Sweet, sweet Jesus

He is sweet, He is sweet
What you're looking for
Is my sweet, sweet Jesus
What you're looking for
Is my sweet Lord

I was driving home tonight and listening to this song by Shawn McDonald. I love the simplicity of it, and it perfectly captured the state of my heart. But let me begin at the beginning.

Yesterday my mom, my sister and I went to Chicago. Our original plan was to go shopping at Ikea and visit my baby cousin, who Shannon and I hadn't met yet. Friday night, though, we got a phone call from my uncle telling us that my grandpa was in the hospital. He had fallen down twice in the past week, but both times he refused to call for help because he was afraid the assisted living people would put him in the health care facility. He always says, with no intention of exaggerating for effect, "I'd rather die than go there." So, I guess the second time he fell, he finally called someone, and when they were checking him to make sure he was okay, they discovered he has pneumonia. So they moved him to the hospital. While he was there and they were performing routine tests, they found a spot on his bladder and did a biopsy. It turns out he has cancer in his bladder and it's spread to his kidney some, too. The doctors say there's no way of knowing how long he has, but they guess anywhere from 2-18 months.

I don't think anyone in the family was terribly surprised by this news. He's been in poor health for almost as long as I can remember, and when I was in high school, he battled prostate cancer. He's been failing even faster since my grandma, who has Alzheimer's, was taken to the Alzheimer's ward. He will be 90 years old this Christmas.

So we altered our plans to include a stop by the hospital to see him, and also a visit to my grandma at the assisted living home. I hadn't seen either of them for a long time--probably close to two years. My grandpa was so glad to see us and seemed in good spirits. He hadn't been told about the cancer because they wanted him to concentrate on recovering from the pneumonia, but he told us about the biopsy and said he thinks it's "the big C." So, he pretty much knows.

After that, we saw my grandma. I haven't seen her since the Alzheimer's started taking a severe hold, and my mom tried to prepare us for the big change in her, but the time we had with her was really a gift from God. She knew who each one of us was, and she managed complete sentences and said, "I love you." My mom said it was the best she's seen her since she started going downhill.

I've known for a while that each time I see my grandparents might be the last time, so I'm really glad to have had this. Neither one of them are believers--they are nominal Catholics. But my grandpa let us pray with him and seemed really receptive to it. We're all praying for Jesus to break his pride and work in his heart.

After that, we had lunch at a place called Juicy-O's Pancake House. Shannon ordered caramel pecan cinnamon swirl French toast, which was pretty much the best French toast ever. Then we went to see my Uncle Mark and my cousin, Evan. Evan is 7 months old and couldn't possibly be any cuter. He let us hold him and play with him. He is the strongest 7-month-old I've ever encountered. He would grab something (hair, necklace, earrings) and hang on for dear life. Aunt Megan was out of town, but we really only came to see the baby anyway. ;)

After that, we finally made it IKEA. I was overwhelmed at the vast amounts of Swedish furnishings that filled that enormous warehouse. I didn't get anything, but I picked out a few things to keep in mind for someday down the road. My mom and my sister made a few purchases.

All of that made for a super long day. We didn't make it home until about 1 am, and we were totally exhausted. I came home after church and took a four-hour nap. Then I got up and went to prayer meeting at the church office.

Prayer meeting was wonderful. Julie and Mindy prayed for my Colorado decision (which I still haven't made), but I feel so at peace right now. For so long, before I came to RVC, I had forgotten how real and active and present Jesus still is today. I believed the fact that He still heals and restores and answers prayers today, but I had a somewhat fatalistic approach: "Sure, I'll pray about this, but really, God's going to do whatever He's going to do, so it's almost kind of a formality" (I could never bring myself to actually say that, even though it was my heart attitude). But the Bible tells us that prayer is powerful, and that God answers it. It has been sweet beyond belief to experience this first-hand and participate in it.

Thanks for reading the longest post ever--have a great start to your week with my sweet, sweet Jesus.