Hello everyone.
I hope you all had a great weekend! Did you do anything special for Father’s Day? I took my husband out for breakfast (just somewhere fast), made him drive, giving him the directions as we went along (to keep the destination a surprise), took him to an antique museum that was hosting an antique car show (early 1900s and later), and then later took him out for supper at a Persian restaurant we have never tried before. Overall, we had a fantastic day!
But as my title says, I’m also requesting some heavy prayers. Of course, Father’s Day is a day on the phone for me as I call my two fathers and my two grandfathers. I found out that my one grandfather, on my French side, who has battled cancer but has succeeded in conquering remission, although left significantly weaker, has been sick twice in the last two months. Now for most people, this could be no big deal. But add his already current weak state that was left by the cancer, and the fact that the first time he was sick, it took a month to overcome, this second sickness is nothing but trouble. I guess my grandmother caught it from him, and he got it back from her. Of course, she’s feeling guilty as she watches her husband suffer with no energy, no appetite, etc. Especially after she just lost a brother a year or two ago, and just lost another brother a week ago. I know she fears losing her husband too. And to top it all off, the funeral for her brother is this coming weekend. So not only am I asking you to pray for him to get better, but to be better by this weekend. My grandmother needs his love and support as she deals with the loss of a close brother. So the magnitude of this prayer is strong. Please pray.
The second request I have came with news we received yesterday. My husband’s brother who went through surgery was released from hospital on Friday. He made the journey home, and I’m pretty sure was celebrating that he no longer had to live in a hospital. However, yesterday, he was close to “blacking out” several times, and so his mother took him back to the hospital. The doctors assumed he was just dehydrated and thus hooked him up to a fluid IV and later sent him home. Upon return of home, he fully passed out and hit the floor. Of course this meant a turnaround trip back to the hospital where they are considering much more serious options than simple dehydration. This means more tests. His doctors in the larger city were notified, and last I heard, the debate was whether or not to take him back to the larger hospital. Unfortunately, his hospital life is not over yet. I ask for such sincere prayer for him. I cannot even begin to fathom what he is experiencing, the hopelessness as he looks at his dire position. He needs lifted up into the hands of our Father who is the only one who truly knows what is going on with him. My husband is having a hard time with the situation, especially not being allowed to leave the country. I cannot request prayer enough. This family needs your help. Please pray.
One last item that I learned today and also requires some hefty prayers concerns a colleague of mine in an incredibly unfortunate situation. She is planning on getting married in August, something she highly looks forward too. She was raised by adoptive parents, but of course had sent invitations to her biological parents whom she doesn’t speak to often, but every once in awhile. Her father never returned his confirmation for the wedding, but she had just assumed he had never thought to. Of course, she called him for Father’s Day, but instead of hearing her normal father’s voice, was shocked to hear how hard it was for him to breathe and speak. It was to her dismay that there was a reason that he never returned the reservation, and that was simply because he didn’t know if he’d be alive by then. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer, and one lung has already collapsed. Something so sudden and yet he was so fearful of breaking the news to his children, especially the one who really wants him to be there for her wedding. As you can assume, this news hits hard. There is nothing that can relieve the pain of finding our your dad could be gone in a few months, and possibly just before you wed. There’s a special place for dads at their daughter’s wedding, and they fear this void will be there instead. Please pray for this whole thing. Pray for her father’s life, and pray for her strength and endurance. I know I would be devastated, and I can only imagine she is as well. Pray for not only their relationship, but also his with God. There is nothing more important than being ever closer to God when death is so close at hand.
I thank all of you in advance for lifting these situations up in your prayers. It’s hard to watch the people you love and care so deeply about suffer. The question of why God allows these things to happen is a hard one, but one that will be answered when He returns. But in the meantime, God tells us to lift everything up in petition and prayer, and that if we knock, the door shall be opened unto us. So pray for the wellbeing of both my relatives.
If there is any prayers I can lift up for you or any of your situations, please let me know. Prayer is something that can be so powerful, and there is nothing that is too little for prayer. God cares about you, and I do too. Thanks again.