Hello friends,

Life is… not easy.   When my sister had surgery recently, I thought I had a handle on it.  I was calm leading up to her surgery… until I wasn’t.  Surgery is always scary. The doctors give a list of everything that could go wrong, they make sure you fully understand what the surgery is, and they give you directions on what to do before and after. I’ve heard it all before, after all I’ve had around ten surgeries that I can recall. My sister on the other hand has had very few.  I’m used to being in the operation room, not in the waiting room.  Let me tell you, it is so much harder being in the waiting room.  The night before the surgery I went to Prayer Meeting.  At 6pm I was doing ok, by 6:20 I was crying and trying to focus on my breathing so it would stay less noticeable. I felt a little nauseous, but I was in between friends.  I didn’t feel I could leave without bringing more attention to myself.  During the first portion of Prayer Meeting we have a scripture passage and we go verse by verse talking about a verse then someone prays concerning that specific verse.  The verses were:

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Talking about those “asleep” (aka those who have passed away) was not the best topic the night before my sister’s surgery.  My pastor even mentioned thinking of loved ones who have passed on, which made me think of my mom who passed away nearly 8 years ago.  My mom who was at every surgery I had until the last one. My mom who would not be at at my sisters surgery. That hurt more.  I missed her even more thinking about her not being here to support my sister through this.  So I grieved harder. Trying my best not to reflect on the negative possibilities with my sister’s surgery.   

After we go through the selected scripture passages, we share prayer requests and pray over them.  I requested the microphone; I thought I could manage to say “My sister has surgery tomorrow.” Five words, but I couldn’t make them come out, so I handed the microphone to David, who, despite having no idea why I was crying put his arm around me and prayed over whatever situation was weighing on my heart.  He and his wife prayed with me again after prayer meeting ended and I could tell them what was going on  

David and his wife Elizabeth always do so well to make me feel loved and understood.  While I tried hard over Covid to change my love language to Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch is still at the top of the list. An action as simple as putting an arm around my shoulders makes me feel more loved and cared about than 25 phrases of affirmation.   This is one of many things that I appreciate about them.

By the way, Marie’s surgery went great! She is recovering and should be back to herself soon.

Friends, this is why church is important.  We gather together as a family, worship God, pray for each other, and love each other.  Everyone needs all of those things. So I encourage you, if you don’t already, find a church where you can genuinely worship God, you can pray to God with others (and you can pray FOR each other), and a church that loves like Jesus loves.  God put us on Earth together, we need to uplift and support each other. Afterall, life is… hard.

I am a follower of Christ, I am not perfect, but I love Jesus.

Until Next Time,

Liz Allen