Dear families who need our prayers

This day started off with a one-two punch.  Dick was at one computer, I was at the other.  I had just read a very sad update from my friend Elta about her husband Jay's battle with brain cancer, and then Dick said,  "Pat Johnson died."  He was reading the Lancasteronline obituaries.  Ugh.  Cancer.  I just want to scream.  

Pat and I have not seen each other for a number of years, but from September 1992 until June 1999 we were together almost every Thursday morning to pray together for our kids and for Manheim Central High School.  Our group was called Moms in Touch, part of a national organization.  Oh, I loved Pat so much.  Our hearts were so united in our love for our kids and our faith in God and the power of prayer.  Here we are in 1994, Pat and I standing in the back, Fran Stauffer, Janet Gish, and Ann Ginder sitting down.  

One day in April I had a strong urge to get in touch with Pat.  I looked for her on Facebook without any luck.  That Saturday, while at the Manheim Christian Day School benefit auction,  I learned from another former Moms in Touch friend that Pat was fighting cancer and treatments were no longer working.  I was sad beyond belief.  I wrote to her, and had a few updates since then, and now she's gone.  I remember that we had heard someone say that a mother's prayers are not confined by the length of her life.  They are still in effect even after she's gone.  We were comforted by that thought back then, and I'm even more comforted by it now.   And tonight I pray for her kids - Brian, Amy, and Maribeth, as I did so many times when they were in high school.  And for her husband Dave.  And for her Mom Polly, who has lost so many loved ones.  Pour out your comfort and healing, Lord!

And the other situation that's weighing heavily on my heart tonight.  Jay and Elta.  Jay and Dick grew up together as neighbor boys and buddies.  Elta and I went to Sunday School together as toddlers.  We couples started our families out together, we went to church together for fourteen years,  later I was the music teacher for their two youngest children for ten years.  All that to say - our lives have always been intertwined.  A few years ago Jay was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Surgeries and treatments were very successful.  This spring, again when we were at the Manheim Christian Day School benefit auction, Jay told Dick that he was going to be having an MRI the following week.   Later we heard that the cancer had grown.  This morning's email from Elta said that a second MRI has shown even more growth in spite of treatments that he's had since April.  He just sleeps most of the time and they are coming to terms with the fact that their time here on earth with him is limited.  My heart is just crying for this dear, precious family - Jay and Elta on the left, son Jordan and daughter Alyssa in the middle, son Kirby and his wife Joanna on the right.  Please pray for them as they come to your minds.