it's been entirely too long since i've posted anything here, but a lack of writing does not mean a lapse in prayers.

i pray for you often. for your comfort, your peace, your health, your happiness. one thing i have not thought to pray for is your faith. i recently read the below. katherine reminds me of you.

from thighs and offerings:

During the work week, I serve Care Initiatives Hospice as a Spiritual Care and Bereavement Counselor. Eligibility for hospice depends on a physician's certification that an individual's life expectancy is six months or less if the illness runs its normal course. That being the case, a big part of my role as chaplain is to accompany patients and their families as they wait. For the last several months, I have met with a woman who we will call Katherine. Katherine is nearly blind, nearly deaf, and confined to her bed and her wheelchair. Each time I visit her, she assures me that she is ready. “I pray every morning and every night, I pray every time I lie down to just go to sleep and not wake up. I know I’m going to Heaven and I’m ready to go to Heaven. So why,” she asks, again and again, “Why won’t God take me?”

There is little that I can say to that. Even the nurses, much more attuned to the physical signs and symptoms of end of life, find it hard to give our patients much in the way of specifics.

I can, though, affirm her faith. I can remind her of the faithful who have gone before her, who have cried out to God day and night. I can read her the promises of a faithful God, putting this time of perceived silence into the context of a God who speaks, who responds, and who is just. And when Katherine finds it nearly impossible to pray once more for herself, I can pray for her.

Indeed, the life of faith is a long and often brutal race. More often than not, we find ourselves fed up and worn down, unconvinced than we are capable of continuing on the road before us. As Christians, though, we must continue. And we can. For though it is often difficult, lonely, and downright terrifying, Christ assures us that it is a just judge who accompanies us, who hears us, and who will respond.

i know that you're ready. you've told me that for quite some time. but today, i offer up a prayer of thanks for your love of a gracious God and your faith in Him. i pray that in the moments of your darkest fears and deepest pain, you will continue to know Him and find comfort & encouragement in His promises to us.