Christmas morning. As our girls tore into their stockings hung by the chimney with care,\u00a0the phone rang. The phone call that changed everything. From now on, life will be defined as either \u201cbefore\u201d the call, or \u201cafter\u201d the call.<\/p>\n

My 45 yr. old sister had been rushed to the hospital after waking up with right-sided paralysis, vomiting and headache.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re a tight family. Without a second thought, we trashed our Christmas plans and bolted up to the hospital as well. And by \u201cwe\u201d I mean, everybody<\/em> – Grandmas, aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters, kids, and cousins. Someone pointed out how we must have looked like the Bravermans in the final episode of Parenthood.<\/p>\n

Together, we exited this comfortable and familiar world called \u201cnormalcy\u201d and were forced to enter a foreign galaxy called: \u201cNeurology ICU\u201d. Here, no English is spoken. Here, the air is thin and breathing is difficult. Here, minutes are hours and waiting becomes your livelihood. Here, appetite\u2019s no longer exist. Here, sleep is stolen in 10 minute increments – in chairs – next to strangers who smell as if they haven\u2019t showered in days. Here, you don\u2019t remember if you\u2019ve combed your hair or changed your underwear or brushed your teeth \u2013 but also, you don\u2019t care. Here, you cry a lot.<\/p>\n

ICU. IV. CT scan. MRI. Decadron. Dilaudid. Emesis. Norco. Emesis. Toradol. Emesis. Hemmorhage left parietal lobe. MRI. CT scan. PET scan. ICU. Tumor in eloquent area of brain. Differential diagnosis: Glioma. MRI. Surgery. MRI. ICU. EEG. Seizure? EEG. MRI. Diagnosis: High-grade Glioblastoma.<\/p>\n

Welcome to our newest Galaxy: Brain Cancer.<\/p>\n

And the common denominator of all those gathered in this galaxy? We are lost. None of us know our way around here. None of us know what to say, what to do. None of us know what we want, what we need. None of us know what questions to ask. None of us want to go home, none of us want to stay. None of us can eat.<\/p>\n

None of us can pray.<\/p>\n

None of us feel God anymore. We are told He inhabits this galaxy, too \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t seem possible. There is so much pain and suffering and heartache and anguish here \u2013 this feels more like hell. God cannot inhabit hell, can He?<\/p>\n

We wail and cry and mourn in this galaxy. It\u2019s the only thing that comes naturally. And our cries turn into screams. And we scream into what feels like nothingness\u2026<\/p>\n

And yet\u2026..<\/p>\n

And yet\u2026.. our phones were lighting up from all the saints \u2013 the incarnate Jesus people \u2013 saying they were praying and giving us scripture to hold onto. \u00a0All the things we could not do.<\/p>\n

Screaming into nothingness was all we knew to do. But the Jesus-people took it from there:<\/p>\n

\n
• If you\u2019ve ever hit \u201clike\u201d on the Facebook post for the hospitalized person simply to show you\u2019re out there and you care \u2013 it mattered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
  \n
  • If you\u2019ve ever typed the simple word, \u201cpraying\u201d on a carepages post \u2013 it mattered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \n
    • If you\u2019ve ever dropped off bar-b-que on the porch of someone going through a crisis because you know they\u2019ll eventually need it \u2013 it mattered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
      • If you\u2019ve ever just showed up in the ICU waiting room with a basket-full of munchies and a tray full of subs \u2013 it mattered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \n
        • If you\u2019ve ever awaken in the middle of the night and thought of someone in a crisis and then prayed for them \u2013 it mattered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          \n
          • If you\u2019ve ever felt God supernaturally gave you scripture to be shared with someone in crisis \u2013 it mattered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
            \n
            • If you\u2019ve ever just hugged someone \u2013 really hard and really long \u2013 because the deep pain of the situation left you with nothing to say \u2013 it mattered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
              \n
              • If you\u2019ve ever brought food to the home of someone in crisis even though they said they didn\u2019t need any more \u2013 it mattered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                \n
                • If you ever sent a \u201cthinking of you\u201d card \u2013 even a lame, dusty, covered-with-pink-grandma-style-peonies, cheap one that you resurrected from the bottom of your \u201ccard drawer\u201d \u2013 it mattered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                  When lost in the galaxy of brain cancer – or lung cancer, or breast cancer, or any cancer for that matter; or divorce, or reactive-attachment disorder, or death, or job loss, or the rejection of adult children, or alzheimers, or heart failure, or marriage infidelity, or financial ruin, or ALS, or any other crisis that launches you from earth \u2013 you cannot find your own way back. You truly are lost. And you cannot pray.<\/p>\n

                  And the thing is, you\u2019d stay lost in that galaxy forever \u2013 screaming into nothingness forever – if it weren\u2019t for the Jesus-people who stepped up and prayed. In a crisis, the Jesus-people aren\u2019t praying with<\/em> you, they are praying for<\/em> you.<\/p>\n

                  I wonder.<\/p>\n

                  I wonder if the Holy Spirit speaks through the prayers, the actions, the cards, the hugs and the bar-b-que, of the Jesus-people and if that\u2019s what this scripture means:<\/p>\n

                  \u201cIn the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.\u201d Romans 8:26<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  Christmas morning. As our girls tore into their stockings hung by the chimney with care,\u00a0the phone rang. The phone call that changed everything. From now on, life will be defined as either \u201cbefore\u201d the call, or \u201cafter\u201d the call. My 45 yr. old sister had been rushed to the hospital after waking up with right-sided […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,16,30,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n