Hospice care: sometimes just the name can cause some people to hang their heads in sadness and lose all hope of relief to come. The diagnosis of the terminal illness was difficult enough, but now knowing your loved one, or even you, are headed to hospice care can prompt many forms of anxiety and despair.
However, within the collection of real-life stories in The Last Blessing, co-authors Michelle Poston and Chaplain Ronald Lewis can say with certain that hospice care is not an aspect of life that is without hope. It is, instead, a place where God's healing blessings can be found within every person and every story.
Poston, a hospice nurse for twelve years, shares her memories of patients she has cared for over the years, recounting the miracles that occurred as well as the heartache she experienced with their passing.
Lewis, a veteran chaplain and bereavement coordinator, shares of spiritually touching experiences, while providing spiritual care.
The stories are filled with endearing moments of love between spouses, family members and even Poston herself being emotionally moved by her patients' lives. Such stories shared by Poston and Lewis include a wife's acceptance of her husband's ultimate death, even after he survived hospice before; a homeless man who moved Poston with his enduring faith in Jesus and awareness of his eternal home; and Lewis being touched by one man's choice to make frequent trips to his family's timeshare with his terminally-ill wife because the ocean view calmed her.
The Last Blessing is to not just clarify to readers what hospice care is all about; it is to encourage those navigating hospice personally, or with a loved one, to see God's presence in their lives during this time of sorrow. It is the last blessing to help people let go of their loved ones to their new, eternal home.
