She suffered, as many teens of her generation, addicted to alcohol at 14, lured by the world to drugs/depression and grave eating disorders. This was her cross to bear. Despite her years of good recovery, during my cancer diagnosis years later, she called the night of the surgeries and repeatedly “begged me not to die.” Then replapsed into alcohol to deaden her pain. She was 37 and I was 47. Inconsolable, I reassured her I was in God’s hands and that she was/is too. We would get through! Despair hit me heavily going into surgery without her, my only precious sister, realizing we were both in ‘life-threatening’ situations that only God could address. I felt so lost and alone without her. “Why now”- I bemoaned to myself – a dreaded relapse in her hard-won recovery, “why now, when I need her so?”

Waking from surgery in darkness of the hospital, I was stunned at the unexpected awareness of God’s love surrounding me, filling the room. It was palpable. I was not alone. As I turned my head in the twilight I saw a stranger, a nurse, on her knees whose outline was in the farthest corner of the hospital room – hands clasped praying. That tall, dark Jamaican woman of great faith and authority kneeling in prayer is etched in my memory forever. (My sister had hired a full-time private nurse, to be with me 24/7 despite her relapse into the disease of alcoholism.) This wonderful nurse stayed by my side those first critical hours and fought for me as advocate for pain management – ongoing care; then disappeared. During following days, unknown to me, Catherine arranged and paid for 24 hour private nursing care to help alleviate my suffering from the 14 hour surgeries. They would just quietly appear at my side. She held me up in her heart despite her own battle to regain her life and sobriety with the help of God. And, although I fretted Catherine could not be with me physically, I realize God’s unconditional love and plan through the Holy Spirit was delivered to me through Catherine’s loving kindness, while in her frailty she dealt with her own suffering. This is the mystery of life and God’s inexplicable plan.

Since those days, Catherine has gifted our family with touching life-changing acts of mercy – gifts to each one of us. She stopped her career and stepped up to live with our dad during his last days until he died and later came to live with me when I broke my leg and lost mobility. She attended our brother John through prostate cancer. Recently, Catherine helped me move to Ocala although herself a resident of Louisiana with family obligations. She has been living God’s will for her life in humility – her spiritual growth in Christ a blessing to those around her. She now works in compassionate care for people recovering from addictions and eating disorders with her eye on educational speaking in this field. She is indeed a living ‘Angel of Mercy’. Catherine, as tribute to you, my Christian and family Sister; I salute you with love, admiration and gratitude to God; Happy 24th Anniversary of recovery! Your life is a blessing and Christian example to me and I am sure to those around you.
(Note: personal details shared with permission)

Doris

1 John 4:4  You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.