Turn to me and have mercy on me

Turn to me and have mercy on me...Psalm 86:16.  Mother prayed over the weekend for our Lord to be merciful on her and let this be over.  Friday was an exceptionally frightening day for her.  She had a severe bout of paranoia, which was a result, as it turned out, of a urinary tract infection.  It was one of the saddest things I have ever witnessed.  The fear was very real to her, but with the help of medication and her trust in us kids, we calmed her down and she was finally okay.  From that point, she has steadily declined.  Yesterday, she was in more pain than I have ever seen her, and was requiring a lot more morphine than her routine doses.  We put her in her hospital bed once the doses of morphine finally kicked in.  Jean had been with her the Sunday night and all during the day Monday, so she said goodbye to Jean when I arrived to take my shift and Jean left.  By God's works, Danny had been in town taking care of some things for his business, so he came by.  Mother asked me to call Glenda and tell her to come. She would not take another dose of morophine until Glenda got here.  Once she arrived, Mom told the three of us goodbye.  The hardest thing was watching her tell Daddy goodbye.  He sat on thhe side of her bed, kissed her, and then stayed in the recliner in her bedroom until about 1 a.m. this morning, when we moved him to his bed. 

Last night was absolutely precious...after Mom had said goodbye to all of us, she closed her eyes and was so peaceful.  All of a sudden her eyes popped open and she exclaimed, "Dying is not as easy as I thought it would be!"  Bless her heart, I think she was in so much pain that she thought she could just close her eyes and let herself go.  Our sweet Lord was not quite ready for that to happen, though.  For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die.
Ecclesiastes 3:1  We trust that He will send His angels to take Mom by then hand and lead her to her heavenly home in the Lord's time, not ours.  Meanwhile, we will keep her safe and comfortable.We kids are on a 24/7 schedule.  Mom's greatest concern was dying without one of us here, so we vowed to her that wouldn't happen. 

Dad spends the vast majority of his time sleeping.  I think that is just fine...his way of coping.  We had his catheter removed Monday, and he is much more comfortable.  Dad has been pain free since the medications have stopped the bladder spasms.  We are so grateful for that. 

Thank you all for your loving prayers.  Please continue to pray for God's mercy for Mom and for Dad. 

 "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16).