Friday, June 25, 2010

Family

Today I am so grateful. Grateful for the creation of life. For the miracle of life. For creativity. For beauty. For family and the miracle of the bond which no one can break or explain. I am so excited to celebrate two lives being knit together this weekend. I am so excited to celebrate 4 generations of lives that share a common name and common heritage and common blood. I am so thankful for Grandma and Grandpa and the legacy that they have left. The miracle of a legacy of faith. Just recently, I have been thinking how special and unique a family full of believers is. It's as if the Murphy/Kenealy clan has been chosen by God just as the Israelites were a chosen people. Is that narcissistic? Maybe so, but I can't help but notice the uniqueness of this family. The quote by C.S.Lewis is the closest explanation of the feeling I get when I think of family, life, love...“If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world”

Friday, June 18, 2010

Old Testament Law

Who knew that Old Testament Law could ignite such a grateful, adoring heart for me today!

Deuteronomy chapter 6 God lays out exactly what Israel is to do to keep his favor and love. Here's Danielle's version:

"Here is the commandment and the regulations that god has given you so that you will fear the Lord and so that you will know how he judges that you might find favor with him. Be careful to follow my command and you will be multiplied! Surely you will see the land flowing with milk and honey as I the Lord have promised.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.

These words will be in your heart and this is how you will remember them: you will teach them diligently to your children, you shall talk about them when you're sitting, walking, lying down, and when you get up. You wear them on your arm and write them on your forehead. They will be displayed on the doorpost of your house!

And then the Lord will give you beautiful cities that you didn't build, houses full of things you did not fill, gardens that produce that you did not sow, wells that you did not dig.... "

The Lord our God he is soooooo good!!!! He is faithful. He is a blesser. He is generous. He is forgiving. He is clear about his commands and expectations. He is wisdom. He is a listener. He cares. He is mercy. How can we stop praising and adoring him? How can we deny ourselves his fellowship minute by minute? How can we not see that he is orchestrating every string of life? He is in complete control. He offers leadership to his people and gives us gifts by his spirit to fulfill those leadership roles....

He is good. He is worthy to be praised.

Have you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord. The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary. And the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not grow faint. IS. 40

The Lord does not get tired. We cannot every comprehend how well/how much he understands. He gives us strength b/c we will get tired.

All we have to do is wait on him. Wait on him and strength, might, and power will descend on us and we will mount up on wings like eagles. We will run and not be weary. We will walk and not grow faint.

what a mighty God we serve.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Miracles

I've never quite understood when people say they heard something from God. I've often times said, "God, please help me out here... I don't know what to do and you do." and then I go on my merry way and do the next LOGICAL action. Which sometimes doesn't work or just makes me feel like I'm really completely on my own in life with no higher power looking out for me.

It's going to start out sounding funny... Well the other day I was talking to my mentor and wanted to ask her a question about her son but could not remember his name. So I asked God what it was. And I chose to have peace and faith that he would tell me. I denied the desire to feel anxious and get mad at myself for my poor memory. And then his name just came to me and I was able to ask about her son by name.

Then at work the other night, we were trying to get access to a port-a-cath which is a central line that we draw blood from and give IV medications. We HAVE to get blood return in order to give medications and it saves the patient from getting poked 50 million times for peripheral iv access and blood lab draws. So I was in the room with a corpsman and he had attempted an IV, I had attempted one and he was trying again. We had already done EVERYTHING we could to get blood return including using blood clot busting meds to make the line patent. So I thought, "I'll just try one more time".... after many flushes and no blood return... I finally asked God. I said, "Lord, we need blood from this woman and she is tired of being poked and being in pain." I heard "ask about her children." So I did. And the minute she started talking about them, bright red blood came out of her port-a-cath!!!! We got the lab draws we needed, and we were able to use the central line! I was so excited that I said, "Ma'am do you know what just happened? I asked God how we were going to get blood return and he said to ask about your children and then I got blood return!" She and her husband said that people are praying for her as she fights this oncology battle. I got to tell some of my coworkers too... and though I felt fear of being seen as crazy... it was too cool to keep in:)

I was thinking about it today... about how I know I heard or if it was just my tendency to ask questions about family or the way I pulled the syringe, etc, etc. And I don't know other than I heard the answers to my questions and the answers proved true. It felt like when someone comes up to you on a stressful day and just starts massaging your shoulders. It feels so good and you've done nothing to deserve it, but relaxation flows right through your body. Thats how it felt.

I want to ask bigger things from God now because I think he just might be listening and answering.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

LOVE

Sometimes working on an Oncology ward, you get to see the most beautiful simple demonstrations of love. A wife of 50 + years caring for her husband, smoothing out the pain wrinkles between his eyes, lying beside him when he is in pain, making him laugh, singing favorite hyms… death truly can be a beautiful thing. And love in its simplest forms stirs even a hardened heart. Today at work, my heart felt hard. I was irritable and impatient; but I felt my heart melt as I watched this wife care and speak the physical language of love to her husband. How can one not look on and wonder at the love between a man and a woman? Though I am sure they have had struggles and have hated one another at times. And though sometimes the husband gets impatient with the motherly like questions his wife asks while he is here, love is evident and has sustained them. What a gap for this woman when her husband finally passes. The person she has woken up to every morning, shared her concerns about life with, cried with, laughed with, played with, discovered, created… her steady companion who knows her better than anyone else on earth will soon be gone from this life. What tragedy and yet beauty for it proves true that one can truly stick together come sickness or health.