My Christmas Wish: Pray for my family

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to visit a large mega church. Since I was in a wheelchair, we were seated in the front of the auditorium. During the service, a woman (called a prayer warrior) came up to my mom and me and asked if she could pray for us. She asked about my medical condition and prayed one of the most powerful prayers I have ever heard. But during the whole prayer, I kept thinking, "No, please don't pray for me. Pray for my family. You have no idea how much they need your prayers!"

Ever since this experience, whenever I hear of someone going through difficult medical trials, I not only pray for the person but for their family. Although it is difficult to have to endure many medical appointments and procedures, it is far more difficult for the family. They have the stress and worry of caring for the individual and doing whatever they can to make the life of the sick individual easier. I cannot tell you how many times my mom has spent countless nights sleeping in chairs or make-shift cots as she stayed by my side through endless nights in the hospital. I think of my dad spending an entire day at work, driving five hours to pick me up from having surgery and then turning around and driving five hours back home. Yes, it is my family which makes so many sacrifices; it is my family which gives me the support to make it through another day.

My Christmas wish is for anyone reading this to pray for my family. Pray they have the strength and energy to carry forth. Pray they have patience and comfort as my health continues to decline. I cannot tell you the heartbreak it must be for my parents to watch their daughter endure so many years of chronic illness. Pray also for my incredible neighbors, Don and Linda, who have stepped into the role of my parents the past couple weeks when my own parents were out of town. Yes, it is with the love of my family (and the everlasting love of Jesus Christ) that I am able to keep on keeping on. "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)