Megan's moms' update today....Perfect.

I don't even care what else happens today, this is beautiful. How in the world can Megan's mom write such beautiful words as she is enduring such immense heartache? I wonder often how to have faith like that....faith that God literally is holding you up and holding your loved ones close.
God, I know this story has nothing even slightly to do with me but yet, in your own way...you use it to transform my attitude today about everything. You give me a hope and You renew my faith in humanity and in the good of this world You created just by allowing me to be a part of the story through reading. Thank You, Father.
I hope that you will read the words below and immediatly thank God for a beautiful story and praise Him for the beauty He has created through such tragedy.
Once again, I am humbled.

33 March 18, 2008 at 10:10 AM EDT
Dear Friends,

The weather is as unpredictable as my emotions these days. Beautiful spring days can turn quickly into nights of frightening storms here in Atlanta. We live north of downtown and had no damage from the storms that ripped through the city center. Little did we know while having dinner at our table with friends that a storm was raging just a few miles away. But even sitting at our table, our own personal storm was tugging in our hearts. Friends come together in storms, whether it is sawing tree limbs or sharing a meal. We love our friends.

Megan continues to take little backward steps each day. She rests well and we try to keep her moved and comfortable through the day. It is just a gift to snuggle up beside of her and tell her we love her, knowing that her time is limited. Our doctor from Emory came Friday and spent an hour with us. He can say the hard things in a way that softens the reality. He said he will never have another patient like Megan – one in about 100 billion. One day I hope to be able to explain the disease, but as Jim says, it is so rare and so little is known, there is not much available to explain. He asked if Emory could have her spinal column as well as her brain for research. We said of course. She is a giver– even in her year of illness she has given so much to so many.

There are givers and takers in life and Megan has always been a giver. The other day two letters came for Megan in the mail and both reminded me of Megan, the giver, before illness struck. One was an invitation to celebrate the release of a new cookbook. Megan had joined the Southern Foodways Alliance and was always looking for a new recipe to try – mostly to give to someone else. The other was an invitation to a planning meeting for a volunteer committee that she was on at the High Museum – giving her time to worthy causes. This year she has given us her smiles, laughter, and hugs through this illness, she has given her friends the opportunity to be with her, she has given – or will give – medical research her organs, she has given people she doesn’t even know hope and courage to face the unthinkable in life.

I am grateful for all that she has given, especially her gift of journaling since 1995, writing her thoughts to the Lord, giving Him her devotion and love, memorizing scripture, praying for her family and friends, many whom she did not know. Now I look at her and I think about all the things she loved to give and now cannot. Her activities have been taken. Her ability to write and create are gone. Even her smiles are fading. But she gave her heart to the Lord and it is beating regularly with her love of Christ that will not let her go - ever. Everything in this life is letting her slowly go, but God is holding her and caring for her and giving her a new life that will never end.

So here we are during this Holy Week of Lent, moving to Easter Sunday, and thanking God for what He gave to each of us – the gift of a new life with Him – free to all who will accept it. As Jesus gave his life for us, we can give him our hearts out of gratitude and love. Megan accepted that gift. She knows how much she is loved by our Heavenly Father and it is for that very reason that she has been able to give so freely to us during her life. What a giver! What a gift!

Henri Nouwen offers a prayer from Romans that gives me strength today.
“If you, O God, are for us, who can be against us? Since you did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for the sake of all of us, then can we not expect that with him you will freely give us all his gifts? Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus, you Son, who died – yes, and more, who raised from the dead and is at God’s right hand – and who is adding his plea for us?” Romans 8:31-34

Rejoice this Easter - Christ is Risen!