For those of you who know Uncle Henry, you know that he was a truly unforgettable character. He just had a way of making all of us laugh. We will miss him dearly.
Uncle Henry passed away in his sleep this past Tuesday. He had been severely sick for several months as his body was slowly shutting down because of his diabetes.
This past weekend, he was moved to a wonderful hospice center to pass the final days of his life. I was fortunate enough to visit him there and see him one last time.
Uncle Henry (about 15 years ago) with 'da potato salad...I do feel a little bad I couldn't find a more jovial picture...sorry Uncle Henry!I have debated whether to write the following but I think it will be meaningful to me later on to read it again so here it goes.
This whole experience has made me realize that the Lord does indeed extend His tender mercies to us in times (and ways) when we least expect them.
For the past few months I have been desperately trying to come out to MO to visit my family, but every time I have tried to come out, something has come up (a.k.a. lack of sufficient funds :) and I haven't been able to do it. But all that changed last week when one of my uncles decided to buy a car of mine--which meant I would take the car to MO. This was the first blessing from the Lord. I now had a substantial reason to go to MO and visit the fam. But this need did not necessarily enable me with the means to go. Which is where blessing number two falls in.
For the past few months I have been waiting to receive some money that was due to me last year. I have missed a couple of trips with my Dad to MO because this $$ did not come when I expected it. After missing one particular trip at the beginning of this month, I was beginning to get really frustrated and I thought that I would never get to go to MO. But ahh, all in the Lord's time...all in the Lord's time. The day I needed to leave for MO, my prayers were answered as I got the money I had been waiting for (what a nice feeling to check your bank account and see lots of numbers under the "Balance" heading, eh?). This was such a great blessing I can't even begin to tell you. (Think of it this way though, the whole day I was on such a spiritual high that I even shed a few tears while listening to some cheesy oldies music--did you know that cheesy music is ALL that is available on the radio in the remote parts of AZ?)
So where is all of this going? Well, the Lord made it possible for me to be here in MO to see my uncle and help my family during this hard time. I think this is perhaps the first experience in my life where I have truly witnessed the "tender mercies" of the Lord--you know, those small blessings that add up to major blessings--yeah, this was definitely a trip full of those kind of blessings.
Before I go, I just wanted to say a few things about Uncle Henry. For those of you who knew Uncle Henry, you probably know he struggled with many things in life and that he wasn't exactly a saint (but who is anyways?). However, I was very touched by my uncle's unwavering faith that the Lord would help him in his trials.
During his last days on this earth, my uncle endured an incredible amount of pain. For several months (if not years) his body had slowly shut down and the last few days of his life, I am sure, was a living hell. When I first got to the hospice center to visit him, half a dozen firefighters were brought in to move him from the facility's bed to his own bed which he requested to help him pass away the time more comfortably. I watched this event from the hallway with tears in my eyes because I could sense how painful this much movement was on my poor uncle's dying body. I felt a wave of motherly emotions overcome me, and for that moment, I felt that this 650 lbs. man was really a helpless little child who needed a mother there to hold his hand and make the pain go away. But I couldn't make the pain go away. No one could. And because of that I prayed so earnestly over the next few days to Heavenly Father to comfort my uncle and let him pass from this mortal existence in peace.
For the next few days, I got to visit Uncle Henry at the hospice center. I scratched his back, rubbed his legs, held his feet in place so his leg would stay bent and elevated, adjusted his pillows, and fetched plenty of stuff around the room. In past days, these acts would have been undertaken by me begrudgingly as Uncle Henry was known for "tricking" his nieces and nephews into doing him favors. But this time was different. This time I felt so grateful to be able to do these things for my uncle, and perhaps, in a small way, ease his mind from the overwhelming pain he was experiencing. I was so grateful that in his last days, the Lord provided me with the opportunity to show my love to Uncle Henry. Had I not been in MO, I would have missed that.
I often wondered during those days why the Lord did not take Henry earlier as his body was clearly done working. But I realized that as painful as those last days were, the Lord allowed Henry to live a few days longer so as to strengthen his faith. Many people, when confronted with such pain, would deny that God is real and that He loves His children. These people would tend to believe that God does not exist or that He has forsaken them, because why else would they be suffering? But this was not the case with Henry. Henry knew that Heavenly Father was real and that He loved him. He sought the Lord to help him endure the pain and not to necessarily end it. He knew that Heavenly Father would let him go when the time was right and that the time before that was a period to keep his faith in Him. I believe Henry will be blessed for his faith.
But those last days with Uncle Henry weren't all gloom and doom. Indeed, do you think it could have been with Henry?! No way! Even while lying on his death bed, Uncle Henry did not cease to crack some major jokes and impersonations. I probably shouldn't recite them here (Uncle Henry's humor did border on the side of being politically incorrect) but I can assure you he saved some of his best stuff for last...ask me in person sometime.
Well it's getting late and I have already cried once proofreading this post, so it is time to go.
I love you all!
Adri
