Prayers for Dad

My Dad fell off a step yesterday and messed up his right knee and the big toe on his left foot. The bad part is that the knee is a replacement knee, and we don’t know if the fall somehow damaged the prosthesis. He will be going to the orthopedic doctor today to check everything out. Now, I’m not stupid enough to suggest to either of my parents that they should be using a walker or a wheelchair, but the time is coming, for both of them where this might actually have to happen. I have said that I’m about ready to ship both of them off to an iceberg, like the Eskimos do, and just let them float off into the sunset. I’m just too old for all of this drama. I would gladly take the pain that either one of them has, but so far, no one has figured out a way that I can do that. So, for now, keep them both in your prayers, and I will update as I get further information.

One advantage of getting up so early is that we often get to see the sunrise. (OK, truth be told, I would rather NOT be up so early, but since I am – it’s really nice when there is a pretty sunrise.) This morning, the sunrise was glorious. While I was admiring God’s finger-painting with all shades of pink, peach, coral, lavender, and blue, it occurred to me that the most beautiful sunrises (or sunsets) do not happen on bright sunny, cloudless days. They only happen on those days when there are enough clouds to catch and reflect the sun’s rays as it peeks over the horizon. And that made me think of life. I do the most growing not in those times when life is “perfect” and everything seems to be going right. It is during those times of stress and uncertainty that God can be seen in my best in my life – as the clouds on my horizon catch and reflect the very essence of who God is.

My prayer on this journey is that people will understand my success isn’t me, it’s God working in me. I have proven over and over and over again that I am weak when it comes to food. Bit by bit, or should I say, “bite by bite,” God is changing my relationship with food. Someone asked me what I am replacing food with, and I answered “relationships.” That is very true, and no relationship is more important than my relationship with God.

“He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land—the LORD is his name. With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin.” (Amos 5:8-9, NIV)