Tuesday 5 February 2013

To the Prairies

So great to recently hear from John, who was prayed for at Jordan's celebration service. It wasn't until two days after that he realized he had truly been completely healed from a constant stabbing pain, untouched by any medication, that he had suffered from for over three years.  And two months later he is still pain-free!  Yea God!

My mom was encouraging me the other day when I shared I wasn't seeing a lot of instant miracles.  She reminded me how it took a few hours for her carpal tunnel pain in her wrist and two days for the pain in her knee to be completely healed several years ago.  As her healing progressed, instead of focusing on the pain that was still there, she was encouraged to praise God for the degree of pain that had already left.  Such wise counsel - we empower what we focus on.

Tomorrow we are off to visit Matt and Joel at Briercrest in Saskatchewan.  It is Matt's 23rd birthday on February 8 and he asked us to come to meet and watch his hockey team in 3 games on the weekend. It will take us two days to drive there and we'll take Tucker with us.

Kim and I have finally made our way through all the kind cards sent to us while we were away.  Some friends from so long ago, some very new and some whose memories of time spent with Jordan required several tissues since they made me both cry and laugh and cry again.  I think that is one of the kindest things anyone can do for someone who is missing a loved one:  share memories of or the impact of their loved one.  The most difficult thing for me when thinking of moving is leaving Jordan's room. I so don't want to erase the evidence that he was here.  But neither do I want to enshrine his memory.

I've popped by the centre where I started a new position just two months before Jordan's diagnosis.  What a healing place! Okanagan Valley Pregnancy Care Centre is filled with women of passion and grace.  While I am not really back until the end of the month, it was so good to just connect again and do a bit of research in the office they kept for me.

As I'll be returning to preparing, presenting and training others to point young men and women towards healthy relationships in general and healthy sexuality in specific, I already know Jordan's blessing.  Up on my inbox popped Jordan's email from Dec 2011.  He had worked on a logo for the True To You program and added a blessing at the bottom for me with at least 25 emoticon faces.  In November I remember him saying to me, " Mom, if girls only understood how beautiful they are, they wouldn't let guys who wanted to just use them, take advantage of them" and "Mom, by the time I'm ready to marry, will there be any girls left whose hearts had not been hardened?". We talked a lot about how hard our culture/media was on the heart of young women and Jordan witnessed it almost daily firsthand in Middle School.   I miss his help.  We worked on sideshows together and he would tell me if the photos or images I'd choose were too geeky or two confusing.  He'd also inform me on my vocabulary and colloquialisms...so that I wouldn't inadvertently distract the audience from the message.

When I arrived back at work, Theresa, the centre's director, showed me the Welcome Home Heathrow YouTube video.  We were both in tears toward the end of it and we imagined Jordan's welcome and the welcome awaiting us when it's our turn to go home.