Anna Moore

I fall short a lot, but by the end of the day, I really want God to get the glory in whatever He is doing through me, my husband, family and others.

It’s been about one week since I learned my mom and dad have COVID-19. I’ve been praying every time they have crossed my mind – sometimes even within a few minutes of one another. What seems like a never ending virus somehow came with an extra side of pneumonia for them both this week.

I’m not going to lie, it has been hard being five hours away and hearing their weak voices, learning of their symptoms and seeing heartbreaking photos that show their fatigue. COVID is really wearing on them. They aren’t the healthiest people, and mom has had her own battles with her immune system in the past — not to mention, she is dependent on my dad for a lot of things after she had a stroke and lost some mobility. In other words, they weren’t exactly eager to go to the hospital this weekend, but I believe they knew they wouldn’t get much better without seeking help. My sisters helped encourage them to go, and they went. Thankfully, they didn’t have a long stay — just a few hours — and they didn’t even have to split up. Unfortunately with COVID-19, there are only a limited amount of things healthcare providers can do because it’s still such a new virus. There is no cure. There is no COVID-19 treatment medicine. It’s just a matter of treating the symptoms. You throw up? Here’s some Zophran. You have trouble breathing? Let’s give you some oxygen or maybe do a chest x-ray or even CT scan. This is how they found pneumonia for my dad. So they offered some meds for that so once the infection was gone, their bodies can finally begin to fight off this virus.

This is pretty much where we are now. Other than the medicine prescribed by the providers and my sister (who is a nurse practitioner), there isn’t much else they can do besides just wait it out, pray, and let the medicine do its thing. But they can also nourish their bodies. God has provided us with foods to nourish and strengthen our bodies so they can fight off things like illnesses and viruses. Of course, with age comes weaker immunities, but we can still do our part.

My sisters and I have been having a hard time figuring out what we can do to help them. We can’t be around them because we would likely get the virus and then bring it back to our homes and spread it. Mom and dad don’t feel good, don’t have much energy to get up and cook or do much of anything, so they need help. When I’m sick, I don’t feel like doing anything, and that’s just with what is probably a mild sickness compared to this crazy virus.

But this is my mom and dad, so I couldn’t just let them sit around and hope for the best when I know my sisters and I are healthy and capable of helping them. I’m grateful for technology that allows us to communicate with each other instantly, though we are hundreds of miles from each other.

After determining me coming home wasn’t a good option and concluding that the two who are closest to them need to spend short amounts of time around them, we decided one would run to the grocery store and get some food that is ready to eat or microwavable and stock their fridge/pantry. She got some food and a card and put a message from each of us in there and ran it to them, leaving it in a large tote outside their door and informing them it was there. Tomorrow will be the other sister’s turn, and she’s planning on cooking a meal for them for dinner.

Teamwork.

While I’m not going to disclose everything here, there have been months of praying about my family and different people/situations. Lately I’ve been seeing some fruit come from those prayers. Today was no exception. I might be hours away from my family — and I have been reminded of that SO many times from the enemy — but I have a front-row seat to how God is moving. Prayers are being answered.

No matter what happens, COVID-19 will not have the last say. He gets the glory.