Tag Archives: prayer

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We are fond of saying that we are in relationship with those who follow, pray, and support us, so it is our responsibility to let you know what is going on in our lives. 

Cindy’s father, Roy Shimp, died last month, August 24th. He was in Hospice care at home, surrounded by his family and holding his wife’s hand. Several weeks before, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, an answer to thirty years of prayer. 

Cindy spends her days divided between her job and caring for her mother. Her two brothers help as much as they can, but hers is the part-time job, and she is the one that drops everything to go when no one can. She is pretty burnt out as well as grieved, exhausted, and afraid her mother might not recognize her the next time she comes through the door. She and her brothers are trying to get her placed in a memory care center.

When I returned from Uganda and spent a little time in Jacksonville with Cindy, I traveled to Memphis to celebrate my father’s 80th birthday. As I was starting out to return to Florida, I received notice that my mother was having heart attack symptoms, so I turned around and got her to the hospital. She is beginning her third week there, trying to survive heart failure, the five surgeries it has taken to get her pacemaker right, blood clots, and bleeding from blood thinners.

Meanwhile, my Dad, who is completely visually impaired, is beginning to learn how to get along without his wife catering to his every need. My two sisters and the neighbors in his retirement home are helping to get him back and forth to dinners and he is learning to cross his apartment alone. 

While the world around me is spinning, my own situation has stalled. Medical clearance for my shoulder surgery was delayed for a sinus infection. I have spent way too much time lying at home, and then waiting for the next appointment scheduler to call. I had hoped to complete six weeks of immobilization before our first grand baby is due to arrive in late October, but those hopes appear dashed. 

As I write this, Cindy, who finally had a day of rest, had it interrupted for a sudden change in her mother’s mental status. She is at the hospital with her now. Tomorrow would have started her three-day shift of mother-sitting anyway, but she just cannot seem to catch a break. 

While you pray for us, keep these things in mind. If you, like me, aren’t sure how to pray, please do it like Jesus did:

“Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

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The Lemmons have a lot going on this month! I am still working on partnership development between many household projects. If you have not received a call from me, please let me know. I'd love to get together with you. We are still only 26% funded for our launch, so there is a lot of work to do. I will return to Uganda for another six weeks starting September 23rd, so there is a lot to finish before I go. That makes for some serious time crunching. 

Cindy’s parents are aging and in need of assistance, so she has decided to remain in the U.S. to be near them, at least for the time being. She still plans to join me in Uganda for short spells as circumstances allow, and to join me full-time in the future. Until then, she remains my administrative genius here in the States, while I will be the boots-on-the-ground overseas, at least for now.

The housing market being what it is, we decided to downsize and sell our big house. Since Cindy will be staying stateside, we put in an offer on a small condominium across the street from our home church, and our offer was accepted. Closing on the condo should take place around the second week of September. As we do some minor repairs on the big house and prepare it for market, we expect to sell right about the time I will be settling in Uganda, leaving Cindy, my administrative whiz, to handle the sale all by herself.

We have begun the process of officially organizing as TLC Uganda, Inc. with the intent of filing for tax-exempt status as a 501(c)3. So far, the only update I have received about that is that our name is approved. I look forward to introducing our board members on a separate page, but for the time being, allow me to recognize them (in alphabetical order): Melody Bruno, Nancy Cardoza, Dennis Cooke, April Tapp, and Melissa Workman. We are thrilled to have them on our team, and can’t wait to get started. 

In the meantime, Cindy and I are re-tiling floors, spackling and painting walls, updating bathroom fixtures, and getting rid of a lifetime of household tchotchke. If we could tip the house on its end and dump out all our belongings it might save some time, but we are stuck doing it the same way millions have done before, with tedious sorting, boxing, and selling. Matthew 19:21 has never meant so much to us: “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”

We are working on it. Pray we will accomplish all that has been set before us, without serious injury, and with what sanity we have intact. Thank you!

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Since I last wrote, I’ve been juggling work, school, family, and church. Working in the Emergency Department, a new and hectic environment with every encounter a potentially life-altering one, I am understandably stressed. Add to that a full-time online college career and every other facet of my life has had to make sacrifices. Just a couple weeks ago, I was feeling so overwhelmed I was sure something would have to give. Then just as I began to feel crushed under the burden, God began to lift much of the worry right off me. He showed me I was on secure footing at school, and repeatedly shows me how He is using me in people’s lives at work. I may not be the most confident Emergency Department Nurse yet, but I am useful, and most days that gets affirmed at just the right time. 

Cindy is between jobs at the moment. Resigning her former position may have relieved her of one of her major stressors but it added one for being unoccupied. You might well imagine that an out-of-work workaholic is an unhappy person. Please pray that God will open a door of opportunity for her to again find purposeful structure. It wouldn’t hurt if that opportunity came with a paycheck.

My parents have decided that, since Cindy and I are planning to leave the continent to serve long-term in Africa, they might as well leave town and seek residence near my sisters. So they are moving to Memphis next week. I have tried to pitch in and help in preparations for their move where I can, but the opportunities to help between night shift work and college deadlines have been scarce and brief. Cindy has made herself available like a champ, and my siblings have all responded like heroes. My emotions are mixed about this move, but mostly I feel like the cause of the problem rather than a source of help. Add guilt and loss onto the pile I was carrying. 

Our church family is preparing for a missions expo that will launch the week of my birthday, September 14th. We are looking forward to being a part of that, and will have an information table as part of this “Go Expo”. Thanks to our Missions Pastor Lance Sellon, CrossRoad Church, and the CRC missions team, for their willingness to allow us to participate. 

So, as you can see, prayers are needed and appreciated. We are not just sitting still waiting for Summer 2021 to arrive. It’s coming quickly, and we’re busy preparing. God is crafting me into a competent healing minister, and turning us both into what we will need to be for the tasks and times ahead. Please don’t forget to pray for us. We need you! We need God’s power and peace in our lives. I know Jesus said not to worry, and that each day has enough of its own worries (Matthew 6:34). He was right. And right now our days are filled with what feels like more than our share. 

Your fellow servant,

Todd