VISIT WITH ANNETTE

I visited with my dear friend Annette and her family this past weekend.  What can I say?  She is teaching me how to live!  She is in constant pain but she does not let this stop her!  She gets discouraged that her body won't let her do all the things she wants to accomplish.

Thought she is in pain she played her guitar and sang at the 4pm mass on Saturday and the 11am mass on Sunday.  She is amazing!  I video taped several of the songs and will blog some of them. She holds the guitar strap on her very fragile shoulder  where the bone is no longer there. It hurts if someone touches her I don't know how other than the grace of God she managed to have that guitar strap on her shoulder.  She
was in allot of pain but no one would have known.  She sang beautifully and Judy watched her like a hawk.  Judy had been her companion for over a week because her sister, Joyce was at a conference.  She takes such good care of Annette and anticipates her every need (which are many) and does it with such patience!

I did get to participate in the hour of power from 4am to 5:30am.  The Lord  and our Lady touched Judy is such a profound and powerful way.  I really did not get much sleep that night considering I didn't lay down until 1:30 and then Judy came to get me so that I could see Annette in all the pillows that takes a half hour to strategically place so that she can sleep as comfortable as possible due to her  brittle bones.  Then I went to lay down and a half hour later Judy came for me because Annette wanted to thank me.

She said all these wonderful things go me and was so thankful that I had come for the visit.  She thanked me for being so patient!  Patient! Me patient!  I came out of the womb in 28 minutes and I've never slowed  down until more recently.  Thanks to my husband Charlie!  She said: " I want to do this again and again" She is always thinking of others and always affirming them and speaking truth to them if needed.  Obviously she realizes the most important thing is the salvation of people's souls.  She offers up all her pain for individuals and their salvation.  To care about one's soul and to speak the truth to someone in LOVE is the greatest gift we can give another person.   Annette so realizes this!

I slept from 5:30 am until around 8:30 am.  Judy and I then helped Annette get ready for the 11:00 am mass so that she could sing again.  It was beautiful and she is beautiful!  After mass the congregation all clapped and several people came up to speak to her.  One man she doesn't even know told her that she has no idea on how many lives she has touched.  She doesn't get it but knows that it's all God because she
has said Yes to him and continues to say Yes!

We then went back to the house and the kids chipped in to make breakfast for Paul to celebrate Father's day. This was followed by presents and them all playing games at the kitchen table.  Mary Kay and Cathy arrived around 5:30 pm.  I visited for a little while and before I left Annette pulled me aside again to thank me for our friendship and told me how much I have meant to her all these years.  She told me that she knows God is doing something new in me.  She is also telling women the importance of embracing our femininity.....not be afraid of our weakness'.  For this is when God can use us. As St.Paul says in Cor:12:10
"Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong"

I am a changed person every time I leave Annette!  She so simply loves our Lord and has been transformed by Him.  She can do nothing on her own and she says this reminds her of her great need for God.  If she's not thinking of others then she's thinking of our Lord and sharing what he has revealed to her.  A religious sister from  Intercessor of the Lamb told her that they are writing down everything she says because she is revealing things to them they have never heard before.  They are also going to be putting some of her videos up on their web sight because people have seen them on You Tube and called the sisters.

Annette would not like me telling you all of this!  But she is a Sign that points to Christ!  She is a living saint that has laid down her life for Christ.  There is so much more about Annette that convinces me of this, but I'm not at liberty to share those things.  This is a women who has always been faithful to our Lord.  She has embraced and even welcomed her cancer.  She knows that redemptive suffering is powerful!  As St.Paul says in Col:1:24: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking  in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church".

I am privileged and honored that God has brought such a wonderful person into my life and I can call her friend!    It has been her influence that has made me desire to know and love God in a new way.  I have tried to faithfully set aside time each day so that I can hear him speak to me. I have decided to fast from Politics because it so upsets me and then my mind gets cluttered.  God has asked me to return to the heart of life.  Which is people and caring about them and their lives.  We are all broken because of original sin and we need to be Christ to each other. I know Annette has touched so many lives because she is a  person of the heart .  Her life is such a witness because of her Yes to our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord!  Amen! Amen!