The first time I heard her name I was asked to pray for her. I was speaking at a church in Ohio (I would later become pastor) and I was asked to pray for a woman who was in the hospital with a broken back – the result of a tree falling on her and pinning her face down in the dirt.
Several months later I met her for the first time. She was in the hospital caring for her 8 year-old son who was diagnosed with leukemia. We talked as I helped her change the bedding on his bed.
Over the course of the next three years I visited her and her husband and family in their home and frequently in the hospital as D.. continued to battle the leukemia. I also watched as P’s back begin to curve as a result of the tree injury.
When D.. was eleven, he lost the battle to leukemia. His mother was having continual struggles with her back and doctors told her that if she didn’t have surgery to straighten and strengthen her back she would eventually lose lung capacity. Two steel rods, fused bones and 6 months in a body cast and she was back on her feet.
Her husband, apparently in the picture of health, died a few years ago at 55 of a heart attack. She has lived alone in their dream home for the past 10 years. More recently she has been walking with her daughter through a bitter divorce.
Most recently she learned that she has cancer.
I know that many people face heartache and disappointment but as we have walked with this friend, it seems that she has carried more than her share and yet through all of the stuff she has held on to hope – not just hope for a better tomorrow but she has held on to Hope – to the One who is our Hope.
Several years ago she began to ask, “why me.” She told me she didn’t dwell on the question long when it seemed the Lord was saying, “why not you?” She began to realize that she had a faith that would see her through. Today she still walks with Hope.
