From my aunt and uncleFrom GretchenCarrie had some tests done last week, and they came back good. She is being treated for conjunctivitis in her right eye.
Her mom made some Smoothies for Carrie to have through her stomach feeding tube. She is tolerating the real people food very well.
A while ago Carrie's parents asked those who were willing to send prayer cloths so her mom could sew them into one cloth to lay over Carrie, in the manner of Acts 19:11, 12 "Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them." Her parents have felt they are to focus on making their home a place where the Holy Spirit is most welcome.
I sent a cloth and some anointing oil from the local International Association of Healing Rooms that is near me. The idea kept working and working within my mind, so that I wrote and sent the following Email to Carrie's mother on Friday, May 11.
Hi M,The other night when I was thinking of the prayer cloth you are putting together, the thought of Joseph's coat of many colors (Genesis 37) came to me strongly. ... here are some of my thoughts so far.
There were many plots afoot concerning Joseph, different ideas among his brothers as to how to deal with him, but it was God's sovereign will that prevailed. God spared Joseph's life, He lifted him out of more than one horrible pit, and saved more than Israel and Egypt in the process.
22 And Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood [don't kill him], but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him"-- that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.
23 So it came to pass ... that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him.
24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. [I believe the Lord spared Carrie a number of complications in the way her accident occurred.]
25 ... Then there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt [interesting that those who took Joseph up were traveling from Gilead, carrying balm].
26 So Judah [his name meaning "praise") said to his brothers, ...
27 "Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brothers listened.
33 [His father said], ... "Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces."We know, of course, that he wasn't. The "evidence" of the damage to Joseph proved not to be the final verdict about his fate. And similarly I believe it will be the same with Carrie, that the doctors' careful diagnoses will prove not to be the ultimate result of God's working in Carrie's life.
Reading this verse, "23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him," what comes to my mind is a returning to Carrie of the Father's coat of many colors, a restoration of that which was lost to the beloved child through a wrenching act of great harm. In this case, it is her brothers and sisters in Christ who are acting, not to remove, but to restore the varicolored "coat," demonstrating the love of the members of Christ's body for their sister.
May God use this covering mightily to build faith in all who come near Carrie, and also use it to bless her. I pray the presence of God's glory and holiness and healing become so strong upon that cloth, being renewed each morning as the dew is upon the grass, that Carrie feels her soul being pulled upward in yearning to commune with God. I pray she feels the love and healing power, amplified to her, that was sent out with each portion of cloth, and in time, feels the weight of God's glory resting so heavily on that cloth, cloak, "coat", that she simply is not able to remain unresponsive to His presence and glory and will sit up and rise up and take up her life again. I invite the Spirit of the Living God to hover over that covering and over Carrie, brooding over her as He did when He brought order out of a formless, chaotic void.
Genesis 1: 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters [we are more than 90 percent water!]. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
I call Carrie out of the darkness of her current situation and into the light of the Lamb's face, in Jesus' Name, and into the light of full consciousness and alertness, nothing being left behind of her understanding. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Amen!
Love,
GretchenCarrie's mom sent this reply today.
I really like the analogy of Joseph's coat of many colors. That is wonderful. I am going to write to people that sent a prayer cloth and include a photo of it, and would like to include what you wrote as well. Very cool!I finished the covering (it turned into a quilt!) on Friday, which is the day you wrote [which is amazing, because I had been sick all that week, and suddenly on Friday my thoughts cleared and my body was strong enough for me to sit and write down my thoughts]. I was happy with how it turned out.
I just read your letter again-it is awesome! I copied it and put it in her room. Thank you so much, Gretchen!
With much love,
M