This post is so long overdue. I apologize. I want to introduce you to some very special people.
This is my sister-in-law, Alisha. She's married to Mark's brother, Chad. Very, very awesome people. We love being around them. 
Alisha is from Illinois, where she met Chad. Her parents are wonderful Christians who love the Lord and have raised their children to know and love Him. I have met Dan and Ginny a couple times when they've visited Colorado. Really neat people.
A little over a year ago, in between Thanksgiving and Christmas Ginny was in a terrible car accident. She was in a coma for a while, a little over a month I believe. She never had an actual waking up moment but instead became more and more aware of what was going on around her over time. She could not do anything for herself and was completely dependent on the nurses and her family for everything.
Eventually she was able to leave the hospital which on one hand meant good progress but on the other hand meant many more challenges. Challenges like getting around her house since at the time she used a wheel chair. Having someone to care for her during the day - her husband, Dan, eventually had to go back to work. Doing therapy and relearning all the processes we take for granted. A very slow, lengthy, and frustrating process.
Over the past year she has made tremendous progress. She is walking - mostly on her own but still needs assistance. She is talking {although Dan says that it can be hard at times to understand her since she's still learning those important skills}. She is relearning many basic skills and is improving. But there is still a long way to go and the progress seems very slow.
Understandably this has really challenged not only Ginny, but her entire family as well. It's difficult for Dan who has become the primary care-giver, doctor appointment maker and taker, insurance fighter, and full-time supporter of his wife. They have some amazing people in their community who help every week. People who will come and help cook and clean, visit Ginny, and take care of odds and ends that are difficult to get done. I am so amazed and thankful for all the long-term help that they've had. A huge blessing no doubt.
It's hard on Chad and Alisha, who wish they could be closer and help more. And it's hard on Alisha's brother and sister who are doing everything they can to help their dad. It's just been an emotional ride for all of them. They have definitely all been challenged to trust God more and more and I know it's hasn't been easy. For even one day.
When you pray for healing for someone and believe God will heal them and then it doesn't happen how you had prayed, it challenges you. Is God really there? Does He care? Is He listening? I can say yes He is there. Yes He does care. Yes He is listening. Because it's the truth. But when you are in the midst of that it feels totally different. Knowing the truth and then seeing, or not seeing, the evidence challenges even the strongest believer.
It's a deep, difficult, sometimes very lonely process. And I feel for Dan every week when he writes, very honestly, about their progress as well as their frustrations. Their highs and lows. Their joys and their sorrows. And even their questions to God.
I pray for them often and pray for God's strength as they walk this uphill climb. I pray for God's peace as they make many difficult decisions. And I pray for God to reveal Himself to them like He never has before. So that they can have the assurance that God is listening and He cares.
Then I asked Alisha if I could have her permission to blog about this so that some of you who read this and are ones who pray and believe in the healing, awesome power of prayer, could lift them up and pray for encouragement. It seems at this time that the healing process will not be a "microwave" healing but rather a "crock-pot" one as my friend Linn likes to say. It's a painful process both emotionally and physically. I would ask you to pray for God to sustain them and carry them when they are weary. And I think just to know that people who don't even know them are praying for all these things can be a comfort to them.
From time to time I will update you on her progress. Thank you all for reading this and for also lifting them up in prayer.
This is my sister-in-law, Alisha. She's married to Mark's brother, Chad. Very, very awesome people. We love being around them. 
Alisha is from Illinois, where she met Chad. Her parents are wonderful Christians who love the Lord and have raised their children to know and love Him. I have met Dan and Ginny a couple times when they've visited Colorado. Really neat people.A little over a year ago, in between Thanksgiving and Christmas Ginny was in a terrible car accident. She was in a coma for a while, a little over a month I believe. She never had an actual waking up moment but instead became more and more aware of what was going on around her over time. She could not do anything for herself and was completely dependent on the nurses and her family for everything.
Eventually she was able to leave the hospital which on one hand meant good progress but on the other hand meant many more challenges. Challenges like getting around her house since at the time she used a wheel chair. Having someone to care for her during the day - her husband, Dan, eventually had to go back to work. Doing therapy and relearning all the processes we take for granted. A very slow, lengthy, and frustrating process.
Over the past year she has made tremendous progress. She is walking - mostly on her own but still needs assistance. She is talking {although Dan says that it can be hard at times to understand her since she's still learning those important skills}. She is relearning many basic skills and is improving. But there is still a long way to go and the progress seems very slow.
Understandably this has really challenged not only Ginny, but her entire family as well. It's difficult for Dan who has become the primary care-giver, doctor appointment maker and taker, insurance fighter, and full-time supporter of his wife. They have some amazing people in their community who help every week. People who will come and help cook and clean, visit Ginny, and take care of odds and ends that are difficult to get done. I am so amazed and thankful for all the long-term help that they've had. A huge blessing no doubt.
It's hard on Chad and Alisha, who wish they could be closer and help more. And it's hard on Alisha's brother and sister who are doing everything they can to help their dad. It's just been an emotional ride for all of them. They have definitely all been challenged to trust God more and more and I know it's hasn't been easy. For even one day.
When you pray for healing for someone and believe God will heal them and then it doesn't happen how you had prayed, it challenges you. Is God really there? Does He care? Is He listening? I can say yes He is there. Yes He does care. Yes He is listening. Because it's the truth. But when you are in the midst of that it feels totally different. Knowing the truth and then seeing, or not seeing, the evidence challenges even the strongest believer.
It's a deep, difficult, sometimes very lonely process. And I feel for Dan every week when he writes, very honestly, about their progress as well as their frustrations. Their highs and lows. Their joys and their sorrows. And even their questions to God.
I pray for them often and pray for God's strength as they walk this uphill climb. I pray for God's peace as they make many difficult decisions. And I pray for God to reveal Himself to them like He never has before. So that they can have the assurance that God is listening and He cares.
Then I asked Alisha if I could have her permission to blog about this so that some of you who read this and are ones who pray and believe in the healing, awesome power of prayer, could lift them up and pray for encouragement. It seems at this time that the healing process will not be a "microwave" healing but rather a "crock-pot" one as my friend Linn likes to say. It's a painful process both emotionally and physically. I would ask you to pray for God to sustain them and carry them when they are weary. And I think just to know that people who don't even know them are praying for all these things can be a comfort to them.
From time to time I will update you on her progress. Thank you all for reading this and for also lifting them up in prayer.
