Ministering Spirit

Beth has Crohns disease. Crohns is an auto-immune disease that can ravage the gastrointestinal system. For Beth it is "about to throw up" nausea and abdominal pain 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Everything she eats makes her sick. Her system doesn't absorb well, so she is often anemic, or low on potassium, or low or out of any number of nutrients we need to have in our systems. For 15 years doctors could not diagnose her. Then, my daughter started bleeding and when they diagnosed her with ulcerative colitis, the light went off and they decided to test Beth one more time and found Crohns. A short time later, her terminal ileum scarred shut and had to be removed. She has been hospitalized 51 times from 24 hours to 2 months since 95, and has had 15 surgeries including the removal of approximately 13 feet of her intestine over the course of several surgeries, a hip replacement and three "re-do" surgeries when whatever they tried didn't do what they thought it would.
Beth has been hospitalized during birthdays, first time to drive, anniversaries, Thanksgivings, Christmas, new years, Easter, every other holiday of distinction, and countless after school events. She was hospitalized 5 times in the '08, and in the hospital 56 days in one stretch that year. Over the last two years infections have been the problems that have caused most of the hospitalizations. This stay, she went in with an infection, got it cleared up and has suffered three more while in the hospital. Beth will actually come out weaker then when she went in, because after a period of time your condition actually deteriorates, hence the subsequent infections while in isolation.
Only one thing has remained constant, and that was no matter how sick Beth was, and there were times she has been near death, no matter how bad it was, everyone who came in contact with her was just knocked over by her tremendous spirit. Our Father has blessed Beth with a ministering spirit that is truly something to behold.
There has been times where nurses and doctors have been a bit disbelieving in how sick Beth is because of her ebullience, her smile belying her condition. It is hard to understand what she goes through when you are talking to her because its always so easy to be with her, it is hard to understand how bad she feels when there is that smile.
We have been married for 35 years and it has never ceased to amaze me how disarming Beth can be. She has never met a stranger, never known anybody for more then a moment, it seems, before they are smiling with her, and then wrapped in that loving hug. I can't tell you the number of times nurses come to Beth to pray with her, to have Beth pray for them, it is truly God at work. Although her disease has brought much suffering into our family, God has blessed us richly through it. It has brought us closer together as a family. It has brought us closer to God as we watch Him pour tangible blessings on us. The people we have met, the lives Beth has touched have brought us to a place where every day there are real affirmations of our Loving Father. His mercy and grace shine through Beth and I thank God every time I think of her.