The Care and the Love

If you know my husband, you know one thing about him.  He loves to give.  He has a reputation of giving unexpected gifts to friends and family members, books and tuition money to college students, extravagant meals served to friends, time spent listening and drawing out the hearts of people he cares for...  I've said many times that I don't know how his heart fits inside his chest cavity. 

But now that we are in this new season of treatments, rest, medicine, procedures,  doctors' appointments and more rest, he has learned to do something new - receive care and love from others.

This wilderness we find ourselves in now has brought us to a new position of letting others help us and give to us in ways we never thought.  We are discovering that God is using His children to awaken our hearts to a new fresh understanding of the depth of His love.  We are humbled and awed to witness how our family and friends are reaching out to comfort and care and love.  It chokes us up on a regular basis and reminds us that God is near.

Let me list some of the ways that God is pouring out His love and care on us:

Thoughtful cards filled with encouragement and love keep arriving in our mailbox that we display and love to read and reread.  Meal Train dinners arrive on our porch twice a week lovingly prepared by sweet friends.   Loving gifts from family and friends continue to drive the message home that we are not alone or forgotten.  Donations of money and gift cards arrive from people we know, and some people we don't know!  Emails, texts and messages from family and friends surprise us daily. We've had visits from sweet friends, and some people Tony hasn't seen in years.  All these expressions of love absolutely wreck us, reducing us to tears, reminders every minute of the presence of God with us, of His provision in this strange place, and His promise to walk this path with us!

I'm learning a lot about how to give care to those who are suffering by paying close attention to all these precious extensions of love.  I'm thoroughly impressed by the expressions of encouragement and the level of thought that went into these messages and gifts.

We feel very strongly that we are carried along by prayers and God's grace.  There are challenges every day and temptations to fear what lies ahead.  We can't express just how much it means to us that other people take time and care enough about us to lift our names to God and pray!  I have one local friend who let me know that her "new way of crossing Indiana" was always to drive by my house and pray for us.  So no matter where she drives, my street is always the through-way.  Isn't that creative?  What loving intent and persistent faith!  Oh, the Care and the Love! 💛💛💛