Dear Irene and Family,
So excited to know you are home surrounded by your loving family! We Mom’s love those special times, don’t we? Can picture your girls taking such good care of you and so happy to have to home. Hope to talk to you soon and also to get to see you before too long. You have been missed around here!
All praise to our God who has done wondrous things and will continue that good work in YOU.
Love and a Hug, Phyllis
9 p.m…
Good evening!!!
It’s been a good day and a great weekend. Irene has slept very well the last two nights and had a good, long nap today. Out of the blue, one of our gracious neighbors, Pamela Rivas, brought us a full course dinner this evening…! Wow, was it delicious!!!
Late this afternoon Irene even CAREFULLY ventured downstairs and into the backyard “wisteria garden” area where we sat her down on a garden chair and she watered plants from a distance with a garden hose. It was a delight to see her enjoying the warm afternoon in such a comfortable and relaxing setting! Amazingly, she walked back into the house and GINGERLY up the stairs on her own power!! Jocelyn and I merely stood nearby just in case…but she did it completely on her own… Yay!!! There’s no place like home…
She’s already sleeping soundly and I’m sure she’s very encouraged by all that was accomplished today. Given where she has been, these developments are HUGE…!!!!
Thanks for caring and praying…we’re up early tomorrow morning for her first outpatient dialysis session beginning at 7 a.m.
Caminando con Fé
Dave
7.15 p.m…
Her darkest hour; His brightest moment; His darkest hour; her brightest moment…
That’s one of the ways that I have come to think about Irene’s experience with Primary Amyloidosis. Let me explain.
Paul the apostle says that adversity always means advance (Phil 1:12). Peter says that we are being purified like gold being refined through fire (1 Peter 1:7). There are hundreds of additional scriptural illustrations which illuminate that the most trying of times bring about God’s glory.
And so it is so with Irene. God is using the Amyloid disease that struck Irene’s body to glorify His Name. My new friend, John Grover, put it this way…
“I am feeling both sorrow and joy at the same time. Sorrow for the uncertainty and pain your family is going through but joy for the wonderful testimony from you, Irene and your daughters. The Lord loves your family a great deal, Dave. Scripture talks about those faithful saints who have been tested and refined more than most. I think he only refines to this degree those that are the finest and most capable of producing a Christ-like response that brings him great pleasure and glory.” (email dated: June 9, 2007).
…and that is how I would describe Irene. Her Christ-like response to this hideous disease, (perhaps her darkest hour), is also possibly her greatest opportunity to testify of her faith, trust and confidence in Jesus, (perhaps His brightest moment in her). And she is doing just that. I stand in awe of her courageous and gentle response to all that she has encountered…and, as you can imagine, my updates cannot come close to describing the brutal nature of that which she has truly endured.
Jesus died for Irene in “His darkest hour” in order for her to enjoy “her brightest moment” which is to glorify Him on earth (perhaps especially by encountering the Amyloid) and to live with him in heaven forever! That Christ would die not only for Irene but for all people and for the sins of the world is difficult to imagine, much less comprehend!!
Irene is having a restful day and enjoying our
“Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” -Lamentations 3:22-23
