He wraps…. We wrap

He wraps Himself in Light, Love and Hope and in our darkness, He wraps us with these attributes that keep us from falling into the abyss of depression and despair.

Advent is soon here- reminding us that we are in the dimmest hours before the Light will come.  Soon we will be wrapping presents, ready to celebrate Jesus first coming-His greatest gift to us so far-much more to come!

Oh yes, I am trying to prepare my heart for upcoming holiday season without having my daughter to wrap my arms around. And one amazing gift to me has been the outpouring of expressions of love from all of you, wrapping me in the comfort that it will be better by and by. I can’t thank you enough.  One of those amazing gifts was a 5 day/4 night stay in an Airbnb in the Endless mountains of PA.  Holly Hill Haven (Dushore, PA ) is a gorgeous 3-bedroom, 2 bath cabin surrounded by mountains, wildlife (truly amazing – bear came every evening to entertain us), and peace. It was this past week that we escaped to the hills, Monday to Friday (hence the reason I have not responded to a lot of you) a transition time to regroup, grieve, pray as we say good-bye to Kari and move on in life without her – so drastic a change. We were ready to wrap ourselves in the new life God is preparing for us.

The Saturday (15^th) before we left, my dad tripped and fell flat on his face, blood everywhere, passed out then went unresponsive and blue. I thought we were losing him. We were in public place, I yelled for someone to call 911, and Matthew ran in terror – not able to handle one more trauma since his sister’s death. Dad came to before the ambulance arrived, then off to hospital, X-rays, tests, the whole 9 yards of wrapping him in hospital emergency care, and after 7 hours discharged to me. His nose was very broken with bone protruding but no brain bleed. So next 48 hours involved lots of icing, medicating and overseeing all his walking motions. Forty-eight hrs. took us right up to time to leave for cabin, dad and all his special needs, Matthew and all his special needs, and Ron and I with all our emotional needs – wrapped up in a 3 ½ hr. trip to mountains.

When we saw the place we would be staying, instant love wrapped His arms around us. Peace! Jeremy, Sarah, and children would be arriving on Wed to also join us in processing our loss, talking about what future would look like, and just crying and laughing together as a family.

Twenty minutes out from their arrival on Wednesday, I got a frantic call from Jeremy 1- they just got word (from blood tests taken early in the day) that Elia’s blood sugar was dangerously high – where was nearest hospital? Phone service went death in the Endless mountains, so while they finished the drive to the cabin, Ron and I researched nearest ER. They dropped off Lucy (2 yrs) and took our directions – leaving in the night on unfamiliar roads and frantic hearts! We wrapped them in prayer, wrapped Lucy in love, and wrapped our son, whose heart was so set on their coming, in calm. God wrapped us all in His Sovereignty, guiding every step!

I won’t say it was a peaceful night, but in the storm I felt a calm. Elia got treatment for juvenile diabetes (new diagnosis on top of her needing open heart surgery – all because of her Turner’s syndrome). And Jeremy and Sarah spent the evening and night learning a new future for their precious daughter. Blood sugars, insulin, finger sticks, monitoring system, food. All so overwhelming! Your job is to wrap them in prayer, please!

They all came back to the cabin, and Thursday we had a sweet 8 hours together before we all wrapped up early so we could get them home. They needed to be at Hershey Medical Center all day today. We have sweet Lucy today. This family is amazing. And I don’t just say that because they are my children and grandchildren, I say that because they belong to Christ and they keep wrapping themselves in His cloak of grace. I stand in awe.

Yes, my heart is grieving this little girl who now has a lifelong disease to deal with, she is an overcomer, related to her aunt, I know.

“Light dawns in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious, merciful, and righteous.” Ps 112:4

In a griefshare program this past Sunday which Ron and I attended, we were told to come up with a scripted answer to share when people asked, “How are you doing?”  It is really hard to respond to that because it depends on the moment. But if I had a verse in my pocket, the above would be it right now!

In this predawn darkness, God truly is shining His light for me to see just the next step. As others are wrapping their comfort around me, I can abundantly wrap my love and care around others.  Lots of wrapping going on and it is NOT Christmas yet, but it is coming!

Please keep us all in your prayers, but especially Elia who will be four, three days before Christmas. And for that preborn baby sister of hers, who may make an appearance on New Year’s Eve! Talk about Hope!

Joan

PS If you are looking for a fabulous Airbnb, I highly recommend Holly Hill Haven.