The Power Of Presence by Neil T. Anderson August 1 - 8, 2016


The Power Of Presence by Neil T. Anderson is a true love story about a husband and wife. It is a book which is very thought provoking. When the author's wife becomes ill with dementia, their whole lives change. All of a sudden he must care for his wife, Joanne, in the smallest of ways from feeding her to helping her rise from a chair to combing her hair. What helps Dr. Anderson get through it is the awareness of God's presence.

It's very interesting to read about his ability to find beauty and purpose in silence. He looks at a football game with the volume turned down. He remains silent to listen to her words which are out of order, one thing becomes another thing and her dreams are, well, who can understand a person's dreams? Much worse are the dreams of someone who is to put it gently losing touch with reality gradually.

While reading their story, what touched me the most were the small conversations between the two. The times when she did come back from her imaginary world to his world. In this world, he calls her "babe" and tells her about Heaven.

Then, there is silence again experienced with Joanne. "I hear her groaning for redemption." I go on to read again about a coming away from the daily cares and chores for the body to learn about what this world had to offer him. Dr. Neil T. Anderson shares his trip to Israel. I wish the whole book had been about his travels there. I can only "see through a glass darkly." He is standing in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then, he is at the Jordan River and the Mount of Olives.

I had never heard of the Church of All Nations. The name gives me goose bumps. It is near there on a rock where Jesus prayed the most inspiring prayer asking God to remove the present circumstances from his life. (Luke 22:42). My mind traveled back to Joanne, his wife. How many times had he...? Did he...?"

The book is practical. There are many resources listed in the back. Two or three catch my eyes: Overcoming Depression, with Joanne Anderson, Setting Your Marriage Free by Charles Mylander. This is the type of book which one wants to reread again and again as new changes enter our lives.
kregel.com/christian-living-and-devotionals/the-power-of-presence/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Catherine E. Mckinley had a deep desire to know about Indigo. It became her purpose.

Image
"We watched the woman disappear into the bend of the road. It was unsettling. She seemed possessed, driven by some mimetic force. I was afraid that that force was also a part of me. I was also a worshiper, set wandering in an unfamiliar land."   It seems this week I have been driven to write about my mother. It has happened more than once. Here she is again. Tapping my shoulder a reminder that she loved blue. There is the one and only photo of her where she wears a dress of blue. The photo was taken years and years ago. In the photo are my two nephews, my mother and myself.. The photo was taken in West Philadelphia. She sewed it. A light blue that now I wish to call "Indigo." I have much to learn about Indigo. It is easy to pick up on the author, Catherine E. Mckinley's, fervent love for the color. One day my son asked me my favorite color. I said, "I don't have one." I don't. Perhaps, I choose colors by mood. Today red  and tomorrow green,
Read more

First Chapter First Paragraph

Image
http://www.bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com Closed until June 13     "Michael Hunter stared at the hand-lettered sign on the Gull Motel office, expelled a breath, and raked his fingers through his hair. Not the welcome he'd been expecting after a mind-rumbling thirty-six-hour cross-country drive to the Oregon coast. And where was he supposed to stay for the next three weeks, until the place opened again?"
Read more

Are these the types of lives we are seeing and reading about in the news today?

Image
"The difference between life and death was information:..the greatest danger was not the river, but the desert beyond. There the temperatures were so hellish they melted stones, there was no water, and they could be preyed upon by scorpions, wildcats, and hungry real coyotes...Rattlesnakes, as well as coral, moccasin, and darting indigo snakes, came out to hunt at night, the time when the migrants set off, because the daytime heat was lethal." isabelallende
Read more