Afraid of Death?

I joined a book study that my church has put together for young adult. The book we are reading is When God Whispers Your Name by Max Lucado. So far the book is pretty good and it has Bible verses to look up to help answer questions about yourself that you learned during the chapter or just to help you answer some questions. So on Thursday I was at my book study and we were talking about unseen heroes... and how the Holy Spirit is an unseen hero in our daily life, guiding us the way God wants us to live and teaching us what God wants us to learn.

I was telling my group that at times it is hard to work at the Hospice House because not all patients are believers and you can really tell which patients have a spiritual background and which ones don't. Patients that don't have a faith walk or spiritual background struggle and are even afraid to close their eyes at night in fear of never waking up again. I want to reach out to these patients and comfort them but I seem to never have the right words to say. This is when one of the gals from the group told me the Holy Spirit will take me and tell me what to say when the time is right. (I know there is a verse in the Bible that says this but I can't seem to find it at the moment) I left the study group ready for the Holy Spirit to work in me.

Today at work I was bathing a patient who is struggling with death and what comes after death.The patient broke down crying and asked me "Why is God punishing me?" This took me back for a second and my heart just went out to this patient, but then I realized that God was preparing me at my book study for this day! I knelt down by my patient to look up into those tearful eyes and the Holy Spirit filled me. I said "God is not punishing you, He loves you dearly and cares for you so much! When sin entered this world sickness and illness did as well. God loves you but because of the sin in the world we get sick, but God is there and His loving arms are around you." The patient just looked at me wiped away the tears and said they just have to be reminded of that. I asked if I could pray before we left the shower room but they insisted that they would be fine.

This was an incredible day for me and I thank God for the Holy Spirit to be apart of my daily life! I also am so grateful that I have a relationship with God and know exactly where I'm going after I die! God loves me and this patient and I will be praying hard for this patient to begin a relationship with our savior so they will not have to be fearful of death no more.

Friendships

While I was growing up my mother told me that friendships will come and go... I, to this day, have always had difficulty with this saying. I am a person that wants to be your friend, spend time with you, and get to know you. And when our friendship begins to wither away, I want to try and save it. As I have grown up I have had several friendship that have come and go. I look back on past friendships that I have had and think of all the good times and yet at the same time I look at the present and I see how many friendships have lasted since kindergarten! I am very blessed in that aspect that I have four great friends that I have know since kindergarten =)
It still bothers me to see that there are a few friendships that are right now withering away and no matter how hard I try the wind still is blowing them away....
I do know the best friendship is between family! Family will be my best friend for forever.