God carpooled with us (repost from FB)

Finally in jammies, enjoying the AC, basking in the accomplishment of my very last quiz & knowing only 3 days of class left! Exactly 8 days til I'm finished with the classroom part of my program. I'm still in shock I signed up for it, yet I'm practically done! The last 10 weeks have flown by! Brad's had a very good evening & has been able to communicate well and even joke around with his Pop. Now he's happily tucked in, my chickadees are at home (2 of them are likely NOT tucked in...GO TO BED!) and I have some solitary time in the dark. The last 8 days have been really tough, reminding me of the first weeks after Brad's stroke. I thought we would be having a 1 year anniversary (Aug.23) "I beat my stroke" party for him--instead we find ourselves in crisis again. I'm so thankful for the amazing support of my family and friends...I know that love and support, and the daily bath in the Body's prayer, is what makes me able to get up for another day of who knows what will hit us. It is *excruciating* to watch Brad struggle...and inspiring. He keeps on being the good-natured, gentle man he's always been, and he tries & tries & tries.... I've never seen anything like it. He accepts so much loss with grace AND hope that it's just temporary. If he could learn to read, write and walk again one time then he can recover what's been newly lost. While we hope and wait, we endure. Brad wants me to say "God is with me, so I am ok and I will be ok. Tell everyone. They need to know!" Today my heart felt broken, and I was so utterly overwhelmed, but then a small kindness from the courthouse clerk gave me strength to get up and face the day. *Never EVER under-estimate the power of a kind word or deed!* Once on our way to Salem God gave me exactly the music/message I needed (that Natalie Grant song Misti sang Sunday was the icing on the cake.) Singing along "Jesus, name above all names, You are high and lifted up...." reminded me that God inhabits the praise of His people. The Lord car-pooled with us to the valley! It's the first time in forever that Brad didn't sleep through the drive. The music reached into his brain, just as it did when he was still unable to speak or understand speech last year, and broke him free of  a bit of the prison he's in. What a day! If the Lord will oblige, I would like to put in a special request that either tomorrow is painfully boring, or Jesus returns.  "We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. Job is an example of a man who endured patiently. From his experience we see how the Lord's plan finally ended in good, for he is full of tenderness and mercy." (James 5:11)