Neal had fallen asleep on the couch for the first time in a long time last night. These past few weeks have proven difficult to his system with the switch in companies and still so many ‘I’s to dot and “T”s to cross before things begin to flow smoothly. At 4:30am he burst into the room, narrowly missing the armour we moved against the wall and made it into the bathroom. I could hear him rustling around and knew instantly what medication he needed – shingles. 🙁
The poor guy. He started getting shingles a few years before he was diagnosed with MS. Now, at the onset of stress, it’s a toss up which ailment will arise and reveal it’s ugly head. Today it is the blisters on his ear lobe that curl into his ear drum and snake down to the base of his neck exposing the nerves and pulsating with pain. Of the two ailments I think we both agree this is the ‘lesser evil’ being that it comes and can go with medication whereas the MS flare up leaves him a bit less than what he was to begin.
Fervently I prayed. Prayed for his health. Prayed for this uncertainty in so many matters in our life right now and prayed for peace to settle once again upon our home. When I stood in the gap for Neal it was as if I could feel the connection between me, God and Neal. Makes me think of the verse to an old hymn we sing in Mass:
Peace is flowing like a river. Flowing out of you and me. Flowing out into the desert, setting all the captives free.
Because I was calm, Neal was calm. He has made it through the day with a surprisingly good attitude despite his pain.
But, alas, the theme reoccureth and all day I felt called to pray for others. For Casey (who is still in ICU at Ben Taub with no change), and Rob Stanton whose son, Joseph Stanton, is a Traumatic Brain Injury patient, who was in Austin at a Senate Hearing testifying to oppose the SB 303 known as the ‘Death Panel Bill’ with regard to Joseph being denied care for over 8 hours with doctor’s not giving him proper treatment ‘assuming’ he was going to die and calling organ donation instead of operating. Joseph is alive to this day. And, finally, for other friends who are suffering their own personal ‘traumatic issues’… I have prayed. And I’ve had YOU email, text and call me to tell me how YOU ARE PRAYING TOO. Communion of saints, that we are! 🙂
When life gets messy we all want to know ‘what can we do?’ and the best answer is ‘PRAY’. Sometimes you might be the only one ‘standing in the gap’ for another.
Blessings
Shannon