Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday, and she is 84. She continues to deal with Alzheimer's and now has the added burden of cancer. Last month, she was found to have Hodgkin's lymphoma after she found a lump on her chin area. She is now undergoing chemo for a few weeks, and we are told that the cancer has not spread. So thankful to God for this news.

This is a picture of me and mom from a couple of years ago. I like it because

it was taken before we knew she had Alzheimer's and now cancer.

She is 84 now, and living in a care facility near my brother, Gary, in Nebraska.

He and his wife, Buffy, take such good care of her, just as my sister and her

husband did for several years. She likes her new place and is meeting new people,

and she continues to remember all of us, her "kids", but stories of her grandchildren

and great grandchildren are harder to keep straight.

I talked with her on the phone, and she sounded tired but fairly upbeat. It is hard

to be far away and wish you could be together, so I am hoping I can go this summer

and spend a little time with her, since I haven't seen her since this spring. It is much

better to visit face to face than over the phone, as she doesn't have a lot to say these days.

Laura Story sings a song entitled "Blessings"

and she tells the story of her husband being diagnosed with a brain tumor

and all they have gone through the past 5 years. Martin has had some healing

and they continue to pray for complete healing. Laura says that, "God is 100% powerful...

 and 100% loving...He is teaching me that sometimes He gives us what we need

rather than what we want; and sometimes He lets us stay broken in ways that

we might not feel comfortable with...like that broken vessel that His light can beam through..."

Please click on the title below to see a music video of

this song - for some reason I cannot get it to embed.

Blessings

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
And all the while You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears

 what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near
And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your word is not enough
And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is a revealing of a greater thirst
This world can't satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

(pinterest)