For almost the last three months our lives have centered
around taking care of Loressa. In the beginning, we sat at the hospital night
and day and spent our moments praying and fully focused on her care and her
recovery. Our family stayed on task and that task was making sure her every
need was met. It was a time of intensely leaning on the Lord. It will always be
a time that I will look back on and remember the way that God took care of our
every need.
When thinking about the way that I felt throughout the
beginning days and weeks following her accident, I’m reminded that I really had
no needs that were not taken care of. Every
time I needed to eat, someone fed me. Every time I needed encouragement,
someone spoke blessings and encouragement to me. Every time I needed to know
that my other children and grandchildren were being taken care of, someone
jumped in to take care of them. God constantly met our needs through the people
he sent to minister to us. I’m amazed at how many people invested in our family
and how many people helped to facilitate our ability to care for her and also
stay close as a family. So many people took care of us during that time and by
taking care of us, they took care of Loressa. As some of you know, family means
a lot to me. I glean a lot of strength from my family being together. It gives
me comfort and a sense of belonging when our family gets to sit together for a
meal or sit around a room sharing what we are thankful for or even singing
together around Loressa’s bed at night. So many people helped to give me that
comfort by working so hard to keep my family taken care of.
I wish I could thank everyone personally for the beautiful
way we were taken care of, but I just don’t think I really can thank everyone
sufficiently. I have the thank you notes. I even have some stamps, but my words
seem extremely insignificant and trite in comparison with all that was done for
us. At this point, my thank you notes will quite possibly not get written and I’m
going to have to believe that all that everyone did, they did out of the
kindness of their hearts and their obedience to the Lord and that they will understand
my inability to respond properly. My heart is thankful and encouraged with the
response of everyone who touched us during these days. I think, for much of the
time, I saw the beautiful end result of your faithfulness to care for us, but I
was unaware of so many details that others were taking care of. My focus was
Loressa and, because of the kindness shown to us, I was able to keep that
focus. I can’t imagine the chaos that I would have felt if the rest of my world
had not come to my rescue and made it possible for me to just be a mom.
So many people cared for us. So many people shared about
Loressa and intentionally told her story so that others would pray. So many of
you prayed for her and even specifically for me. If you prayed for us, thank
you! If you fed us, thank you! If you gave money or gift cards, thank you! If
you sat and did word searches in the lobby to keep my family company, thank
you! If you sent gifts, thank you! If you made her things with your own hands,
thank you! If you came to visit, thank you! If you paid for our hotel room,
thank you! If you graciously made my life better in any way, thank you! If you
moved my furniture and put wooden floors to make it easier on her wheelchair,
thank you! If you offered to help, but I never got back to you, thank you for
understanding! If you cleaned my house and organized my mess, thank you! You
all know who you are and I wish so badly that everyone who participated in
blessing us in the ways I have mentioned and in the ways that I have left out would read this and know that you made a difference in our lives. I
know that it won’t make it to everyone, but I sure wish you all would know how
thankful I truly am!
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you! You have filled our lives with your love and we are forever changed because of it!
