Friday, July 12, marked six months since the day I rushed to the hospital after getting the phone call that my sister Hope had fallen and broken her neck. This is a much better place to be. Though her recovery has seemed slow, it has been amazing to watch her regain so many abilities and movements, and to see her unwavering commitment to thank God for her blessings and to choose joy every day.
At her son's baseball game last week, Hope and I were talking about the good things that have come out of this experience. I hate it that she has endured so much pain and suffering, but I am so grateful for the precious gift of the renewed relationship with my sister and her beautiful, loving family that this ordeal facilitated.
About 20 years ago, a wall went up between us, not of our own choosing but beyond our control. For awhile, I fought to tear it down, but in the middle of a sleepless night as I was praying about it, I understood God was telling me that I had to forgive those I held responsible and let go for a time. I mourned the loss of this relationship almost as if it were a death, but clung to the hope that someday God would change the situation. Eventually, a door in this wall was unlocked and I occasionally opened it and went for a visit. In recent years, the door was slightly ajar, but I didn't pass through it as often as I could have. It seemed like we were too different, too many years had passed and so many changes had occurred - and I had to protect myself in case the door slammed shut again. But when Hope took that life-changing fall, it shattered the wall around my heart, and I couldn't scramble over it fast enough.
As I hurried to the hospital that day, not knowing if my little sister would survive or be paralyzed, my heart was broken to think of how little time I had spent with her during the past 20 years and how little love I had showed to her and her family.
In spite of all that she has endured since then, it has been so much fun really getting to know her again, to see the wonderful mother she is (to nine terrific children!), to talk and laugh and learn again how much we have in common (such as a passion for purple and an extreme antipathy for outhouses), and to realize what amazing woman of God she has become. When I observe how she manages her children, her home, and her life, it's hard to believe I once saw her as my hopelessly flighty little sister, aptly nicknamed "Hope Dope Cantalope"!
Hope constantly inspires me to be a better friend, to love God more, to be thankful, to put others first, and to look at life through an eternal perspective. When I go out to walk or run, I am so aware of the blessing of a strong, uninjured body, and I thank God for the strength and health that I enjoy and pray that she will experience it as well.
I still wear the purple "Pray for Hope" bracelet that I got at the beginning of this ordeal. Please pray with me that God's healing touch will continue to bless her life. I pray that by the time the one year anniversary comes, the numbness and tingling in both her hands will be completely eliminated, that the pain in her neck that so often plagues her will be gone, that her strength and stamina will be restored, and that she will continue to bless and inspire others.
And I thank God that I am privileged to see Jesus in my sister, and that I long to be more like Him because of her.
"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)
P.S. I'm watching for the leather jackets to come out so we can go shopping!
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