I've Got a Hope!

It has been my incredible pleasure to accompany my sister to Detroit this week.  I will admit that although I was really honoured to be asked and very excited to have some uninterrupted time with my Buddy (something we haven’t had since her accident really) I was also fairly nervous.  I have only recently learned how to lift her and I am not nearly as strong as Mike!  She is a very patient teacher but I’m sure after an exhausting time in therapy she has probably missed the routine she and Mike have established and his knowledge of her needs.

She and Mike and the girls arrived home from their trip in the wee hours of Sunday morning due to technical issues on the flight out of Toronto.  She did not get a full sleep and then she and I left around 5 pm on Sunday.  We drove through lots of wind and rain as we felt the effects of Hurricane Sandy. We obviously arrived safely and have had a really good week even though I think she’s been pretty tired. It has been very good for me to see her in action (another thing I wasn’t really looking forward to) She does her exercises with a smile on her face.  The staff working with her are amazing, one of them a very outspoken Believer.  I have noticed that many of them just flock to Sandra.  Even though they may not be working with her, they seem to be drawn to her and spend a lot of time chatting with her.  There is a lot of laughter and a lot of sweat!  Yesterday I chatted with the mother of a young woman who was paralysed at 17 in a car accident.  It was really interesting to hear her perspective on the process and how similar the situations can be.  She talked of the years of finding the best way to help her daughter and balance family through the process.  I was struck by the reality that the only thing we can control is our responses to our circumstances.  Sandra and Mike have chosen to respond to this situation with a strong leaning on God believing that He will work this for good.  There are definitely difficult days and dark moments…she is human but once she is done with this…the resolve is there and she presses forward…smiling.  I’m sure that is why people around her flock to her.  She smiles because she has a hope.  She doesn’t force the smile onto her face it comes from deep within her spirit where the Holy Spirit fills her.

Even though I was nervous I really wanted to be here and I am so glad I came.  I have learned so much more about what my Buddy is going through on a daily basis and it helps me to pray.  As I write this she is crawling around the track with much difficulty.  It also reminds me that all my sadness over not being able to do something for my sister is really pointless ( I need to turn that into praise and prayer)  none of us can really “do” anything but we also don’t have to be hopeless…we do have a hope and we must keep on hoping…the past is sealed but we know who holds the future and I am determined to HOPE IN HIM!!

I have had the privilege of singing at our church and close to this time last year Pastor Reed requested I sing a song performed by Carolyn Arends and written by Pierce Pettis &  Eric Fiedor called "I've Got a Hope"  I have been given permission by Carolyn to share that with you here.

I pray that as you listen you will be reminded of the Hope we have and how sometimes we don’t even know what the hope means.  We all hope my sister will walk and loved ones will be well…but the truth is we are hoping in a God who is bigger than we can think or even imagine.

Please continue to pray and hope with us.  We leave here to head home after therapy today.  I am really hoping that this weekend will be restful and peaceful form my Buddy and her family.

We treasure each of you.

Carla

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” ~ Ephesians 3:20