Good morning Y'all. I hope and pray where ever Y'all are on the planet that you are happy, healthy, loved, and full of JOY!!! This is the season "Joy to the World" as the Christmas hymn says. And I pray that everyone who sees this message has an abundance of JOY in their heart this morning. I must admit, that when I have joy in my heart, knowing a friend and neighbor is suffering, it kinda puts a damper on mine. I realize it shouldn't. Because joy comes from having a relationship with Jesus Christ. That joy is on the inside and is not affected but any outward circumstances. So, just now as I am writing to y'all, I realize that it is my happiness that is affected by pain and sorrow, not my joy. I'll not go back and correct myself, but leave this in for y'all to read also. It will help someone distinguish between happiness and joy. Happiness is outward circumstances, that make us happy and is more temporary. Joy is, like I said earlier, based on our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is on the inside, and hopefully will flow to the outside. But outside circumstances doesn't cause us to lose our joy. So there is a huge difference between happiness and joy.
This past week was a hard week for my husband and I. 4 years ago, on Dec.11th, I lost the best friend and sister in Christ I ever had. The evil beast, known as cancer, stole her from us way too soon. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her in some way. Now, on Dec. 14th, I lost another sweet friend and sister in Christ to the same evil beast!!! She had been sick since sometime around July and while on vacation, the DR called and told her it was cancer. She had some tests run just before heading out on vacation. Upon getting home from vacation and one dr appt after another, they finally got her started on the chemo regimen best suited for her. That started sometime in September. Every 3 weeks she had this cocktail that made her so sick. Sometime the last of Nov they done another scan to see how she was taking the treatment and one part of her cancer was growing and they changed her cocktail to fight only that one cancer. One treatment in and she was really weak and she fell in the house and her husband called the ambulance they sent her on to the hospital where her drs were. We seen her that night before they got her on the ambulance and she wanted to hold my hand and I didn't want to let her go. This was on a Thursday night. On Friday I already had things I needed to do, so I kept on my schedule. Saturday morning, we went to see my friend and she was so thrilled to see us and I didn't want to leave, but we had to. She told us they were doing to do some more tests. For some reason they didn't do the tests they had told her they were going to do. On Wed, I got a text message from her husband that they were sending her to hospice. She got there that day. She updated her facebook page that she was in hospice and it didn't look good. On Thurs we already had plans to go see my Momma and we stuck with that plan, but Fri morning we got up and went to see her in the hospice of this hospital. I was taken aback at how quickly she had gone down!!! I know she knew me, but she couldn't talk. She tried to hold my hand, but bless her, she couldn't. But we still touched and she knew I love her. I told her that I loved her and she mouthed the words to me. I cried and cried and so did my husband. I prayed for the Lord to take her quickly. I told her Momma, that if time allowed, we would be back. She stepped in to Glory at 1:20 pm on Saturday afternoon with her husband holding her hand. He is dealing with a sadness that I pray that my husband or I never have to deal with. But common sense says one of us will, unless Jesus comes or we are taken at the same time in an accident. God was merciful in the fact that she didn't linger for days and weeks like some have. While I am filled with an overwhelming sadness and grief, I am thrilled her suffering is over and she is in Glory right now exploring her new home for eternity. My prayer right now, is that she will meet up with my other friend and that they have a wonderful time in heaven together.
We never know when that one little ache that we have is something or not. We can never tell when we need to go to the dr or not. We don't want to go overboard with every ache and pain, but on the other hand, we don't want to ignore something that doesn't go away, or is intermittent pain. Sometimes we don't have the insurance or the money to make an appt for everything. This has taught me and is teaching me not to let stuff go. I realize when it's my time to take my flight, no amount of dr care can keep me here. But God gave us pretty intelligent bodies and if we listen to them, we can take care of them better than we do.
So, with Christmas upon us, there are people hurting because the Momma's of their families are no longer with them. I am blessed to still have my Momma. Both of my friends still had their Momma's too. It's just not a natural progression for a Momma to bury a child. The natural plan of life is the other way around. So, please take care of yourselves. I don't know what my 2 friends could have done that would have caused a different outcome. I just pray that the Lord will help me to make better choices in the days to come for my husband and myself to keep our bodies healthy.
If you know someone who is dealing with a painful loss this time of year, pray for them, visit them, take them a meal, pay a bill for them. Do something to let them know they are not alone and that you are a support to them.
Anyway, this is what I wanted to share with y'all. If you are suffering from a loss, or are dealing with a major illness, just know that I am praying for you. I always pray for the readers of blog. No, I don't know who you are, but God does, and He knows the needs that you have. So, I pray for you God to bless you with peace, healing, joy, and for your needs to be met.
Through it all, and this Christmas season, and every day of the year, just know that God loves you and wants to have a right relationship with you and that comes only thru the shed blood of Christ. Unless and until you accept Christ, you can't be in that right relationship with Father God. So, as I write this, I hope you ask yourself if you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior and if not, there is no time like the present, and there is no better present to give yourself than to accept the free gift of salvation thru the shed blood of Christ. All you have to do is accept it!!! Please do!!!!
That's all I have for now. Hope to have some fun stuff later on. Until then, I pray that you have a wonderful time leading up to Christmas Day and keep the love of the Lord in every day. God loves you and I do too. be blessed and hugs, patty
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