Patience is Virtue

"Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." 2 Peter 43:8

Patience is virtue. I think I have shared this so many times on the blog. Most of you know by now that patience has not always been a strong trait of mine. When I want something, I go after it and get it. When I have something due at work in two weeks, it will be done within two days. I have learned a lot about patience over the years, but the past nine months I have learned how to be more patient. I have learned that good things don't happen overnight, it takes time. I have learned to lean on God and pray about things and do my best to wait on Him. "God moves in His timing, not yours. He is never late, but He is usually not early either. He is often the God of the midnight hour. He sometimes waits until the last second before He gives you what you need. Before He intervenes on your behalf, He has to be sure you are not going to take matters into your own hands and do something out of His perfect timing. You must learn to trust God's timing. But first your self-will and your spirit of independence must be broken so that God is free to work His will in your life and circumstances, if you are waiting for something, set aside your own timetable tonight, Trust God and believe that while you are waiting for your break-through, He is doing a good work in you for His purpose."

Last week I shared with all of you that Justine had another exacerbation of her Multiple Sclerosis. She had infusions December 31, January 1 and 2. On Monday January 3rd, her neurologist also decided to put her on a tapering oral dose of prednisone. This has brought about some sleepless nights for Justine. She did say that the side effects were less than she expected, and we praise God for this. She needed a couple of days this week where she brought Paislee over so she could take a nap. Otherwise, she has been doing well. On the outside, no one would know she has any symptoms. However, Justine still feels the numbness and tingling in her left arm and hand.

On Friday January 7th, I took Justine to see her neurologist in Fargo. He was optimistic, which he always is. He and Justine talked for a long time about medications for her MS. She did infusions in the summer of 2019 and 2020 and we thought this would be a long-term fix. Unfortunately, the neurologist no longer feels this will be the case. He did say that he wants to officially wait for Justine's MRI results. Her MRI is scheduled for February 2nd. This will be a very extensive 3-hour MRI of her head and spine and can only be done in Fargo. Justine asked about Jamestown, but the resolution is not as good and therefore the imaging not as clear and precise as her neurologists wants. After he reviews the results, a decision will be made. It sounds like if she needs to go back on medication, she will be going on Ocrevus. This is another infusion that would be done every six months. Not the answer we wanted to hear, but an answer that was not unexpected. Another lesson in patience and a lesson to lean on God and trust fully in Him.

This makes Mark and I emotional, but Justine, takes it with a grain of salt. She says, "Well I have to do what I have to do to maintain my health. No sense in getting upset about it. Nothing I can do to change it now." As her parents, we want to take the disease away. If we could, we would trade places with her in a heartbeat. We know that isn't possible, but it still crosses our minds. For now, we will continue to pray to God for only He knows what the future holds.

This brings us to Mark and me. How have we been? How has Mark been? Well, Mark is a little over 9 months sober. He works hard every day to maintain his sobriety and I couldn't be prouder of him. He still says he has never had any cravings, which is quite remarkable. He hasn't been actively attending AA meetings, but together we read out of the AA and Al-Anon books every day without fail. We have yet to miss a day. I was doing Al-Anon meetings online via Zoom with Lion Rock (where Mark did his Intensive Outpatient treatment), but they discontinued the meetings. I have a group I can Zoom in Jamestown, but I really liked this group.

Mark and I continue to work hard every single day on our marriage. We know it continues to take work and we put the time into it-a lot of time. We continue to read out of our books as I mentioned above. We also continue to read out of our daily devotional book daily. Mark gave me a book for Christmas with positive messages and we have now incorporated reading that message every day also. We continue to share what we are grateful for every day. We have found that even on days where one of us has had an emotional day, there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for. Every day we pray together-either out loud or silently. It is an important aspect that we needed to incorporate into our marriage and our daily lives.

Mark and I will be doing a couple of things over the next 10 days that we have discussed and decided that all are extremely important to the both of us. We feel these things will only help strengthen our spiritual lives and our marriage. We will be sharing some of this with our family and one we will be doing privately. You may be wondering what these things are, but you will have to wait until my next blog to tell you all about it. Mark and I will be heading to Hawaii on Wednesday, January 12th. My next blog post won't be until after we return. We are excited for this trip alone, just the two of us. We need this alone time, and we know it will help continue to heal and strengthen our marriage. It's going to be different going on vacation (especially a beach vacation) and being completely sober. It's going to be so much better. We are going to try and stay away from social media somewhat while we are gone. However, I will continue to post my positive posts that I try to do. I like to do this because it makes me feel good emotionally.

For now, I will bid all of you faithful readers farewell. I will return in a couple weeks with a new post and tell you all about our latest endeavors. If you would say a couple of prayers, please. First, please pray for Justine. Pray that her symptoms subside and that her upcoming MRI will be lesion free (or at least minimal lesion if one is found). Pray also for Mark and me. Pray that our lives continued to be blessed by God's grace and pray for safe and uneventful travels. Some important events are occurring in our lives over these next 10 days, so pray for us to feel the presence of Jesus during these occasions and always. God bless each one of you.