Fragile

A couple of years ago, just as summer was ending and school was beginning, I got a phone call from a dear friend informing me that another dear friend was fighting for his life after a terrible, terrible accident. The minutes and hours were critical, but during that time and the days and weeks that followed, literally hundreds of people were praying for my friend. He made a complete and full recovery and is living proof of the power of prayer.

Yesterday was an eerily similar, gut-wrenching day.

Right after Abbey left for school, I got an urgent email message from my friend, Janna, informing me that our sweet friend, Joanne, aka The Simple Wife, was fighting for her life as well. Joanne had a stroke yesterday morning while running on her treadmill. Upon arrival at the hospital, doctors found a blood clot in her brain and she had immediate surgery to dissolve it. She spent the night in ICU but is about to have more surgery to remove part of her skull to alleviate the swelling on her brain. You can read her husband's latest update here.

If you're the praying type, please pray for my sweet friend.

Please pray for her husband.

Please pray for her daughters. My heart is particularly heavy for them. Audrey and Emma are almost the same ages as Sarah and Abbey. Her youngest, Emma, is the one who found her mom unresponsive yesterday morning. She and Audrey had to be very brave and handle some very grown up matters and witness some very intense scenes yesterday. It simply breaks my heart.

Life is so very fragile.


And prayer is so very powerful.

Joanne's family has been reading the prayers and well-wishes that people are posting on her blog and on her Facebook page out loud to her, so post away if you'd like her to add yours. You can also help "wallpaper her room" with scripture.