God Sees You!

Before we get started, I’m just going to lay it all out there. I’m sure that often times God is exasperated by my actions and/or decisions. I miss his small, still voice or that nudging from the Holy Spirit. I can literally picture Jesus with his head and upper body draped over a table with the words overhead “This child!” I’ve come a long way! Now that that’s out of the way….

In late July 2021. I finally got on the serving schedule at my church. They were probably tired of me hounding them and wanted me to stop calling. I can be very persistent! LOL

On Friday, July 23, 2021, I got a text from my dad. Mom had had a massive headache for several days and couldn’t get relief. He was taking her to Hardin Memorial Hospital in Kenton, Ohio. A couple hours later I got another text that she was getting a CAT scan and received permission from the hospital staff to allow me to come be with her at the hospital. All the covid19 protocols were in place and didn’t allow families to be inside the hospital with their loved ones. The protocols were loosening up a bit and allowed two family members. I worked from home with very flexible hours where my brother had a crazy work schedule and a family with four teenage boys. Need I say more? I jumped at the opportunity to go be by Mom’s side. The hospital was about an hour and twenty to thirty minutes from my home. By the time I got to the hospital the CAT scan had already been completed, and the results were in. Mom had lesions all over her brain.

Mom was sent to Grant Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Grant Hospital, a well-known trauma hospital, determined she had stage 4 cancer, and it had spread everywhere. With covid19 protocols in place, my dad and I were the only ones who could see Mom while in the hospital. How do you tell someone’s mom or son that they can’t see their loved one who is deathly ill? They were conversations I took on so my dad didn’t have to. Facing this heartache, I maintained hope in the Lord and prayed often. I felt God give me grace and a supernatural faith that everything was going to be alright.

Sunday morning came. I was finally scheduled to serve at church and had to make a choice. Do I stay home and get some much needed rest and try not to cry or do I trust God and go to church? I kept my word and I showed up. I greeted people as they came through the doors at church. I kept my family’s situation to myself. I just wasn’t ready to talk about it with people I didn’t know very well. I was trying my best to hold it together.

People come to church for a lot of different reasons. Some come because of a broken heart due to loss or hardship. Some come because they are hungry for God. I focused on welcoming these people so they could open their hearts to what God had in store for them. That focus allowed me to smile, laugh and be genuine when interacting with people that morning. God’s grace! I somehow convinced my whole family to attend that morning. Shaun, my son, my dad, my brother and his family and once service began, I joined them in the tabernacle ready to praise God.

A friend of my dad’s told the pastor about my mom’s situation. From the pulpit, Pastor began to share my mom’s story and called on the elders, pastors, leaders and fellow church members to pray over my family. A couple of the pastors recognized me knowing I had greeted earlier that morning and told the Pastor in real time that we were there in the tabernacle. I remember Pastor being in disbelief that we were physically there and before I knew it cameras were on us. The elders and pastors came over and laid hands on my family as Pastor prayed an authoritative, power-soaked prayer over my mom and my family. It was such an incredibly moving experience! Over 1000 people inside the tabernacle and so many more on TV praying in agreement for my mom and our family.

2 Corinthians 12:9 AMP, “My grace is sufficient for you, My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough-always available-regardless of the situation; for My power is being perfected and is completed and shows itself most effectively in your weakness.”

This story continued to unfold in the coming days. It actually got a lot harder before it got better. I will share that part of the story in my next post so that I can be respectful of your time. Just know, there is POWER in agreement. I found strength in God and put my needs aside to serve His people in a time that was truly inconvenient for me. In turn, God showed me He sees me. He saw me in a church where it’s easy to see numbers because there are so many. What if I had stayed home to wallow in my sorrow. I wanted to! You may brush off the power of prayer but as my story and experiences unfold, I hope God shows you what happens when you place your trust in Him.

God bless!