Caroline had to write an essay on faith for her religious class. I found the final result to be very moving, and she has given me permission to share it with you.
PAD
My Dad and Faith
By
Caroline David
I have a lot of faith in God and my Dad. But there was a time when I had to rely only on my faith in God. Here is what happened.
I was going to stay with my oldest sister Shana in Jacksonville for a couple of days while my dad, mom and Ariel stayed in Orlando visiting friends. It was suppose to be three days at the most and then we were going home. When my mom did not come on the third day, I thought “OK, she is a little late. Who cares?” I called my mom to see what happened. My mom told me that I could stay there as while longer, but she did not tell me the entire truth of what was going on. I asked about school. My mom said it was okay that I missed some school.
I hung up the phone. It was weird but I played with my sister and my friends Amelia and Jetti. I had a two day sleep over with my friend Jetti. I told her that I was worried about my parents. She told me everything was going to be okay.
After a few days I called my mother and told her to come pick me up. What I did not know is that my life was going to change forever.
Driving back from Jacksonville to Orlando, my mother told me that my father had a stroke and could not move the right side of his body. Then my tears welled up in my eyes. All of the sudden the tears burst forth like the rain of hurricane Sandy. My mother tried to calm me down but she could not. I cried for about an hour and then I remembered I had a giant tootsie roll I had gotten on our trip and had only eaten half of it. I ate half of the half and fell asleep for what seemed a short time but was the rest of the ride back to Orlando.
When my mom and I got to the hospital, we went to dad’s room and went in. I felt so sad to see my dad in the hospital that I started crying again. My dad told me gently to stop crying. My sister Ariel come over and hugged me. I hugged Ariel and sat next to my dad on the hospital bed. I told him to try to move his right hand around my hand but he could not squeeze my hand very much. I was very sad.
My dad told me I needed faith in him that he was going to get better but I told him I didn’t know how to because he was so hurt. He said to have faith in him and do what mom says.
I went to the house where we were staying with friends and their doggies. My mom talked about prayer and faith and I prayed to God and Jesus to make my daddy as he was before the stroke. I knew I had to have faith that my dad would get better. My faith in God helped me and I asked God to protect my dad no matter what.
My dad home now and getting better. He has had to change how he eats a lot and a lot has changed around the house. I still pray to God and try to have faith that everything will be OK.
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