reasons I wanted to get down there quickly; I wanted to do just that. I just love it when God stops by and confirms His plans when we don't expect it at all. We went back inside and my uncle was awake. I was able to sit with him again, to listen to his stories, his philoshophies, his wisdom, and his jokes. If you don't pay attention, you might not be able to tell the difference... And I talked with him about heaven and about Jesus. I asked him at one point if he loved Jesus, and he said, "Yes, I do." We talked some more and I asked him if I could pray for him. He said, "Yes, please do." So I did, and he held my hand, and I placed the other carefully on his side where he has pain. I prayed for him and sang a little, and he relaxed and went to sleep after a little while. I kept praying until I felt the Presence of the Lord release me, and then went in the other room to sit and enjoy the conversations and some dinner with the family. It was like we had always been together like this, not separated by years and distance. We joked and laughed and told stories. We poked fun at each other. How I wish it could be this way all the time! But I am so thankful for what we have. FAMILY. No matter how long. God stopped by and knit us together with His love and kindness, and we loved every bit of it.

Beach Encounter

Today, I went to the beach with my husband. We love going to Smith Point; it's an ocean beach and so beautiful! You can walk for miles if you want to; today we walked about two and a half. The waves were higher than normal as hurricane Lee is coming up the coast from south of us. He's not expected to make landfall here, but to just give us higher than normal tides, possible flooding and a big mess if he does. But we were just enjoying our time together, getting some exercise, and collecting shells. I found a piece of beach glass too, which is rarer and rarer here since recycling began and some ocean garbage dumping has stopped. Sea gulls made their usual appearances, and today there were lots of sandpipers. It looks like breeding season was successful for them as many of the birds were quite a bit smaller than others. When we got tired, we sat up near the pavillion and rested. As we were getting ready to leave, I was looking for info about which days the food pavilion would be open. Adam likes to go to this beach too, and once in a while we get him something to eat if it is. Paul kept walking, and I asked a woman who was there if she knew. There weren't any signs. She started chatting with me as she looked online; she was wondering the same thing. She was friendly and wanted to help. We never got exact dates, but it seems they're open from Thurdays through the weekend. Then she started talking about moving back here only recntly, how her life was going, and about the terrible scar on her leg, which I had tried hard not to look at. She said she had a terrible car accident many years ago, and they wanted to amputate both of her legs. She had a severe head jury with damage to her frontal lobe. I said that yes, I know about TBI's, both of my brothers had bad accidents and also had TBI's. She was surprised that I knew, and that's when she told me that most people don't, and they just stare at her scars. She told me they wanted to amputate both of her legs but she wouldn't let them.She has lots of damage, but she's walking around just fine. She lost five years of her memories, including her husband (of that time, but not now) and her 4 month old son who was in the car with her but not injured. I asked if it was a head on collision and she said it was. And I thanked God for resilience and her son being spared. She talked a great deal about all this, that she had just moved back to Long Island a short time ago, and that she was on disability because of her injuries and being unable to work. And that she has a shunt. I told her that my first born grandson is also shunted, and she was shocked. I asked her if she needed the name of a neurosurgeon, did she have one, and she said she didn't have one and needed one. So I gave her the name of Adam's neurosurgeon, and she was very grateful. She said, "Everything happens for a reason, that's why we met today.".I said "God put us together, He loves you and has a plan for your life That's why we met today." She doesn't believe the same way I do, but I asked if I could pray for her, and she said "Yeah, sure.", in an off handed way.I asked her if I could hold her hand. She looked so surprised, and said "Yeah!" So I did, and I prayed, asking God in my heart what she needed. When I got to the part where I asked Him to give her back the memories of her baby, snapshots of times they spent together, when he was born, and things like that, tears began to roll down her cheeks and she looked right at me. What a wonderful time in prayer. That's as far as we were able to go, because I needed to leave. There's a bit more detail to the story, but you can catch the drift, can't you? God stopped by, stopped me in my plans, and met this woman right where she needed to be met. I'm praying that we'll meet again. Will you pray the same? And that He'll send others to walk into her life in ways she never expected. Thanks. That's all for today.

When Your Plan Gets Interrupted......

Well, this morning turned out to be interesting in ways I never expected when I woke up. I had plans with my granddaughter to take her driving. She's learning and is getting better and better, and wanted a third lesson this week. We enjoy the time spent together and she listens to my stories and tells me some of her own. But I was running late. I pulled out of my driveway and almost got hit by a speeder. The car from the south that I had plenty of time to get past seemed to speed up instead of slowing as the truck and I adjusted our space so as to be clear of each other. Thanking God, we all managed to make it safely down the street. While I waited three cars back from the corner, I saw a woman who was wandering in the intersection of my block and a four lane road known locally as Route 101. There's a traffic light there, but she was ignoring it and walking out into the roadway and back again, hands up in her hair as if she was attemptiing to braid it. She didn't have a care in the world; or of the traffic. When I got to the corner, she was on the sidewalk, so I kept going, but as I looked into my rear view mirror to check on her, she was back in the street again. I wanted to call 911, but I forgot my phone at home. I could have turned around to go back and get it, but I decided it was faster to go to the corner deli and ask them to call the police for help for her. When I got to the deli,there was an outside table with five people sitting there, enjoying breakfast and some sunshine. I walked up to them, excused myself and asked if I could use someone's phone or if one of them would call 911 to request help for this woman. I told them her story. They couldn't believe it and wanted to help, and one of the men dialed for me and handed me his phone. When the officer answered, I told him it wasn't my phone and explained the situation to him. He asked me all the same questions twice, I guess to see if I said the same thing each time, and then asked me for my phone number, then remembered that I didn't have mine. I gave him my name and my cell phone number. He assured me he was dispatching officers to the location right away. I thanked him, hung up, and returned the phone to its owner. The people there were incredulous that I had taken the time to do this, and thanked me. I thanked them again, and decided to go home and get my phone in case the police decided to check back with me. When I got to my street, the woman was still wandering in and out of the main road. I went home, grabbed my phone, and then went back to the end of the block and parked a distance from the corner and went to talk with her and see if I could get her to stay off the street until the police arrived. She was defensive and not interested in anything I had to say, and kept telling me that she's, fine, she knows the streets, she lives on the street, she knows what she's doing. I just kept asking her to please step out of the road and onto the sidewalk. She continued along the same vein, and then began telling me that I shouldn't be talking to street people, it's not safe, I could have trouble; things like this. I told her I just wanted to help her and to get her out of the road an onto the sidewalk. And I said, "Listen honey, I just want you to be safe." "Don't you call me honey!" she said. So I apologised, introduced myself, and asked for her name. So she told me and warned me again about not aggravating street people. I asked her if she needed anything, and she said, "Yeah. You got a couple of bucks for me?" So I told her I did, but that I wouldn't give it to her unless she stayed on the sidewalk. This went on for a few minutes, and she warned me again and then asked for the money. So I told her I would go and get it, but that I wouldn't give it to her unless she got on the sidewalk. So I got some cash for her, and walked back, but on the opposite side of the street, because she was now in the middle of the lane of cars trying to exit my street. She wanted the money, but I refused unless she came over and stayed on the sidewalk. She finally gave in. She warned me again about messing with street people as she put out her hand for the cash. I gave it to her and she shoved it into her pocket and thanked me. Just then, the police arrived. She made a remark about, "And now the cops are here.", and turned around and walked right over to the car. I went back towards my car and hung around for a few minutes, and a second patrol car pulled up. I left at this point, but by the time I got to the corner, she had them walking up the sidewalk with her. A third car arrived, and she had crossed the street with her escorts. I went driving with my granddaughter, and we both had interesting stories to swap. The thing is, I had prayed right away for her safety and for help. When she was warning me, I was in perfect peace. I had no fear. I knew that God was with me and that I was in the right place at the right time. She needed help. I gave what help I could, and the police did the rest. I don't know what happened with her, but I trust God with her. It wasn't an opportunity to pray for her or to lead her to the Lord. Maybe someone else will one day. But today, I was there. That's what she needed and what I could give. God stopped by and helped me help her. He put people where I needed them to call for help. He gave me peace and patience to help her and stay with her until the rest of the help arrived. And I'm just so glad He did.