This week, I have been reaching out to a family in their time of need. My connect with the family is through one of the daughters-in-law. The father fell in a local nursing home, broke his hip, had surgery, got pneumonia and an antibiotic resistant infection and then took a turn for the worse and the family had to enact the living will. On Monday, when I visited, he was fading. By Tuesday, at 1 p.m. it was evident to all that his time was very short (infact, I stayed with them because I thought it would come at any moment - and it was about 4 hours). That is all background to the story I want to share.
Yesterday, as we were keeping vigil by the bedside, one family member ( a child of the man's) came in and declared that they didn't understand why the staff couldn't just feed him... after all he needed to get stronger. Then this person proceeded to announce to all of us - "I AM NOT DYING!!! IF SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENS TO ME, YOU ALL BETTER JUST HOOK ME UP TO AS MANY MACHINES AS YOU CAN BECAUSE I AM NOT DYING!!!!"
And immeditately the family member I had the most connection with asked me to pray with them. And when she invited this person to join us, they declared that they didn't pray! But we prayed anyway. And I am still praying for this person. Because the reality is... WE ALL DIE! No one will escape this earth without dying! And the sooner we realize that the better we can live our lives and the closer we can become to God, who will sustain us for the journey!
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