A registered nurse comes once a week to check on Phillip. I look forward to her visits. She gives me advice and encouragement. She helps me feel less alone.
The thing I fear most is pressure sores. Right this minute he doesn't have a single blemish on his back, but I've learned never to let my guard down. A lesion can develop in less than two hours. It's scary.
I apply a homemade mixture of sugar and Betadine the minute I notice the smallest break in his skin. It's a recipe handed down from Phillip's aunt.
Last week the nurse told me about a wonderful organization that provides health care supplies to the disabled. It's a place called Comfort Ye Ministry, connected to Heartland Baptist Church here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
This unique place was started thirteen years ago by Ms. Shirley Abbott. Funds and Medical supplies are donated by good Samaritans and given out, free of charge, to anyone who needs them.
Ever the cynic, I said, "Uh, forgive me for asking, but these people won't be trying to save my soul, will they?"
"No," said our nurse, "religion won't be mentioned unless you introduce the subject yourself."
Okay then! I called Karen. Here she came and off we went.
After asking what was needed, Ms. Abbot, the founder of Comfort Ye Ministry ... the woman who wouldn't mention religion unless I brought it up first ... the woman who didn't need to mention spiritual matters because God's presence could so easily be felt in every nook and cranny of her building, began bringing out dozens of bundles. I wondered how Karen would fit them all into one van.
As soon as I got home - even before unloading my van - I sent the following letter of gratitude:
Dear Ms. Abbott:
Thank you so much, not only for the sick-room supplies you so generously provided , but also for your kindness.
You must wonder, sometimes, about the patients who are helped by your work. I'd like to tell you about my Phillip. He is such a good man.
To strangers, he may appear to be only a helpless invalid, but that's not a true picture. Phillip loves life and lives it fully.
He was once a rugged active man who worked in the steel mills. He loved going into the Ohio forests to cut a winter's supply of firewood. He took his family on summer vacations. He went with buddies on hunting trips to Wyoming.
I wasn't part of his life back then. I came later. I came after he had been left alone for thirteen years to struggle with the on-going progression of Multiple Sclerosis. I came after a walker had replaced his cane. I arrived just as a wheelchair was about to replace his walker.
It was during those lonely years - Phillip later told me - that he prayed every night for God to send someone to share his life.
And a merciful God who knows how our lives will end before we are born ... a merciful God who knew Phillip and I would need each other more in our older years than in the days of our youth ... a merciful God heard Phillip's prayers.
He sent me.
Why me? I was 67-years-old when Phillip's path crossed mine. My own life had been filled with too many wrong turns down bumpy roads I'd never intended to follow in the first place. I was tired. I wasn't praying for God to take away my loneliness. I wasn't praying for anything at all.
But Phillip prayed. He kept praying and believing until, finally, I arrived on his doorstep.
I'd like to believe it was God who steered my feet that direction.
Maybe it's true ....
We've blended our two damaged lives together in such a way as to make one functional whole, my Phillip and I, and here we are, six years later. Every day is a challenge. Every day is filled with joy. We are so thankful to have each other.
Inside the body that has somehow betrayed him, Phillip is still the same hard-working, hard-playing man he was in the days of his youth. Although he's confined to a hospital bed, he has a phone and a laptop computer at his fingertips, and he handles everything from Banking to insurance to car maintenance ... He understands politics and world affairs much better than I ever will, and he and I have lively conversations about the condition of our great country today.
We share a love for crossword puzzles. Phillip figures out answers without filling in the squares. By the time I sit down to do his writing, he has most of the puzzle solved.
The TV on the wall across from Phillip's bed is never turned off. Talk shows, car races, Clint Eastwood movies and Baseball games move steadily across the screen. Religious programs claim a portion of our attention. Sometimes our thinking is in harmony with the preacher's. Sometimes we have a different view. Phillip and I have deep discussions about the Bible. Those talks almost always end with the simple knowledge that God is far greater than human minds can fathom.
We have only to watch the daily news to know that bad things are happening all around us, but good things are going on too ... Like the work you are doing at Comfort Ye Ministry.
Thank you for being there.
Thank you for helping us.
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