\u201cAnd dear Lord, help Mr. John and Ms Patty not be sad<\/b> cause you took Ms Joy to live with you.\u201d\u00a0 That prayer began immediately following moms home going.\u00a0 Within a week the prayer morphed, with no assistance, to; \u201cAnd dear Lord, help Mr John and Ms Patty not be mad<\/b> cause you took Ms Joy to live with you.\u201d From the mouths of babes\u2026<\/p>\n
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Whitley just turned 4 years old and quickly became one of moms favorites.\u00a0 Mom served on the pulpit search committee that brought the new pastor to First Baptist in Yazoo City in March.\u00a0 Whitley is the youngest of 2 sweet little girls.\u00a0 Whitley visited mom on more than a couple of occasions and always brightened her day.<\/p>\n
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I\u2019ve thought of that often as the days have passed.\u00a0 While I am aware that \u201cmad\u201d, or anger, is one of the emotions in the grieving process I can honestly say I\u2019ve not experienced that much at all.\u00a0 Sadness? Well, yes, but one thing I can say\u2026No regrets.<\/p>\n
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Too often in our lives we find ourselves regretting something in our past.\u00a0 As a part of the maturing process we look back and wish we had done something different or not at all.\u00a0 When Patty\u2019s mom was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in 2010, we knew the road ahead was going to be a rough one. Trying to balance the ministry on the road and ministering to parents was going to be tough but we chose to take those two simple words to heart.\u00a0 No regrets.\u00a0 We wanted to be able to look at ourselves when that road ended and be able to say that we had done all we could do.<\/p>\n
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It was the same with my father in 2012 and now with mom.\u00a0 I told dad I would take care of mom.\u00a0 She was a very independent woman so trying to do for her was a delicate balance for sure but once she detected a lump, I was with her through the entire process.\u00a0 Balancing this with the road ministry again proved difficult at times but God was so faithful and I was determined to live with no regrets.<\/p>\n
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Have the events leading up to her 1st<\/sup> stroke run through my mind often?\u00a0 Yes indeed.\u00a0 Of course it was the 2nd<\/sup> stroke that eventually took her to her heavenly home and although there is sadness and a void there I know that those feelings are simply selfish for she is rejoicing at the feet of the King of kings and Lord of lords.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And me?\u00a0 I\u2019m here knowing I did everything I could.\u00a0 No regrets!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cAnd dear Lord, help Mr. John and Ms Patty not be sad cause you took Ms Joy to live with you.\u201d\u00a0 That prayer began immediately following moms home going.\u00a0 Within a week the prayer morphed, with no assistance, to; \u201cAnd … Continue reading