Please Pray For My Sister...

Hello out there. I know that I have been remiss in my writing. I've prayed an awful lot. For my sister. A great storm has hit her life. She needs prayer.

For those of you who don't know, my sister, Linda, lost her beloved hubby, Billy, to a heart attack on Christmas Eve Day. He laid down on the couch in their living room. And he died. They called 911 when he didn't answer his phone. Broke the door down. But he was gone.

* This is Linda and Billy dancing at their son's wedding...I took the shot. She's never seen it before. I found it the other day*

And my sister needs your prayers. I hope I don't offend those who don't believe. But I do. And I know that prayer is powerful. And that God answers it.

Billy was one of those old-fashioned guys. He took care of the bills. He took care of the house. He liked to cook. Linda didn't. So he cooked, and she cleaned up. They loved to have their six grand kids over, and their friends....and he would cook. And laugh, and they had love and happiness all around them and now it's just. Gone. He's gone.

He was “a force of nature” as my nephew smilingly said. A force. Strength. Always there if there was a problem. Ready to fix things. To smooth the way. Always there. Always. And that strength she so depended on isn't there anymore. She never got to say “good-bye.” He's just. Gone.

This is a picture of Linda with her kids. And the granddads. Her husband had just left her. She looks like a kid herself. Times were bad. But they got better. A high school sweetheart~ Billy and her reconnected. He'd never married. For him, it was always Linda. And so, increadibly, they found each other again. God gave them a second chance. They'd been married over thirty years. He brought up her children like his own. Took joy in their children, how he loved them!

He'd always said if anything happened to him, to cremate him. In shock, that's what Linda did. It made it even more so like he just walked off the face of the earth. She never got to see his face again. There are pictures. Dozens and dozens of pictures....but not him. Not him.

She wrote me 12 hours ago. (WHY didn't she call me!) Panicking. She had been ripping through cabinets at their new home in Florida, that they were going to retire to. Looking to see if he had stashed any money in them. He didn't. Their business had failed, largely due to a big client defaulting. It was a huge stressor that he was trying to deal with alone, and not worry Linda with. As a consequence, she knows NOTHING about what to do, who to call....how to proceed with that.

People wanted to say good-bye to him. So she has a memorial service planned here in Knoxville for the 14th of April. What I didn't know is that she planned to FEED these folks. BBQ. Good grief, with what?! And they just called and canceled.

She's having an anxiety attack. I told her to sit down with my brother, who is in the next room, helping clean. Sit down and pray. Lay all this at Christ's feet. That's what he's is for. And it will be OK.

And now. I'm asking you. Each one of you. There's over a quarter million of you out there that read about Frax and my life together. Please. Bend your head a moment today, and pray for my sister. Today. And tomorrow. And every day that you can think of it. There's a quarter million of you out there...there's great power in numbers...please pray for Linda. She needs it so much.

I don't know what else to do. All my life. When things were the worst. I prayed. And it was OK. When the doctor gently said I had Multiple Sclerosis when I was 36 years old, and my husband bowed his head and cried. I prayed. And it's been OK. God has been with both of us all the way.

Not all my prayers were answered. But sometimes it's supposed to be that way. When I prayed that we could still have a baby...I prayed and the answer was “no”. I prayed. I accepted it. I was blessed instead with SIX (six!) great nieces! There's PINK everywhere! Lol.

When my husband came home acting like he was having a stroke, and my new dog Frax and I got him to the car, and I drove like a maniac to the hospital, God, you were there. And you healed Bill, after five brain surgeries for an AV malformation. He's back, he's “all there” you brought him back to me!....My God is a great God! He healed my love, my husband...I know God can do anything.

When Jet, my “perfect dog” who had saved me when I was having terrible seizures...when they said he had incurable cancer. God was there. When I had to let Jet go. And held him to my heart, feeling his brave little heart slow and leave.....God was there too.

Someone asked on Linked In the other day~ do dogs have souls? YES. They do. And if you believe, you will see them again. They are waiting for you. I KNOW without a doubt Jet is.

*This is Jet, my superdog~

All my life, when it was easy. When it was hard. I was taught by my mother, at her knee. I believe. And now after living life that way, I can't imagine any other thing than to call on God in an emergency. This is one. And where there are many, there is power. I ask not for me, but for my sister. I want for her to believe with all her heart that God is there for her, not just now in the darkness, but always. He always has been, and he's there with her now.

My big helper Frax is lying over my feet, snuggling in, trying to help. Bill is here, he and I have prayed for Linda together, before I wrote this. A picture of Jet is propped nearby, I feel the love he and I had for one another, and know he's just a step ahead.

In front of me is a little corner cabinet. My best friend Marie loves it. She says it's just perfect. I have to say she's right. It is. It sits perfect in the corner across from me. All pictures of my family are there. Dogs I've loved. People I've loved. Places I've been and fallen in love with. Little trinkets that folks have gifted me with. A box that is a music box. A gift from two fellow writers....Things I love. There are two drawers underneath. Inside is the medicine that keeps me from getting worse with my MS. A strange place to put it? Not at all. It's nearby so I don't forget to take that nasty shot every other day. Every day of my life. Years now. Like others take a pill, I take my shot. And it's in that corner cabinet that I love so much.

I guess that's what I've tried to tell my sis. Good and bad exist together. It's the way of the world. Why do some things happen and others not? I don't know. God does. It all weaves one great blanket...and in the end it makes sense. But we are not to know now. And it really doesn't matter. What matters is that we know that the bad stuff will all pass away, and that in the end it will be good. Very, very good. Promise. God has promised. And you know his promises are good.

Thank you for your prayers. God bless you.

I've enclosed some pictures of Billy and Linda and the good times. A reminder that the good times will be back.