Thank You, Lord, for Answered Prayer

Last week in my blog post I asked all my readers to be caregivers by your fervent prayers for my sister, Nancy.  Below is the link to my last week's blog post, if you did not get to read it.   https://christiancaregiving.blogspot.com/2022/05/requests-for-fervent-prayer.html  

For those who fervently prayed for Nancy I am happy to report that Nancy came through an intensive twelve hour plus surgery with flying colors on Wed, May 25.  She has to spend time in the IC for a few days and one to two weeks total in the hospital. Yet when we consider her having gone through this type surgery she is doing very well.  (She was given some blood on Friday, because of low blood levels, but otherwise she is doing well considering the circumstances.)  This is because of hundreds of prayers that were sent on her behalf.  Thank you for your prayers.  Please continue to pray for her in the months of recovery ahead.  This all also happened, because we have a faithful God.  Thank You, Lord!  Praise Your name!

If you want to read the caring bridge post my niece wrote the day after surgery in behalf of her Mom, my sister, you can click on the below link.  May you be encouraged in your faith, as you read it.

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nancyvandyke/journal/view/id/62901669cac2ec2ac87f4813?fbclid=IwAR0hOeW2GSzhxvGIwqt2gAuVW0FzthHG_qgqHMPosuEMIGZMhGajyESo3JQ

Requests for Fervent Prayer

Because of my years of being a caregiver for my first husband, Wayne, I have a desire to encourage family caregivers.  In a sense we are all caregivers to someone we know and perhaps love. Caregiving can be an intense day after day endeavor for months or years like it was for me.  It can also involve stepping up and being a caregiver for a shorter term illness.  

Caregiving can also come through words of encouragement and prayer for people you know and love.   I am asking that you will do that today.  I am asking that you will pray for my sister, Nancy, her husband, her adult children and spouses, and her grandchildren.  Nancy was diagnosed about two years ago with colon cancer.   This cancer is also in the lining around her organs.  Nancy needs prayer and so does her family members who care about and for her.  She has already been in an intense battle against this cancer through chemo and surgery to remove a tumor which was ready to burst in her colon.  

The chemo is no longer working as it should.  So in a few days on Wednesday, May 25 Nancy is scheduled for a very serious surgery in a hospital a few hours from her home. She will need to stay in the hospital for seven to fourteen days after surgery, and there will be recovery time at home after that.  This surgery is serious and scary to those of us who love her.  It also gives us a sense of hope and excitement at the possibilities.  Will you please pray for her and her family?  Please pray that this surgery will take place as scheduled, and that it will produce great results.   Thank you ahead of time for your prayers.

(Below is Nancy's story in her own words.  It is a link to her latest Caring Bridge post concerning this upcoming surgery.)  

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nancyvandyke/journal/view/id/62815cb01c4e7bd91fad37f1?fbclid=IwAR1xZrdpxKrkOLd9vnezu2Z9SICGr9h0f4tj8RpNA_BC0bo5bbAKCVvzfu

Faith

Faith is a beautiful thing.  Faith must be in the Lord alone, however.  Faith in anything else in this world will always fail us.  Faith in the Lord is the only true source of stability, hope, purpose, and refuge when life's difficult moments occur.  Faith in the Lord helps us face the realities of life when they become overwhelming.  In fact, faith demands that we face reality with its challenges both difficult and exciting.  We need to in faith pray to the Lord to help us accomplish this.

How do we hold on to faith when we feel overwhelmed by the problems all over the world and by the problems we see in our own lives and in the lives of those we love?  I have a sister who has been fighting serious cancer for about two years now.  My husband's sister-in-law just passed away from cancer.  Other family members in both Bob and my families are going through struggles as well.  Bob himself was and is on antibiotics.  How does one hold on to faith in the struggles of life?  

The answer is that we trust the Lord.  We know that He is in control.  We trust that He provides joy and strength even in the most difficult of situations.  We trust that His love for us is unending and limitless.  We trust that He will never forsake us.  We also trust that He will guide us through this life step by step and in the end take us to be with Him.

Also when we slow down enough in our hurrying and scurrying through life to recognize our many blessings and to recognize the goodness of God through it all, we grow in our faith and love for Him.  We then see how many prayers God has answered in our lives.  We recognize His daily provision and protection for us.  Then gratitude and joy follows replacing all the negative emotions.  Yes, sad emotions and lamenting are still often there, but our perspective changes.  It become an eternal and faith-filled perspective.

It is difficult at times to maintain that faith in the face of obstacles and heartaches.  Only the Lord can give us the faith we so desperately need.  Yet prayer, reading God's Word, and worship paves the way to this kind of abundant faith-filled life.  It is the means the Lord uses to guide us and walk with us throughout life and into Eternity.  There is no better friend then Him.

Eight Year Anniversary

 

Time has a way of continuing to march on.  A little over eight years ago in April of that year I published my book, Dear Caregiver Reflections for Family Caregivers.  Writing and promoting the book eight years ago stirred up emotions about my own difficult days of seeing my first husband, Wayne, decline in his body and then losing him to death.  

At the time of the publication of my book I also had some fears.  Satan would have liked me to feel like no one was going to read the book, but I also knew it was in God's hands.  I further felt a passion to help current caregivers.  That is the reason I started this blog, and that is the reason I wrote my book.

In spite of the emotions I was excited  about the new book.  This book and other events in those eight years since the publication of this book has helped other family caregivers including my current husband, Bob, who read the book while taking care of his late wife at that time.  For that I am very thankful to the Lord.

If you are a family caregiver or know someone who is a family caregiver consider reading this book.  It is available at the Amazon link below.  It is also available at Barnes and Nobles below and elsewhere online.  It is further available from me directly at jesuschild54@hotmail.com  Just contact me there for details.


Once again here is the Amazon link to the order page for my book:
rhttps://www.amazon.com/Dear-Caregiver-Sharon-Vander-Waal/dp/1629524263/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482027543&sr=1-1&keywords=Dear+Caregiver

Here is the Barnes and Noble link:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dear-caregiver-sharon-vander-waal/1119198854?ean=9781629524269