Hard Prayer

I prayed a prayer on Friday that I never really thought about praying before.  I prayed for God to take a woman Home to Heaven......I prayed that her body would die.  That was surreal, hard and yet peaceful.

A very good friend of mine has been going to Ohio once every two weeks or so and spending 4-7 days there.  His mom has a brain tumor.  They found the tumor over two years ago.  They did several surgeries and tried radiation to get rid of it.  Neither worked.  When the tumor came back for the third time, the doctors told the family that there was nothing left they could do.  So the family knew what to expect, they just didn't know a timeline.  What they did know was that once she started showing signs of decline, that it would be just a few months. And when she started getting physically ill, it would only be a few days.  Four months ago she lost her vocabulary.  Two months ago, she lost her reasoning skills.  About a month ago, she lost herself--she was a kid again, full of innocence and joy.  On Tuesday my friend got a call that his mom had started throwing up every few hours and it would probably only be a few days.  So he got an emergency plane ticket and left for Ohio.  By Friday morning his mom was confined to bed, throwing up almost constantly, she couldn't open her eyes, and she couldn't speak.  She was in so much pain that they had to sedate her.  He texted me and asked if I would pray that she would "let herself go."  So I did. 

It was a hard prayer to pray.  But I know that her body is only temporary.  We know that God has  permanent, pain-free, joyful Home for us.   So I prayed that she could peacefully go there.  That the family would be comforted by her being in His presence. 

Sunday morning he texted me and told me that she had died.  The pain of death is still real and still intense.  But knowing that she is Home reminds us of how much our Father loves each of us, that He is still in control and that despite this fallen world, there is a perfect place for us to go.