My friends,
It has been way too long and it's time that I reached out and fill you in on the past year of my life. So much has changed that I honestly don't know where to begin. I can only tell you that within this past year, the Lord has put it on my heart to dive deeper into my faith and with that, the devil is working overtime to stop me.
Last Fall, I followed the desire in my heart to learn more about End-times Bible Prophecy. It has always fascinated me. The more I studied, the more I discovered that we were seeing signs of the End-Times developing right before our very eyes (and this was prior to Covid-19). I took notes, and from the notes, I created a little booklet that breaks Bible Prophecy down into 7 topics. Please click on the Link to read: Seven Topics on End Time Prophecy.
Excited to share my booklet, I decided to start with my home Bible Study group. We finished up the Book of John in November 2019, and our next study was to begin the Prophecy booklet. Not a week later, my sweet and precious mother, (who was in excellent health for an 87 year old--caring for my 92 year old father) had a massive stroke that left her paralyzed on her right side.
As you can imagine, my father, brother and sisters, and I were devastated. We were not only worried about my mother, but now we needed to take care of dad too. And so began the scheduled routine, of either staying at dad's to care for him, or visiting mom, who after a couple weeks went into rehab at a local nursing home. It seemed chaos, but the Lord pressed it on my heart to try to schedule in my Bible Study. And so I did so.
The study soon caught the interest of the group and everyone was excited to hear about our Lord's soon return. We completed the study in mid February. Meanwhile, two of my sisters moved in with dad to care for him, while mom continued with therapy. Physically, she was making great strides. Her right side grew stronger and stronger every day. She fought us tooth and nail, but we encouraged...almost forced her to keep fighting. Unfortunately, the damage to her brain from the stroke was pretty severe and mom could not retain short-term memory.
And then Covid-19 hit. Bible Prophecy truly coming to pass, before our very eyes. My little booklet coming to life. The Lord's Word, coming to pass. The stage being set. While the world went into lock-down, eyes were being opened and many began to realize this was more than just a dangerous virus.
Our minds could hardly comprehend what was happening across the globe. My momma; she lost all hope. She could not understand why we stopped coming to see her. Our visits outside her window, just made it worse. Explaining that there was a pandemic over FaceTime worked for the moment, but in the next breath, she cried so brokenly over not seeing her 5 children and her husband. It was heart wrenching.
Meanwhile, dad's health declined even worse with the knowledge that his beloved was not coming home. On May 1st, we got the call. Mom had had another serious stroke and there was nothing we could do to help her. She now had damage to both the right and left side of her brain. She could no longer swallow and we decided not to give her a feeding tube. She had suffered enough. Fourteen days later, my momma passed, surrounded by her children, and her 2 brothers. Two and half months later, dad decided to join her. He stopped fighting and let go, so he could go be with her and the Lord Jesus.
What a year. Too many losses, too much pain, yet the bittersweet memories are more than I can ask for. Now, my siblings and I cling closely to each other, praying to find comfort in our mutual pain.
At the same time, the world has fallen into mass chaos. Covid, lawlessness, riots, earthquakes, hurricanes and the constant fight over Israel. It's not just coincidence. Why were the demons working overtime to stop me from sharing the Good News of His coming? Because he wants you to not be prepared. He doesn't want you to get your affairs in order and your heart ready for the Lord. He wants you to stay in your sin without repentance, so that when Jesus returns, you are not expecting it.
Jesus is coming. Get ready. Stay ready!