His Grace is Sufficient

Hello Everyone. I just wanted to thank everyone again for their continued prayers and support. Thank you for being there for us. Last night could not have gone better- surrounded by our brothers and sisters in Christ. It was such a peaceful time. I have to be honest with everyone, I had alway feared having to watch someone close to me dying, and thought it would be a horrible experience, but last night went very peacefully. All of us knew that Phil was not there, and that he had gone on to be with the Lord. Thank you Phil for taking me through this and teaching me more than I could have every learned in medical school- how to be there for families when they go through this same experience with their loved ones. Now when I have to talk with families about making the decisions we had to make, I can speak from experience and can share with them the hope I have because of Jesus Christ. What an awesome time we had the hours before he passed. Many friends and family gathered and we sung around his bed. The nurses closed our door and we worshipped together. God is really working in the lives of the nurses. I looked out the window while we were singing and Tammy and Kendra were crying. You could tell Dr. Ruiz and Dr. Koje were having a hard time with everything as well. I was able to thank them for all they did, and Dr. Ruiz told us about losing his dad to liver cancer. Then Byron came on for the night shift and he did an amazing job of making Phil look so nice and then called us all back in to see him. Dr. Levy even came by and spoke with us. Justin was able to boldly tell him that we have hope in Christ. As they left for the evening, Kendra and Tammy came out crying and hugged our family bye. Then Robert didn't even know what was happening and he walked over from working in another part of the hospital and came and hugged us. He couldn't understand why all of us were thanking him, because he said they lost. That broke our hearts. Continue to pray for the nurses as we are going to be inviting them to the services and celebration time. I told Bryon that he should come and meet the real Phil Childress. Phil wanted us to donate his organs, but they were unable to use them because of his low oxygen state. However, they approached us about doing an autopsy so that they could learn more about Hepatopulmonary Syndrome. We were honored to and know that Phil would hope they could learn from him. It was so awesome to come out of the room and there were around 50 people waiting there. Thank you for being there.

It was hard coming home. Kristin slept with Beth, and Justin and I stayed at the house too with Grandma. It was crazy how so many memories starting popping up one after another. The temporary, earthly things started popping up. Pray that the eternal will be heavy on our hearts, and the temporary things of this world would not be our focus. We all sleeped so, so. Pray that as memories swarm our minds, we would not be filled with bitterness and anger, but with love, praise, and gratitude to God for allowing us to have the gift and blessing of Phil. Justin is really stuggling with this so please pray that Satan will not rob the joy during this time, but that it would be a time of praise to our Father.

This morning we went to the funeral home. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part was the coffin room. Just as Kristin doesn't like hospitals, I don't like the funeral stuff you have to go through. It seems so weird to place so much emphasis on preserving the flesh, when we know He is really in heaven. We then had to go to the cemetary and pick out plots, and the lady was like a used car salesman. We then went to Kitchen's Deli, a family favorite, and were treated by our friends. This was such a blessing to our family. Phil used to always take Grandma there when she would come to visit. We then went to meet with our friend, Vicki, to talk about the flowers. This was the best meeting all day. This is her gift from God, and we are so excited she is worshiping the Lord as she designs the flowers. She is taking off work on Monday and she is going to rework some of the arrangements and we are going to take flowers to the nurses at the hospital.

We then came home and a few friends came by, and we have started to plan the celebration of Phil's life. Sunday is going to be a great day!

Continue to pray that God would be our stronghold through this time, and that He would be our comfort. Pray especially for Beth- that God would overwhelm her with his presence and comfort during this time. Pray for Justin that God would allow all memories with his dad to stir up affections for the Lord and would not stir up anger and bitterness. Please pray that we would remain in communion with the Lord and sensitive to him speaking to us. Pray for Justin and what God would have for him to share at the celebration. Continue to pray that God's name would be made great through this and that the gospel will go out through this- that people will come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ through this.

Please continue to pray and journal and ask the Lord what he wants you to learn or teach you through this journey or anything He has done during this time. Please bare your soul and be vulnerable and honest. We would love it if you would email this to phil@discovertheoaks.com
We want to compile a book to share just a glimpse of what God is doing and has done through this.