Beyond the Rapids
by
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I held his fragile hand – the right hand that remained strong over the last four months. It was now limp. He looked like someone you’d see on a commercial for a humanitarian organization – malnourished with a brittle and frail frame. Only bone and skin remained on his arms and legs, and his face appeared slim. Sitting by his hospital bed, safely at home, I lay my head on his chest, being careful not to touch the needle in his arm where the morphine pumped into his bloodstream. His pale, almost blue body smelled sweet from the fragrance of vanilla body wash from the last bed bath he received from the Hospice nurse. If he could talk, he’d be grumbling about this fragrant smell I allowed them to use. James was a manly man and daily had the scent of the wild. His grandmother, an Avon representative, would send him Wild Country deodorant. Since we rant out, I gave the nurse the only body wash I had on hand. I chuckled. James always loved to make me laugh, and maybe this time I gave him a little laughter, too, even though he couldn’t show it. I missed his silly jokes and untimely remarks that made me giggle, and now thinking about his humor only makes me cry. He hadn’t been able to speak a word in weeks. Sometimes his breathing would stop. I’d count, one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand, and then sigh when he’d inhale once more. The Hospice literature and nurses explained this would happen in the last days – breathing stops for twenty seconds up to two minutes. At least he was home… with his kids, in bed, and with me, his wife.
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About the Book
Jump in the raft with Heather, starting down the rapids of the Ocoee River in Tennessee where she meets James S. Bennett. As she falls in love and moves out West, she faces various trials in marriage and raising a family, culminating with raging currents of caring for James when he becomes tragically ill with stage IV brain cancer. Join Heather and her two children, Jake and Elizabeth (Lizzy), as she explores the heartaches of this intensive season and reflects on the grief that followed his death. As the pages unfold, Heather invites readers to enter the turbulent river to discover the accompanying presence of the suffering Servant, Jesus Christ, who navigated the waters ahead of her. With Jesus as her guide, Heather and her family embark on a journey to Rwanda, where they are transformed as they encounter widows, the fatherless, and the broken who direct them to shalom.
About the Author
Heather J. Bennett, a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, never thought to write a book about her life but rather to live it. Traveling from place to place, from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the Pacific Northwest, she and her husband could be found in the forests paddling rivers, climbing mountains or camping along the trails. But on the heels of her husband’s death, she began writing, reflecting upon the various steppingstones that led her to sit by her husband’s bedside as he fought terminal cancer. What began as a few pages expanded into a book, and as she calls it, her grief journal and a book of remembrance as she reflects on the events that led to that moment. She wants others to know they are not alone and to discover that these seasons of turmoil can lead us to know Jesus Christ more deeply.