My poor mom has been through the wringer over the last few months. First she fell on Jan. 8 and broke BOTH legs...her left ankle and her right femur.
That is after having a double knee replacement in October 2008 and then falling and braking her right wrist in July 2009.
So she's FINALLY back on the road to recovery...back on her feet and we've made this new determination that we're going to exercise and get fit and lose weight. I am going to meet her at work and walk after she's off. All kinds of things.
This morning she woke up and couldn't put weight on her right ankle. After her fall Sunday, even though she was up on her feet, she couldn't stand the pain. She went to the ER AFTER getting a tooth pulled, got an x-ray, and discovered she broke a bone in her right leg in the Sunday fall. It's the smaller one (tibia? fibula?) and it's a clean break. The doc there said no surgery. Here's a scrip for pain meds...go home and call your orthopaedic surgeon.
Tonight she called me after she got into bed. She was in tears. I don't think I have ever heard her sound as utterly defeated as she did tonight.
She was in so much pain...from the broken leg, of course, but also from a massive bruise on the same leg (see the pic on my Facebook. It's awful). She has to strain and push so hard with her arms and left leg in order to stand on that broken ankle, her arms and other leg are killing her.
She cried about possibly losing her job because of being out. She said maybe she should go into a nursing home..."anything to quit this pain." She said she is tired and she hurts and she doesn't think she can take anymore.
She said she is losing her faith...she said she knows God has her, but she's losing her faith right now.
And I can't say I blame her. I would lose faith too, I think.
Amy told me to share a verse from Joshua with her. "Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave to you; do not turn from it to the left or the right, that you may be successful wherever you go." Joshua 1:7
I think that's not exactly the verse Amy said, but it's a good one.
I just texted to her Joshua 1:9: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
How do I encourage her beyond that, though? How do I tell her, "Don't worry. God's got you and won't let you fall"?
I can't fathom how tired my mom is. She has endured so much lately...in addition to the fibromyalgia, hypoglycemia, thyroid, hard of hearing...and it goes on.
And if we were to make a comparison, I pale in comparison to what my mom has done in her life. Going back to school with two grade-school kids at home; worked three jobs while doing it; got her bachelors and masters degrees; taught high school; started a brand new career at 60 (or so).
I can only hope to be as strong and courageous as her. I can only hope to be as faithful as her.
All I know to do is pray for guidance and for the Lord to put the right words in my mouth when the times come for me to try to encourage her.
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Oh, Aunt Lauren! I had no idea that this MUCH was going on with your mom... How very hard it must be.
ReplyDeleteWell, as an 18 year old kid, I've obviously never gone through anything like this and really can't say much from experience.
But I can give some verses that I know are the TRUTH - regardless if I've had to rely on them to the extent that your mother is being pressed to do.
Firstly, it is soooo important to remind her of God's sovereignty. Why does God put us through hardships? So that we cannot rely on ourselves, and so that we must turn to HIM. If He loves us, He will do ANYTHING to pull our carpet of self-confidence from beneath our feet so that we must fall into His arms and learn to have faith in HIS strength. If we continue through our lives having any faith in our own selves, we not only lose the blessing of having complete security and peace in His might, but we do the Lord injustice by not giving Him complete Lordship over our lives; we have a tendency to "protect" areas of our life that we want to have dominion over and refuse to surrender them to the Lord, which is a breeding ground for pride when good things seem to come from our hard work (though, in all truth, every good thing is from the Lord. James 1:17)
Hardships can be blessings when we learn from them to turn to the Lord - to seek His face. This might mean losing a job - but she can do that in all good FAITH because of the promises of Matthew 3:25-34. He will take care of us.
But will He always take care of us in the way WE think is best? Almost never. God is sovereign and all-knowing. He sees into the innermost part of our hearts. He sees every end of every possible moment and decision that is made, and He orchestrates the world to follow the path that He has planned in order to accomplish His plans for the good of His people, and for His own Glory. So, we shouldn't have faith that God will do what we want. We should have faith that He will act as the perfect and holy God that He is, and take comfort in that - because it is very good.
We can take complete FAITH in His sovereignty. Regardless of what happens in our lives, one thing we can ALWAYS be certain of is that the Lord has everything in His control, and though it might not look like it to us, He's using it for our good and His glory.
So we must choose to give thanks for everything. 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
Oh, and I've read through this list countless times, during the moments that have seemed impossible to me (though, as you said, my hard times pale in comparison to your mom's, but I believe this list will prove to be invaluable to her.) http://26000days.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-shall-not-want-psalms-23.html
I love you! Keep seeking God! He's the only One who can sustain y'all.
With all my love and prayers,
Shelby