My Mind is Whirling…

11-03am

It’s difficult to know what to say to someone who has stage 4 cancer; someone who has had 30 chemotherapy treatments; someone who has been told  her hands and feet are going to go black with the latest round of cyto-toxic treatment. My friend Toni’s prognosis is not good. Her family are left reeling. Her days are spent contemplating the months ahead. Her nights are spent tossing and turning, trying to sleep, feeling uncomfortable, her mind spinning.  What do you say? What encouragement can you give? What hope can you offer? My mind is whirling about what to say to comfort Toni! It’s just so hard. Yesterday 4 of us went to visit her. She talked and cried and laughed. We did too. Heidi came and gave her a foot massage…

And then we prayed for her. All of us cried. Toni prayed too. She wept and thanked God.  She thanked God! Amidst this trial, she thanked God. It’s so hard. No one can imagine how hard it is unless they are walking in her shoes. If you have a friend who is suffering, don’t shy away. Just go! Go and be there. Don’t worry about what you are going to say. Just let them speak. They willtalk and when you leave, they will feel better for the company and the opportunity to speak. If they can’t speak, just sit and be there to pray.  And if YOU are suffering today…here is some encouragement…After visiting Toni, Riana dropped me off at Glencairn and I walked to Clovelly! 6km via Fish Hoek beach where the vibe was wonderfully holiday-like. Have I told you lately that we live in the MOST magnificent part of the world? One day I’m going to do a blog about Cape Town’s Cinque Terre – you don’t have to go to Italy to find it! The nets in Fish Hoek have really helped put everyone at ease about nasty sharkies that could be lurking beneath the surface of the water. They’ve now got two flags going… the top one indicates the shark status (yesterday red with white shark means a shark has been in the area over the last two hours.) The bottom one indicates the shark nets are in place, so swim baby swim!

Today in my quiet time, I was reminded of the need to wait…

We Wait! Just two words. We Wait. Sometimes it is so difficult to do. Just to wait. It feels calm. You can’t ‘hurry up and wait!’ You have to be still. You nurture patience when you wait. Good things come with patient waiting. It gives you the opportunity to reflect, to think carefully & not to make rash impulsive decisions. Nothing is so urgent that you can’t wait a moment at least to pause & consider what God would have you do. Psalm 33:20 says “We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our Help and our Shield.” If you are in a place of confusion, stop and wait. Refocus. Set your sights on God and what He wants for you. Then wait for Him to help. Someone once said, PUSH = Pray Until Something Happens. Wait in hope for the Lord. This is what God does: He calms a troubled spirit. He refocuses us. He resets our spiritual compass so we are heading in the right direction. All this happens when we wait in hope for the Lord. Don’t delay! Stop what you are doing and WAIT!

God bless you today!

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂

Gratitude/Happiness Pic…Mike makes the best coffee in the world. Each evening around 6pm, I enjoy a cup of decaff….this was last night’s….okay, it was a BIG cup…