This post is by Frank Johnson — the guy who helps Dave with IreneDias.com. Here’s a video in which Dave is presented with the 2011 Caregiver Award by the Invisible Disabilities Association. I know that all of us will agree that the award is well-deserved!
“When He was alone . . . the twelve asked Him about the parable” —Mark 4:10
…from Oswald Chambers:
His Solitude with Us. When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship— when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us. Notice Jesus Christ’s training of the Twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were confused. His disciples constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly explained things to them, but they didn’t understand until after they received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).
As you journey with God, the only thing He intends to be clear is the way He deals with your soul. The sorrows and difficulties in the lives of others will be absolutely confusing to you. We think we understand another person’s struggle until God reveals the same shortcomings in our lives. There are vast areas of stubbornness and ignorance the Holy Spirit has to reveal in each of us, but it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now? Or are we more concerned with our own ideas, friendships, and cares for our bodies? Jesus cannot teach us anything until we quiet all our intellectual questions and get alone with Him.
Irene continues to live above her circumstances and enters 2012 with abundant hope faith and optimism. Her dialysis days continue to be a significant challenge but she courageously faces the next with rigor and enthusiasm.
THANK YOU for the many who continue to CARE and check in. I’ve been using Facebook as a platform to express our daily comings and goings because of its ease of use…but this website remains a special and more intimate expression of our spiritual lives…and certainly has been a very powerful means for updating those closest to Irene on this surreal journey. She reminded me this morning that there is no cure for Primary Amyloidosis…yet she’s determined to OVERCOME.
We wish you and yours a prosperous, abundant 2012 and beyond…!!!
Dave
“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
