Your Dying Spouse 727 - What We Cannot Ask {Five Minute Friday}

We're supposed to take God's plans on faith, and never ask why.

But we do. We always do.

Even Jesus...Why have You forsaken me?

The answer, of course, though it may be hard to take, is that this world is not our 'reward'; the reward comes later.

This is our test, and there's only one question, to which there's only one answer.

Choose Life.

Choose life, even if you're dying. (And the Five Minute Friday writing prompt this week is...wait for it...life.)

There are times I wonder

why it all went wrong.

What became of summer,

and what became of song?

What of the bright tomorrow,

the bright unfettered sky?

Why did the man of Sorrows

ordain that I must die?

The answer's found at Calvary

three crosses standing tall,

and there is no mystery,

for He explained it all.

How you die is how you live,

and what you gain is what you give.

Music from Mandisa, with He Is With You. God, I need this now. I am so very, very frightened. The tumours are out of control, an beyond repair.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 726 - Book of Job

I think perhaps the Book of Job reflects not only real people, but what exits inside every one of us.

We all feel the call to faith, and to trust God.

And, pressed, we all feel that inner voice, Job's wife, saing 'Curse God and die!"

To which voice will you listen?

No, I will not face the facts,

and no, I will not question why

I am exposed to these attacks;

I will not curse God and die.

Instead I'll praise Him all the more

because His mighty hands sustained

me through all that has gone before,

and will through all that must remain

on this path for which I'm destined

to endure the devil's best

and if indeed I'm being tested,

by God' grace I'll pass the test

of knowing that faith doth suffice

to walk with God in Paradise.

Music from Queen, with We Are The Champions

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 725 - Lost and Found

Sometimes you have to wait for things to come back to you.

I found it, yes, I found it,

that which I'd thought lost,

for the search I did not quit,

nor did I count the cost.

I had not felt it steal away,

just knew that it had gone

when every new and precious day

came without a dawn.

But the harder that I sought my goal

the further it would flee,

'till I stopped to wait, and like a foal

it timidly came back to me.

And I found again my fear's surcease

in God's quiet, holy peace.

Music from Mike and the Mechanics, with All I Need Is A Miracle/

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 724 - More To Life Than Cancer

There is so much more to life than cancer.

Yes, it affects pretty much every moment, waking and sleeping, but one you get past the pain and the fatigue and the runs and the puking and the voice that is now stilled, you find that you're yet in a glorious state of grace, in which there is just so much to still appreciate!

It's tempting to do an organ recital, to garner sympathy - and we all need sympathy, this is no bad thing - but when you look past the hurt and the dread and the Why, God? you can find some pretty powerful reasons for gratitude.

Gratitude to still be alive.

Gratitude to be able to care.

Gratitude to have yet a capacity for wonder and delight.

Ask not of the myriad drugs

that I depend upon;

ask instead of doggy hugs,

and ask me of the dawn.

Don't bring up my failing voice;

more interest abounds

in yon sparrow's nesting choice

and in evening's cricket-sounds,

Please don't ask if my affairs

have been settled yet;

look rather to the upper airs

and the ghost-trail of a midnight jet.

Let us seek a four-leaf clover,

for though it's bad, life is not over.

Music from John Fogerty, with Almost Saturday Night. Note, please, the Border Collie between John's feet, and know who is the boss.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 723 - Maybe It's For The Best

In the end, I was wrong.

Barb didn't need a wannabe samurai, facing death with sword in hand.

She needed someone who could accept hopelessness, and accept the comfort she could give.

I am so sorry.

I really want to stay here,

to love my dogs and honour wife,

but it's becoming all too clear

that I can't sustain my life.

A ring of tumours 'round the throat

conspire to inhibit breath,

and those of lungs get a vote;

they clamour for my death.

Perhaps it is all for the best

that I am compelled to go,

for what she wanted as a love-nest

became the Alamo.

Still, I hope that she looks back with pride

at how I lived, and how I died.

Music from The Fray, with How To Save A Life.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.