Five years ago yesterday our world was shattered as my mom fought for her life after a botched surgery. I will never forget my brother and sister in law meeting me in the parking lot of the hospital in the Woodlands to tell me what my heart already knew, MOM was barely clinging to life. Somehow the Lord was very gracious to me as I drove the 2 1/2 hours to get to my mom. I had this terrible intuition that something was very wrong and our lives were about to change forever.
After many hugs and tears with my brother and sister in law, I took the elevator up to my dad, who was alone in the waiting room. Oh my soul, I will never forget the defeated, almost terrified look I saw on his face. He slowly rose as I ran to him and embraced him with all my might. As the tears flowed, for the first time in my life, I felt like I was holding him up instead of him always holding me. I have never in my life since that day seen my dad like that. He was broken, I was broken, mom was broken, but our Savior was holding all of us.
So many other emotions and life changes happened in that next week as we waited to see if mom would pull through. She did for a time but was never the same.
I have been reading a new book by Elisabeth Elliot, Suffering is Never for Nothing, and a few quotes from this book have really shouted to me.
"Suffering is an irreplaceable medium through which I learned an indispensable truth."
"...that the greatest gifts of my life have also entailed the greatest suffering."
"And I've come to see that it's through the deepest suffering that God had taught me the deepest lessons."
It is true that suffering is never for nothing.
More to come later....
