Mark of the Lion

Well yesterday did not prove to have the best news. My mom was diagnosed with Dementia, a form of Alzheimer's. As I recieved the news yesterday from my mom who was strong as she has ever been I burst into uncontrolable tears. This in turn caused her to start crying. I felt so bad for my immediate reaction but could not fathom the idea of my Hero in life be subjected to this disease. My mind immediately went to the dark side and thought about the children I don't have yet with the memories left to be made with my mom. My step-dad got on the phone and offered me more of the medical information; there is medicine she will be taking to help regain her lost functions and possibly slow down or prevent progression, but none of this seemed to comfort me. I spent the rest of the day crying on and off as I offered support and strength to my brothers. Nothing seemed to comfort me however until I got home...

While I was in Africa a couple of years ago I read Francine River's Mark of the Lion series and found tremendous faith in the story of Hadassah. Again an couple of months ago I began to re-read the trilogy. Hadassah, the Christian slave girl who tries her hardest to follow God's will for her while serving masters who through her in a lions den to die and continually spreads the good news of Jesus Christ to all she encounters. The strength she has in the depths of darkness has encouraged me as I walk through uncertainty. She never forgets who she is living her life for and that she will be rewarded far beyond imagination in the afterlife. She continually denies earthly temptaions to walk a righteous path.

I know that God is bigger than all my troubles here on Earth, bigger than death, bigger than illness, bigger than loneliness. He alone can take my worries away and He alone has our pathway already laid out for us. Trusting him is the only way to navigate through this world. This is a lesson I have been tested with lately and although I know I will fall he is always there to catch me.