In all things, pray…
When I was nine years old, our family was on vacation when I became ill. That was not unusual for me. I was the kid who got the chicken pox in Colorado, experienced some kind of stomach bug in New Orleans, and had a cast on my leg when we went to the beaches in Florida. This experience was different. We were in northern California, having just visited my aunt, uncle and their kids in Oregon, when I began to have serious health issues. Mom and Dad took me to a nearby hospital in a small town to be examined. They learned that I had a ruptured appendix, and a serious infection had set in. According to the doctor, I had maybe 30 minutes to live without surgery.
Over the years, when my dad told this story, he always made sure to include that was the moment he learned to trust God in prayer. There he was, a young father and relatively new Christian, a thousand miles from home, and alone with his wife, young daughter, and very ill son. Dad’s first instinct was to call our pastor back in Oklahoma to ask him to pray, and then he, my mom, and my sister found the little chapel in the hospital and spent the next several hours praying and fearing the worst.
Well, obviously, I survived, but I have grown up hearing my parents retell this story over and over as a mile marker of great importance in their faith journeys.
As I travel the state, meeting with churches and donors, I am often asked “How can we help the Homes?” My first reply is and always will be, “Please pray for us.” So, for this month’s newsletter, I thought I would share with you how you can pray for Baptist Homes & Healthcare Ministries.
- Pray for our 440 residents and their families. The whole process of leaving home, moving to a healthcare campus, and learning to let others provide very personal care is one of the most difficult processes in our lives. Aging is a tough process for both the aging senior and their family. Please pray for them.
- Pray for our 400+ employees, especially those who serve aging seniors in direct care. Their jobs are both physically and emotionally challenging. A quality caregiver will experience loss on a regular basis. They grieve in their own ways as they watch a senior physically and emotionally decline and eventually pass from this world. Please pray for them.
- Pray for God’s favor on us as a ministry. Pray that we will have favor among those looking for a place for their aging loved one. Pray that we will have favor among state and federal bureaucracies who regulate and inspect our campuses. Please pray for those entrusted to regulate and inspect our campuses.
- Pray for God’s protection over our physical campuses. This year has been challenging, as we’ve dealt with a tough winter followed by a spring that has brought multiple tornado warnings to our campuses. So far, the damages we’ve had have been minor. Pray for God’s protection over our campuses.
- Pray that God will raise us up to set the standard for what it looks likes to care for the aging in a Christlike manner.
Thank you in advance for your prayers!
