One of my favorite Christian speakers is Nancy Leigh DeMoss....she comes on at 9:30am here in Houston every weekday. I only get a chance to listen once or twice a week, but it seems like she's always talking about something that I want to learn about (or need to hear). Yesterday I tuned in while the boys and I were driving up into town.
They were re-playing a speech given by a woman named Rachel Barkey in spring 2009 at her church in Vancouver. Rachel had been fighting breast cancer for the previous five years (since she was 32), and had recently been told that her cancer had become terminal and she only had a few months to live. She was diagnosed when her son was two and her daughter was 7 months old. So at this point (a year ago, shortly before her death), her son was 7 and her daughter was 5. The point of her message was to explain her faith in God and her perspective as a Christian nearing the end of her life.....wanting desperately to live longer but coming to realize that God's plan is perfect (even when we don't understand it).
Yesterday they only played the first part of her speech, and today they played more (I wasn't able to hear it but will listen to the podcast later). But wow.....it was such an eye-opener for me. I completely take my health for granted, never really appreciating that I have (as far as I know) years and years ahead of me to spend with my husband and kids. She was describing how at that point, she could only spend a few hours out of her bed every day. And her daughter would lift her arms and ask her to pick her up, but she was unable to do it because the cancer had spread into her back. It made her so sad not being able to do simple things like this, and just knowing that her days with them were numbered.
It was a much-needed reminder to me....so many days I feel so bored or frustrated with my boys and I just want the hours to pass as quickly as possible. I certainly don't usually just stop and thank God for this time I have with them, or appreciate the fact that I have countless hours to spend with them (and Dean) in the future.
Literally one or two minutes after the show ended, Grant told me from the backseat that he had to go pee-pee. My first reaction was to be frustrated.....we had just left the house 20 minutes earlier, and we were not in a part of town that would be easy to find a place to stop. But then it hit me: wait! What did I just hear on the radio five minutes ago? This is not a big deal at all! And it was on my mind throughout the day.....not to say that I didn't get frustrated, but I was more aware of the gifts I have been given.
Click here to go to Rachel Barkey's website. Or you can also go to the Revive Our Hearts website to listen to her speech (July 22 and 23....not sure if it will be continued next week since I didn't hear it today). I don't mean to be a downer, but for me this was an incredible reminder of God's sovereignty and how blessed I am.
January Lessons
10 years ago
4 comments:
Oh my -- this post made my heart literally drop down into my gut. We can all use a sharp reminder from time to time, of how precious our time with loved-ones is. Thank you, Alissa!
Now that I have kids, I think about this a lot - just me not being able to raise them and how that would break my heart. We truly do need to be so thankful everyday for them and our health. And just the gift of having children - they really are a gift from God!
Hay Alissa! I found your blog somehow through the comment you left on my blog :-) Anyhow, I'm excited for you and this little girl coming to you Oct! And I really appreciated you sharing this blog about Rachel Barkey. It really puts life in perspective and how little our time on earth is. Fun to to see you via the internet :-)
You look so beautiful! I had that same shirt from Express and I was able to wear it for my whole pregnancy. The only difference was that instead of a tunic, it looked just like a regular shirt. It's so soft too! I also wore some other sleeveless tunics that I got at Express, and they've been great for post-pregnancy too! Now that's a pretty impressive shirt- great for pre, during, and post pregnancy.
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