Sara's Sound Cloud

I received an email post recently from one of my favorite sites. Sara Frankl is now with God, but her sister sent this update. You can read the post at Gitzen Girl  and hear some of Sara's favorite worship songs at Sound Cloud  

Her courage and grace-filled spirit have been an inspiration for so many people through her writing. I first discovered her website just before Dusty went on hospice and I still draw strength from her pages. They are filled with her insight and understanding of life, death and life again in Christ.

 
God's Grace is "the power of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves". And the fact is, we cannot do anything for ourselves. Jesus says, "...without me you can do nothing." ~ John 15:5.

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.   ~Romans 8:26

(scriptures and quote copied directly from the email update) 

 

http://gitzengirl.blogspot.com/

      

 

When the road
from sickness to health
is longer than we imagined,
we discover it's not so much
the destination but those who walk
with us that matters most.
~ unknown

Promise

With the promise of God;

my eye must not be so much fixed upon

 the greatness of the mercy --- that may stagger me;

as upon the promiser --- that will cheer me.

~ Charles Spurgeon

Dusty turned 27 years old July 31, 2012

Angels

It is in rugged crisis,
in unweariable endurance...
that the angel is shown.
 ~ Ralph Walso Emerson

His

His is a joy that consequences cannot quench.
His is a peace that circumstances cannot steal.

Grief takes time. Give yourself some.

~ max Lucado, "The Inspirational Reader

Crosses

This is a wonderful poem
by Gloria Brewster

We carry our crosses
each day that we walk
through the hidden valley
midst the mud and the rock.

Each new day is a challenge
from morning to dusk;
it's our responsibility
to take time to rest.


Few can understand
the burden we bear;
how can they even hope too
they've never been there.

I believe that we're chosen
by our Father above,
given the role as caregivers
to those that we love.

So let us be thankful
praise Him each day;
remember He's the potter;
we're only the clay.

Allow Him to mold us;
make of us what He wants;
vessels of honor
in His garden of life.

Trust this will be a blessing to each and everyone of you.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me,
I was sick and you looked after me,
I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
 
Then the righteous will answer him,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you something to drink?
When did we see you a stranger and invite you in,
or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did
for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine,
you did for me.’

Matthew 25:35-40 NIV

A Prayer For The Caregiver

by Bruce McIntyre

Unknown and often unnoticed, you are a hero nonetheless.
For your love, sacrificial, is God at his best.
You walk by faith in the darkness of the great unknown,
And your courage, even in weakness, gives life to your beloved.


You hold shaking hands and provide the ultimate care:
Your presence, the knowing, that you are simply there.
You rise to face the giant of disease and despair,
It is your finest hour, though you may be unaware.


You are resilient, amazing, and beauty unexcelled,
You are the caregiver and you have done well!

Sweet Song

Yesterday I heard Dusty sing, in that sweet little hmm, hmmm, hmm.

  

He had a special visit from a nieghbor's dog.
One small enough to curl up in his lap.
He loved that.
His happiness is always a gift.
Last night, he didn't sleep.
No singing this morning.
I gave him kisses on his cheek.
He is, in his own way, a reader of my thoughts.
A caregiver to my feelings.
He's content only when all is happy around him.
I don't want him to think he must be happy just for me.
That he's a burden when he isn't feeling well.
He's a gift and a teacher just as he is, right in this moment.
He might sing again if he can sleep through the night.
He will sing even more beautifully in eternity.

"Prayer... is grappling with the issues of life
in the presence of God
before the throne of grace."

E.M. Bounds

A Specific Plan

Mark it down, things do not "just happen." Ours is not a random, whistle-in-the-dark universe. There is a God-arranged plan for this world of ours, which includes a specific plan for you. And through every ordinary day and every extraordinary moment, there is a God who constantly seeks you.

 

-- Charles Swindoll

Heaven

Our valleys may be filled with foes and tears; but we can lift our eyes to the hills to see God and the angels, heaven's spectators, who support us according to God's infinite wisdom as they prepare our welcome home.

--Billy Graham

Beyond Applause

Thanks to all who check back for new content on this page. My apologies for not having written much lately...just been so busy with the daily essentials of caregiving!

Giving care to someone is in a way, like being engaged in an ongoing conversation with God. There are few pats on the back or "way-to-go's" from admiring audiences.

Few thank you's for being a good companion, home care provider

or family member - turned nurse.

But God sees the love that is put into the work

and rewards in ways that reach beyond accolades and applause.

It would be difficult to tend to the small, individual acts of caregiving

without considering God in the bigger picture of illness, pain or healing.

It isn't the caregiver who is the teacher.

It's service itself that instructs in humility, patience, faith.  

It's not so much about about what or how much we give.  

It's in giving unselfishly that we most closely mirror God's love. 

Warm regards!
Kathie

"Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get
only what you are expecting to give, which is everything.

What you will receive in return varies.
But it really has no connection with what you give.
You give because you love and cannot help giving".

~ Katherine Hepburn

But whoever has the world's goods,

and beholds his brother in need

and closes his heart against him,

how does the love of God abide in him?

~ 1 John 3:17 

Every time you smile at someone,

it is an action of love,

a gift to that person,

a beautiful thing.

Mother Teresa

It's All Grace

I look over at his bed. Eleven o'clock and he's awake again. It doesn't matter...he's here. Still here, in spite of the first prognosis almost twenty seven years ago. In contradiction to every calculation, prediction, opinion since then. He still has a purpose, something to give, to teach.

I get up to give the last medication of the night. Waking, working, sleeping. One day runs into the next. Time has it's own flow. Acts of lifting, bathing, feeding, medicating have lost their burden. Now only freedom to slow down, to care remains. And the grace filled love of mother and child. Yes, grace is what I know most these days. Each day, each task ...it's all grace.



Loves Auntie Ruth!

Blessings,
Kathie

Comfort To The Comforter

  If you like piano solo's Comfort To The Comforter  by David Delgado is one you'll want to hear. You can find out more about his music at Wordless Worship

"Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.”
~ Isak Dinesen

Be At Peace

 

Do not look forward in fear to the changes in life;
Rather, look to them with full hope that as they arise,
God, whose very own you are, will lead you safely through all things;

And when you cannot stand it, God will carry you in His arms.
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;
the same understanding Father who cares for you today
will take care of you then and every day.

He will either shield you from suffering
or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace, and put aside
all anxious thoughts and imaginations."

~ Saint Francis De Sales

Open Eyes

I originally posted Opening Our Eyes on Flutterbys, then decided it has a wonderful message for caregivers as well. I hope you find some encouragement in this presentation.

Friend

When we honestly ask ourselves which persons

in our lives mean the most to us, we often find it is those who

instead of giving advice, solutions or cures,

have chosen rather to share our pain

and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.

The friend who can be silent with us

in a moment of despair and confusion,

who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement,

who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing,

and face with us the reality of our powerlessness,

that is a friend who cares.

~Henri Nouwen

Gifts

1985

The act of caregiving gives back to us a gift. In caring for others we cease to worry about self importance and the traps that go with it. When we think of others first, we begin to be aware of the essential components of a peaceful life. In caregiving, there is time to feel warmth, laughter, love in uninterupted moments.

2004

It Is Well

"It is in the quiet crucible of your personal private sufferings

that your noblest dreams are born

and God's greatest gifts are given

in compensation for what you've been through."  

~Whitley Phipps     

Listening to Wintley Phipps sing

It Is Well With My Soul 

can make you believe it really is!

There Will Be A Day

Beautiful music & Lyrics   Jeremy Camp

Don't assume that money, shelter and creature comforts are enough to demostrate your love. Nothing can replace your presence, your hug, your smile, your touch- - -you!
~ Mayra Montero

Hospice, Dusty and C.S. Lewis

Dusty & Me - Spring 2000

How does a parent "prepare" for the loss of a child? No matter the age, whether old or young, a child is quite literally a part of you. Even with all the support in the world, there is no guidebook on how to begin an end. There are no instructions for how to go on in the aftermath of good-bye. Fear... of what feels like an impending amputation. Fear... of losing a tangible life that laughs, cries, loves. Sometimes C.S. Lewis words about his wife Helen Joy, run through my mind. Words that articulate what so many have felt. The same words words that articulate what I try every day to delay...


"Slowly, quietly, like snow-flakes – like the small flakes that come when it is going to snow all night – little flakes of me, my impressions, my selections, are settling down on the image of her. The real shape will be quite hidden in the end. Ten minutes – ten seconds – of the real her would correct all this. And yet, even if those ten seconds were allowed me, one second later the little flakes would begin to fall again. The rough, sharp, cleansing tang of her otherness is gone." C.S. Lewis"  A Grief Observed


Even still, I try to remind myself that "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain!"  ~ Kathie

Let us move on, and step out boldly, though it be into the night, and we can scarcely see the way.  ~ Charles B. Newcomb