MY VISIT WITH ANNETTE

Blogging would be much easier if I were a writer…..I’m not! I just feel the need
to remind people of that! What can I say about my time spent with Annette?
I feel like I’m in the presence of a living Saint!

I got there at 10am Saturday and she asked my if I  had already had my prayer time. No I
hadn’t so we both took time to be with the Lord. She is experiencing a lot of pain so she asks me to pray with her and she offers up her pain for all kinds of people and their situations. At 3pm we leave so she can sing at the 4pm mass. Though she is still in pain she is still able to sing her solo “Surrender” and she sounds like an angel.

Upon returning to Annette’s we watch a DVD that A Catholic group from Grand Rapids filmed about her the week before. It is so inspiring and though she is physically in pain during the interview she is smiling through the whole thing!

She shares of her complete trust in the Lord’s will and that redemptive suffering
is not wasted. And she kept saying “The Lord’s mercies are new each day.”
We stay up until 12 am and get up at 8am so that she can sing again at the 9am mass.

What is so amazing is that Annette is in a lot of pain the whole time. The morphine
she took does not touch the pain. She only got two hours of sleep that night but she
wanted to go praise and sing for our Lord again……she amazes me I am awe struck!

We watch a movie to distract her from her pain. Her oldest daughter, Mary Grace stops by unexpectedly. What a nice surprise! She then asks me to take her to the adoration chapel so she can spend an hour with the Lord. Do I need to remind you she’s going on two hours of sleep and is in a lot of pain!

After our visit with the Lord I take her to Meijers’ so she can pick up some groceries’ and
I leave Annette around 6:30 pm…………I play some Jim Cowan music during the 80 minute
drive home. I need time to reflect because I have just been in the presence of a living saint!

She texts me the next day thanking me for my visii but feels bad that it wasn’t more
“fun” for me! But she said she was just trying to manage the pain. She then adds that
instead of remembering the pain during our visit she remembers the conversation.
She thanks me for being such a supportive friend!

It has been two days since I have left Annette and I want to cry every time I think of her and the witness she is to our Lord and his faithfulness! She makes me want to be a better
person and I find myself thirsting for the Lord and for holiness such as hers!

Mind you she would be very upset reading all this nice stuff about herself! On my previous visit I told her that she’s the Holiest person I know. She looks me in the eye and says, “what would you say to me if I told you, “Lisa you are the holiest person I know? You’d say long at someone else! She has that correct!”

What an honor and a privilege it is to spend time with Annette! When I get a copy of the DVD that was just produced I am going to make copies and give it to everyone I know! You will then have an idea of what I am talking about! I love you Annette!