Saturday, October 2, 2010

Where's My Happily Ever After

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who were in love.  They got married and discovered a month later that they were going to be parents. It was the happiest day of their lives, even though the man was being deployed to Afghanistan that very day.  For over five months they talked almost every day via phone or skype.  They would talk about the baby and how big the woman's stomach and breast were growing.  They talked about work and how much they missed each other, but mostly they talked about their future.  They made so many plans for their soon to be family of three.  Where they would be stationed, how many kids they would have, when they wanted to try for baby number two, and when would the man retire so that they could raise their children in Hawaii around family. The had many plans and dreams.  The woman finally believed in Happily Ever After.  Unfortunately, her belief was proven wrong.  When she was 5 1/2 months pregnant she got a call from her husband, like she does everyday, but this conversation was much different.  Life for the man and woman would never be the same.  Why?  It contained a word that the woman always feared. A word that has been so prevalent in her life.  "Cancer"

 While the man was in Afghanistan he had a cough that would not go away.  Then he started getting nauseous all the time and started losing a lot of weight.  After many visits to the clinic, with no results, they finally sent him to the military hospital in Germany, where they discovered a mass on his liver.After a biopsy, it was confirmed. The man had Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma.  A primary liver cancer that affects mostly younger adults. The man was flown to San Diego for surgery and treatment and the woman took leave from work and flew out to be with him.  Together they tried their hardest to beat this terrible disease.  The woman, though pregnant and getting bigger by the day, took care of her husband as he got weaker.  They eventually were able to fly home to Hawaii, where they would have the support of their family and friends, since the baby due date kept getting closer.  The woman stayed positive and truly believed that everything would be okay.  Then one day the man woke up incoherent.  The nurse came over and told the woman it was time to start preparing for the worst.  The man was dying.  The woman was suppose to be preparing for life, the new life of her child. How was she suppose to prepare for the death of her husband at the same time.  It took a week, but the doctor and nurses were able to clear the man's mind.  The man and woman were able to talk about the future again, but it wasn't the future they initially planned.  This time it was a future without the man.  It was one the woman didn't want to think about but was force to.  The one thing the man wanted to do before he died was to hold his baby girl.  The doctors told the woman the only way to make that happen would be if she got induced ASAP.  So the woman's doctors scheduled an induction and she went in to have her baby.  The man, who was now confined to a bed, would be brought to the hospital later, when they knew labor was in full swing.  But alas things again did not go as they planned.  While in the hospital waiting to be induced the woman received news that her husband had passed away.  The woman decides not to go through with the induction and returns home to say goodbye to the love of her life.  A week later the woman delivered a baby girl, who looks exactly like her daddy.

The Valentine's Day before my husband was diagnosed, I sent him a video.  I told him that, thanks to him, all my dreams where coming true.  I found a great man and we were going to have a wonderful life together. I knew our life wouldn't be perfect.  There were going to be some ups and downs but we loved each other enough and believed in our vows enough that we would be together forever.  That we would live Happily Ever After.  Now I lay in bed at night wondering "why?"  Why don't I get my Happily Ever After?  Why was he taken from me?  Why was he taken from our daughter?  Why didn't he get a chance to hold her?  Why? Why? Why?  It's been 13 months now since he died.  These questions will never be answered.  There is no answer.  I thought I was going to have a fairy tale life, instead I am a 32 year old widow and a single mother of a one year old.   This definitely was not in any of our plans.

2 comments:

  1. God has been the difference in my own life during times of loneliness, heartbreak, and pain. I know too well what it means of not getting encouraged by others and the hurt that comes from that. I've found that only God always offer encouragement and hope, much better than any human can offer. I can only imagine how it feels to be widowed. I have the taste of having a soul tie broken- I've gotten dumped in the past and it's hurt me so much in the past. The Bible teaches that a sexual relationship (whether marital or premarital) results in the man and woman becoming one (a soul tie). I believe that even emotional involvement (without having sex) also creates soul ties, but to a lesser degree than a sexual soul tie. Rejection and abandonment are all painful things. King Solomon said that everything in this world is vanity, everything is meaningless- a chasing after the wind. Eventually whatever we gain in this world (relationships, success, wealth), we lose them all at some point. There is something you can never lose though- God. God surpasses everything in our lives. Our thirsting for things in this world (especially human relationships) is evidence that we need something greater than those things to satisfy us because everything except God will end up failing you in some way. God has promised us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. God can't die on us and leave us in a state of loneliness. God won't cheat on us, dump us and go off with someone else. Whenever you feel lonely or feel that you're missing something in your life- realize that God wants to fill that void in your life. So many times I've been ignorant about the Bible. We're trained from our birth to live by our senses- thus we look to perceive God with those senses. Most of the time, we can't perceive God with our senses as He is a spiritual being. God has wanted me to develop my spiritual senses and rely on His word (the Bible) to experience Him. I've learned to always see God's word as alive, powerful, and relevant for each day. When I've failed to see that in the past, it's robbed me so much joy and peace. I've learned to look at the Bible as a powerful and active gateway/portal to God. We can try to occupy our minds with so many different things in this world to try and fill the void in our lives or suppress the pain, but all of those things will keep us still hungry and thirsty. God has promised us that if we reach out to Him, He will give us rest, quench our thirst, and satisfy our hunger. If you haven't done that, I hope you will give God a chance. I further hope that God will use you to go and reach others with His word, just like He has used me to reach out to you. Many people in this world are hurting just like you. Many are just looking for a simple act of kindness or a word of encouragement (words are powerful- they can heal and motivate or when used in an evil manner destroy others) which they don't receive from others. Ultimately, many even end their own lives because they feel hopeless and want to end their pain of torment- all because they've failed to see God was nearby all along and they failed to perceive Him with their spiritual senses. God loves you more than any human in this world! He wants to be your companion today and take care of you and your family's needs. I hope you see and explore His love for you today through the Bible- the Bible is the secret source for unraveling peace and joy for you when you can't find them in this world. I can't give you physical copy of the Bible right now, but you can freely access it online at (www.biblegateway.com). May God bless you, heal you and strengthen you and your family. Continue to write and help others for His glory. Claim God's promises to you from His word today. Humans will likely fail to encourage you when you really need it, however, God won't fail. All you need to do is turn to His word. It is available 24/7 whenever you need it- to experience God.

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  2. Please read these verses when you get the chance- Isaiah 55:11-13; Jeremiah 49:11; Psalm 146:9; Psalm 68:5; Revelation 21:1-7; Jeremiah 17:5-8; Isaiah 2:22; 1 Corinthians 7:29-35, John 4:10-15, and John 7:37-39).

    If you accept God's way of salvation through Jesus Christ, you will have a future hope because a new earth and new heavens will be created. God will make us new also. All pain, sorrow, and death will be gone in the new world that is to come. You will forget the sorrow of your widowhood in that new world.

    Isaiah 54:4-6 (NLT):
    "Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. Don't be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. You will no longer remember the shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhood. For your Creator will be your husband;
    the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name!
    He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
    the God of all the earth.
    6 For the Lord has called you back from your grief—
    as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband,”
    says your God.

    Isaiah 65:17 (GW):
    I will create a new heaven and a new earth.
    Past things will not be remembered.
    They will not come to mind.

    Revelation 21:1-4 (NLT):
    Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

    3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
    In Star Wars (which has spiritual themes), the fictional character Yoda taught a valuable truth regarding the fear of losing things you value. “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”
    When I’ve lost relationships in the past, it caused anger in me especially against God. After the first time you lose something valuable, you have the tendency to develop fear of losing things from that point on. It took me a long time to learn to let go of fear. It also helped me realize the blessings of singleness. Many times, singleness protects you from getting attached to a person which can affect your relationship with God- i.e. death comes to all humans, and if you’re not prepared to let your loved one go to death, there’s the tendency to develop anger and hatred towards God. God hasn’t done anything wrong. Satan and mankind themselves destroyed his original plan of peace and harmony in the Garden of Eden. They brought sin and death into the world, not God.

    http://theantisatan.blogspot.com/2015/10/what-must-you-do-to-be-saved.html

    http://theantisatan.blogspot.com/2016/01/believe-in-gods-word.html

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