There’s not much that is harder to do than watch someone you love hurt. The connection to our children seems to me to be a mysterious and hard-to-explain phenomenon. I swear, I feel all the things for them no matter how old they get — good and bad.

I remember days of absolute dread as my children would wake not feeling well. The decisions that followed: how to treat, who to consult. The wondering of what the ramifications would be — these things kept me awake at night. The emergencies we encountered and the thought of them being in such need of care — it’s just the worst, isn’t it? When loving parents cannot fix, a heart is troubled to the very core.

I have a friend from school. She and I were close and then not so close because we kissed each other’s boyfriends and such. :o) We didn’t talk for some decades and then social media succeeded in connecting us just barely — enough to glimpse in to each other’s worlds. I honestly don’t know all the details of her life in those years in the middle, but that matters not. What I have seen lately is a mother, wracked in daily emotional pain and responsibility beyond my understanding, care for her daughter with some of the most and beautiful grace I’ve ever seen.

Her stunning daughter has more diagnoses than I can count. In fact, when they are all listed, it sounds like a foreign language. They have had to keep going to Mayo for treatment — even through the pandemic drama. They always smile when facing outward, but I cannot imagine what each day must be like and how the worry and care affects all involved. This beautiful family should be marrying their daughter to her fiancé and celebrating life’s joys and instead, they just caught another emergency flight to Arizona to fight, once again, for Shayna’s life. Surgeries to be able to get bit of nourishment, pain, medications, traveling expenses — the literal cost must be extraordinary. They don’t ask for help, but there are those that have on their behalf.

If I have any platform, I will use it for this. God is so big, and all of you are so aware of that and have the kindest hearts. I’ve seen it in your words to me reflected back on mine about my life and my recipes. Could we link hearts in this and give just a little to ease the pressure from this family? I am including the link HERE to their Go Fund Me page. It looks like the amount is almost met, but I do know this was set up awhile ago and the needs have only grown. Could we overwhelm them with little bits of financial blessing — each doing a little to share a lot? Could you share this post and this need so we could just bless their socks off?

This morning, in a podcast I listened to from Bill Johnson, I was told this: Compassion is the generousness of heart. Through our compassion, we awaken the conscience of people. It has the power to transform lives!

I am moved to be compassionate. To not just take my happiness and be glad I’m not hurting, but to see the hurting and find a way to matter. These are the kind of moments where the rubber does in fact, meet the road. Please link hearts with me and make a difference in the Fessenden/Riddle family today. Thank you for being present to listen.

—->Shayna’s Go Fund Me<—-