Grief...then Hope

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            Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,                the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1

I got a phone call late this afternoon from a friend.  She called me to say good-bye.  Hospital staff were about to put her on a ventilator and induce a coma.  Her body was too weak to keep fighting her disease, and they feel this will give her the best chance of survival.  She was scared, to be sure.  And she believes she will not survive.  So she was calling to say good-bye.

Communication was difficult.  She didn't have much strength to speak, and the background noise from hospital equipment made it hard for her to hear me.  I told her that I love her, and God loves her, and that whatever happens, God will never leave her.  I prayed with her.  I told her that I refused to give up hope.  I told her that's what friends do--We hold onto hope for her until she is strong enough to hope again herself.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  

We are living in difficult times.  We hear every day the ever-increasing number of people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and the number of people who have died of the disease.  We've seen harrowing interviews with health care providers who are nearly broken--not by the physical exhaustion of caring for their patients--but by the emotional toll of being with people who are alone and dying.  They have become our stand-ins for family and friends who would normally offer the needed emotional support to critically ill patients.

I've seen the reports, but it did not really hit home until today.  I couldn't be there--family members couldn't be there--when my friend was sedated and intubated.  None of us can travel with her to the hospital in Grand Junction.  None of us can visit her there.  All we can do is hold onto HOPE for her survival--until she is once again strong enough to hope for herself.  It's what friends do.  

Prayer Requests:  for Connie White as she undergoes treatment for drug-resistant pneumonia;  for Scott Sorensen and his father "Daddy Bill," for good-hearted people everywhere who are volunteering and making a difference;  for enough laughter to balance the pain of these days;  for the safety and health of all "essential workers" who are keeping us going; for the Dineh people and the Navajo COVID Relief Project as we prepare to pack and deliver food & supplies to elders on the Navajo Nation. .

Peace and all good (and HOPE),
Pastor Jean

A Sign of Spring & Hope from Mary McKean's garden:




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