Jan 19th, 2023: For I Know the Plan I have for You

More and more people have been seeking medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada. From 2016 to 2021, more than 31,000 for medical help to terminate their lives. Many philosophical, theological, psychological, and medical discussions have surfaced concerning these statistics. 

Another statistic also indicates 35% of these folks don't want to be a burden to their families and caregivers. That is something we need to think about further. Caring for elderly parents has become a burden in the Western world. People consider it as part of family relationships and commitment in many other parts of the world,

If we continue to communicate to people who are terminally ill that they are creating stress to our medical, we might just see a faster increase in MAID. MAID is supposed to be voluntary. I am not sure how long it will remain that way. Our loss will be our ability to understand compassion and mercy beyond economic consequences.

Dealing with dying helps me to understand that living is to have a hold of death, and facing death is to embrace the present moment of living. For all of us, they co-exist. I will need the confidence I rest in God's presence in either living or dying. The choice is not about how I die only but how I live also.

Psalm 34: 17-20

"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken."

Jeremiah 29: 11-13

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."