She is in the hospital, probably facing surgery for a long-standing ailment which has just been properly diagnosed. Weak and in pain, she is suffering.
I am so grateful that my sister is on hand. She is much savvier to the ways of hospitals and doctors than I am and is the perfect person to be there supporting my mother.
I am praying for all involved that the suffering is light, the medical staff both competent and compassionate, and that my sister's duties in this time fall lightly on her shoulders.
If you are so moved, I would appreciate your intercession on my mother's behalf. Thank you!
UPDATE
Thank you so much for the generous responses through comments and email. I know that there are many who plunge into prayer without stopping to comment on it. I am grateful for such a community.
My mother had surgery on Sunday, came through it well according to all accounts, and will be recovering at the hospital for ... maybe a week? Now, I can't remember and I know my sis will be updating me.
Right now, I am just stunned at the devastation of Joplin, Missouri, from tornadoes. I think this hits harder than usual because precisely a week before the tornadoes hit Joplin, we spent the night there on the way home from Chicago. Although it was a short stay, the mind's tendency is to be grateful that we were a week away from trouble and, at the same time, to think, "This is how close ultimate change can be ... a blink of an eye." In other words, it could have been us.
This is good for reminding me that it could always "be us" but nevertheless not to dwell on disaster but to enjoy the good moments as they occur. And, of course, to reach out and help those affected. Not only because it could be us at any time, but because it is the human condition to need help (though, luckily, not always because of a tornado). And we are here to give it and help one another.
