Greetings from Austin Street

Happy Thursday! All is well at 811.  I finished the first draft of my paper due on Saturday. A wonderful friend and Brite alum has graciously agreed to look at my papers as my extra set of eyes. Bruce has seen each paper that has left this house until now. So I guess it is time for me to step up to the plate and do a more careful job and help my friend’s job be a little easier. Tomorrow I begin the next paper due on Tuesday. Say a prayer for not only me, but my new editor and the learned ones who will read the final offering.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen.”

I am a woman, a wife, a mother, a teacher and an aspiring minister of pastoral care.  If you want to find the thread that runs through all of these titles I am one who is a care giver and rescuer. I have a lot of love to give to those around me and to those with whom I come in contact.  As Bruce’s primary care giver I take care of many of the aspects of our lives that I never did before. I make decisions and fill out lots of paper on his behalf and translate his wishes or needs when called upon. I am a master of “fix it.” I am a champion problem solver and the queen of “we will figure it out.” Just ask my kids, they will tell you. And tonight the first line of my meditation says (in all capital letters) “ENTRUST YOUR LOVED ONES TO ME. They are much safer with Me than in your clinging hands.”  God is telling me that I need to stop feeling responsible to fix the person since that is God’s job and not mine.

As a minister of pastoral care I am taught to be an attentive listener walk beside the one in my care as they come to their own solutions to their situations. I am called to pray for them, trust in the unfailing love of God and God’s wisdom.  As I confessed once in my CPE group “I am not the Savior.”  It is God who works the changes in all our lives and the changes will be beyond anything we might ask or imagine. Maybe even God will change me into a more confident academic writer who is not so intimidated. I am just as needy as those I serve.  I am not skilled in the craft of rehab to help Bruce retrain his brain. But I am skilled in loving him with all my heart and I can and am walking beside him in encouragement and unfailing love. When I cannot see the hand of God I trust the heart of God. Take joy in the journey and get some sleep. Love you all, Bruce and Gaylene