Serving

I am sitting in a recliner, at the hospital, listening to a life flight helicopter taking off. As I hear the sound I begin to wonder where the copter is going and who is to be the recipient of the care those on the “bird” will be administering. I am constantly praying as it takes off. I know that one day someone I love could be the cargo within its belly.

This total experience has sent me from one end of emotion to the other. Jubilation for successes, sadness for the pains. The experience has brought on many lessons which have taught me more about life than I knew before, and will be forever grateful for lessons learned.
I have always loved the Biblical story of Ruth, but now I have experienced it, in part. To me the story is all about servanthood and how Ruth took it on in such a loving and generous way, only to be served herself in return!

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not even near worthy to try to impress that I have served as Ruth did, but I sure have tried this week! Ruth served just to serve, not to receive anything in return. That same spirit of serving was what I was attempting to put forth as I cared for the needs and desires of my sweet mother-in-law during her time of suffering through a major heart surgery.

There were times when I could see in her eyes that she felt ashamed to have to have someone care for her basic life needs. I wept in my heart knowing she hated the current circumstances of her life. She did not choose her circumstances, but her Lord did allow her to go through them, and she did so bravely, boldly and with a heart of determination, even when her body was too weak to even lift her head.

The lesson I have learned, and will never forget, are the lessons Ruth learned as she tended to her own sweet mother-in-law. She found, as I did, there is absolute JOY in serving. (Although there have been those moments that were not too joyous, but you just have to grit those teeth and do the deed!) However, there is an immense amount of joy throughout the process.
I also learned the biggest lesson of my life. When you serve, it is always returned to you two-fold. Now, granted, Ruth received a husband. Since I already have a well-trained husband, HA, I think I will keep the one I have. Especially since he is a man of integrity, love and has been such a blessing to me since the day we met! I received a blessing in another form; friends and family.
Yes, I know, I already had those things and they have been blessings in my life, however, they served ME! WHAT in the world?! I was shocked at all of the servants that were so willing to serve without anything in return! I was blown away by the love, concern and generosity that was shown to us during this time. My kids are home with full bellies and anything they needed was only a phone call away. How blessed can one be?

I would leave the story there, but there is more! My own kids became servants to my husband and me as well. Trust me, we were shocked too!

When our oldest was home, he was cooking dinner and looking after things around the house, this would be a normal behavior of his. I was a bit nervous about what was going to happen at home after he left. I knew it would be okay, but I wanted things to be more than just okay!
My husband called my cell one evening and was astonished at what he had come home to that night. (No it wasn’t a wild party with cars lined up and down the street, thank goodness!)
He walked in the house and actually thought our housekeeper had been there. He then recalled that I had called and canceled with her until I could get back home. He walked into the kitchen, dinner was ready, the kitchen was cleaned, baked cookies on the counter AND they even had a CLEAN uniform laid out for him for the next day! (They are REALLY starting to make ME look BAD!!)

He then immediately walked out the front door, got in his car, drove around the block and came back in, he thought he was in the wrong house! Just kidding! They had also sent him a message letting him know that they were at church! (I know, I have to stop and chuckle because this is sounding more and more like something off of the Brady Bunch, or in our case, a sci-fi flick! “You have just entered the Twighlight Zone!” HA!)
He had to call and tell me all about it, I could tell how totally shocked he was, I was pretty shocked myself. I thought I might have to check him into the room next door to his mother on the cardiac care floor.

After hanging up the phone I realized that God had given me servant children. They found joy through serving us, while we were serving others.

I am sorry, I know pride is a terrible thing, but I am SO PROUD of my girls at this moment. I knew they have been shown how to serve, I just haven’t seen it acted out before in such a huge way. The great thing is that they have been serving us EVERY day in this manner.
The lesson I learned this week? Serving is such a wonderful thing. Serving is worshiping God through extending to someone else. Serving enhances the life of not only someone else, but ourselves as well, I have had the blessing of serving AND being served at the same time.
Thank you to all that have extended yourselves to us this week; be it in the form of thoughts, prayers, food, calls and just caring for us in general. You are loved not only by us, but by our Lord as well.

The question now is; where do I serve next? I guess it is going to be in the bathroom…..she has that look in her eyes….

Be Blessed, and Be a Blessing!

Update

Just to let you all know, my mother-in-law is going to require heart valve replacement. This is not her first rodeo doing this, she has had this done about twelve years ago, but the surgery is very invasive and taxing. Hopefully all will go well. We are coveting any prayers you would lift up for her and our family. God is sufficient, we will be leaning on this faith during this time. Thank you so much, be blessed!

Coveting...

I am coveting prayers today for my mother-in-law Brenda. She is having a heart cath and we are awaiting to hear that she did well with the procedure and to see what the results are. We are expecting her to need to have a valve replacement, but we have to wait for a final answer from the doctor.

We are also needing prayer because of those in the family who have issues, ones I have blogged about before, are causing more stress in the midst of the rain. Please pray that these individuals are bound. We love these individuals, but we surely hate the sin they are content living in. God is full of mercy and love and he will be there for us and we recognize that He is all we need to see us through. We would just love to know you are praying for us.

Thank you for all of your love, prayers and concern.