The ARDS Foundation - Body, Mind, & Spirit

By Pastor Ian

Body, Mind and Spirit

It looked like Saturday morning TV time at the Van Pelt household. Lucy and Linus were sitting in front of the television set when she said to Linus, "Go get me a glass of water." Linus looked surprised.

"Why should I do anything for you?" he said. "You never do anything for me."

"On your seventy-fifth birthday," Lucy promised, "I'll bake you a cake." Linus got up, headed for the kitchen and said, "Life is more pleasant when you have something to look forward to."

When we are supporting a loved one who is in ARDS crisis it is often difficult to believe that there ever will be something to look forward to again. Watching someone struggle to maintain a hold on life, and feeling helpless to intervene on their behalf are all too common feelings of family and friends around the ICU ward.

That little 4 letter word "HOPE" seems to be all that you have at times like these. Hope, that the doctors and nurses do their work well. Hope, that your loved one will be a survivor. Hope, that the worst is past. Hope, that your prayers are being heard. HOPE comes in all shades and sizes, but when it is coupled with prayer then it seems to become all the more real and not quite as distant as the seventy-fifth birthday cake which motivated Linus.

The ARDS Foundation is, among other things, a wonderful prayer network which can swing into action at a moment's notice focussing loving and caring prayer in the direction of your loved one and their support system. Sadly, ARDS is such a serious illness that sometimes sufferers do not survive. I have sometimes been asked..."why did my loved one die when I prayed so hard for them?"

I cannot answer that directly because there is no answer. When something as severe as ARDS happens we react in the best way we know how. We seek the best medical advice; we do our research to see what has helped others. In the process, we find this word "Prayer," and hear how other survivors have placed so much emphasis on it having been instrumental in their recovery. For them, prayer really worked!

When we go in to bat as part of the support system for our loved one we are seeking to bring them back to home plate and many new 'at bats.' Make prayer a part of your strategy to bring them home, and get the crowd behind you as well by letting the ARDS Prayer Team assist.

Remember: The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us!