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Inspiring Voices - Jodi Netting

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86 pages

English

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Heaven talks to each one of us and gives us hope. In Hope Heals, author Jodi Netting discovers this through one of the most tumultuous periods of her life, which is told through her letters to her beloved husband. As a thirty-five-year-old mother of three, Jodi Netting faces the fight of her life. Her husband and soul mate, Kevin, has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and his prognosis is not good. While Netting watches her husband battle this devastating illness, defying death daily, her hope flounders, but her faith never waivers.Ultimately she realizes that every experience provides us with an option to open our lives up to God. Faced with the possibility of losing the love of her life, Jodi turns to writing and to her faith. Through her prayers and her journal, Jodi recognizes the words of God and the angels in her life. And these messengers bring her hope. Hope is present in every person, but it can be elusive. Finding hope allows us to move beyond fear and despair in order to survive and eventually cultivate happiness. Hope ultimately brings a new perspective on life and to the people living it with yousons, daughter, friends, and neighbors.In Hope Heals, Jodi Netting advises all of us to Keep the faith, find the love in your life, and hold onto hopefor hope heals.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Inspiring Voices
Date de parution	11 juillet 2014
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781462409938
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0240€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Hope Heals
from Heaven to Earth

JODI NETTING

Copyright © 2014 Jodi Netting.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inspiring Voices
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.inspiringvoices.com
1 (866) 697-5313

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0992-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0993-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014910610

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 07/11/2014

Contents
Chapter One Hope Happens
Chapter Two Holding onto Hope
Chapter Three Hope Heals

To those who carry me on their wings when I am momentarily too tired to fly: Jesus, the angels, and my soul mate,
Kevin Bancroft Netting

I am an ordinary woman. I am a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend, and a teacher who has been soul searching for many years to find the peace in my heart that today I am blessed with. I have recognized the words of both God and the angels through time, only because I have paused long enough to listen to them speak to me. Heaven talks to each one o f us.
Some of us worship no God, some revere Buddha, and some are devoted to Muhammad. Others, like myself, adore Jesus. Talking to my God through prayer, much as I have always reached out for the arms of my angels, I began to hear answers. While friends laughed at what I believed, if there was a chance that Jesus was talking to me, I was not going to turn a deaf ear. Little did I know then that Jesus yearned for me to listen early on so that I would be somewhat prepared to walk the most tumultuous journey of my life. When I was faced with the possibility of losing Kevin, my husband, the father of my children, my soul mate, and the man with whom I had spent almost half of my young life, I pleaded with Jesus and the angels to answer my prayers. They did. Our prayers are invariably answered. However, the answers are not always the ones that we are hoping for or expec ting.
Regardless of faith, many believe in angels. When a blue jay flies by with an inspiring song, your angels are telling you that you will soon be singing again. As the lilac bushes rustle in the backyard, emitting the fragrance that permeates your being, listen to your angels urging you to stop to smell the sweetness of the moment. When the beat of a song makes you want to dance, realize that your angels are dancing along with you.
Angels speak to our senses. They talk to our hearts. Smile for your angels, for they can see you. Share with your angels a moment of sorrow or a snippet of jubilance; angels invariably listen. Your angels can touch you. Recognize their gentle gestures through the warm breeze that evokes a comforting chill. Embrace the gifts of heaven, as heaven is right in our backy ards.
Heaven and Earth are a part of one another. Humans and angels dwell as one. We all share the same sun, keeping us warm from heaven to Earth. Twinkling with the hope of a brighter tomorrow, the stars tap dance for all of us from heaven to Earth. Find comfort in the arms of your angels, for they share their maternal moonlight with those whom they guide and protect. Keep the faith, find the love in your life, and hold onto hope, for hope h eals.

Chapter On e Hope Happens
Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the dark ness.
Henri J. M. Nouwen

April 7, 2002
Dear Mom,
I haven’t written to you in seventeen years. Though we talk every day through prayer, I am writing now because I feel so desperate. Sitting in the hospital, I’ve been watching Kevin become progressively more critical for four days. I want to fast forward past this, regardless of the outcome. Seeing him this way is awful – it’s so scary for me. I cry for the kids wondering whether or not they’ll have their daddy. The time I had without you was so trying, and if Kevin dies, our kids will have had him for ten plus years fewer than I had you. The fact that in eleven years of marriage we have been more blessed and happy than many in a lifetime pleases me and scares me because I think, Will God take Kevin because we’ve had such an incredible life already? I am not saying that God is taking Kevin because of that, but rather we were given a blessed life together knowing it would be a brief journey of b liss.
Mom, I want to cry alone because if I cry with others then things seem so serious – they are serious – I guess crying alone allows me to deny the reality of the current situation. Mom, if you were here to hold me like a little, scared girl, because that is who I am right now, then I would feel comforted. At the same time, I need your heavenly spirit to talk to Jesus and convince Him that Kevin is needed here more than he is needed in heaven. The troops are rallying in prayer and support. Mom, please be your incredible self and gather all of your friends in heaven - fly with us through these seemingly impossible times. I need the support of your angelic wings; I need the peace of Jesus in my heart. I know I will be okay, but I want my husband to be okay, too. I want the father of our beautiful children to live so he can play tag with Jeffrey, Danny, and Carly and to be there for their birthday parties. I ache at the potential emptiness I will have for eternity if God’s plan is different from my dr eams.
Mom, I feel you with me. Please deliver my desperate message. Tell Jesus, as He already knows, that I am forever one of His messengers. No matter what happens, I do and always will believe. The connected souls of Kevin and me will never be severed – not even in death. I love you, Mom. I need you. Please have Beth show me her signs – the blue jay, the chill I feel when I hold her smiling face in the angel frame, her song, “I Hope You Dance.” Please let Kevin and me dance together a gain.
April 9, 2002
Dear Swe etie,
I can’t believe this is happening to us. In sixteen years, any hardships that have come our way, we have conquered together. Today, I face the biggest fight of our lives, and I face it without you holding me and making it all better. I’m helpless, and I know that you would know exactly what I need right now. When I don’t know what I need, you always do. I walked around the perimeter of the hospital trying to pick a peaceful spot, and I saw in the near distance a paternal oak tree that seemed to open his arms to my fragile spirit. I walked toward the open arms to find a seat, and what was directly in front of me? 786 CPL – your red truck, empty. In days past, whenever I heard your truck, my heart beat faster at the thought of seeing you. Perhaps Jesus had nothing else to give me right now to assuage my fears, so He led me to you – your spirit is on the sixth floor fighting for life, but maybe Jesus is taking you for a walk to let you rest. Maybe He led me here because you are here, sitting next to me with your large, beautiful hands resting on my lonely legs. The sun is shining its warmth upon me, and my soul is longing for any momentary peace right now. I have to believe that you are helping me. Jen and Billy just pulled in next to you. Jesus is here, providing me with love and support. You have the machines; I have the hearts and bodies of all who love us as sister, brother, father, mother, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, and fr iend.
Where do I begin? Last Monday we journeyed to Yale to learn about your bone-marrow transplant. Do you remember the night in the kitchen when we cried about the possibility of losing you during the procedure? I felt optimistic and at peace; you felt overwhelmed. I told you to simply read the Serenity Prayer six times a day, and we’d make it through. Although the doctors said you could die within forty-eight hours of catching an infection, we held hands across the kitchen table and laughed about it. Die? How absurd. Now we are there, Honey. You are said to be as critical as one can be. On Saturday they moved you to ICU.
Do you remember last week? It was such a great week. Only you and I, two people madly in love, could have a great week that began with a trip to Yale and led to St. Vincent’s emergency room. But we did. Do you remember walking hand-in-hand down Wooster Street in New Haven? The streets were empty. Just the sparrows and us. We talked about how we felt like we were in another world – almost like we were walking together in heaven, thinking we were still on Earth. We ate lunch together. Spending time with you, no matter what the circumstances, is always wonderful. You took the kids to the mall after school, being their constant playmate as you have been from the start, and that night you grew ill. Even coming home to you sick in bed was incredible. I kissed you and stroked your hair, and you seemed to feel better – we do that for each o ther.
The emergency room, chest pains, blood in your urine – God, I was so scared. But I wanted to be strong for you – longing to take your excruciating pain away. Things moved frighteningly quickly. I figured when they said they were admitting you, you’d be i