In 2016, author Dr. James Paauw’s life was irrevocably changed when his wife Liz was involved in a head-on automobile collision. Liz suffered multiple injuries that would result in a seven-month hospital stay and several close brushes with death while she was there.
As a physician, Dr. Paauw had dealt countless times with families who were traumatized because of the injuries or illnesses of their loved ones. Now, cast into the role of a family member of a severely incapacitated patient, Dr. Paauw “quickly learned that his status and skills as a physician meant very little in this situation, and that his main—maybe his only—responsibility in bringing healing to his wife was to do everything possible, for seven months, to make sure she was covered at all times with a blanket of prayer.”
In this memoir, Paauw chronicles not only Liz’s journey to relative healing, but the amazing prayer support that she and her family received: “This is a story of family, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ across the country and beyond who were not willing, when this lady hung between heaven and earth, to let her go, tirelessly praying for her throughout that long journey.”
Dr. Paauw explains the reason he chose the book’s title by relating a story published in 2016 in the Grand Rapids Press about a female Great Horned owl who was cared for in a nature center since she was injured in 1991. Since then—25 years—her mate had hovered nearby, remaining faithful even though they couldn’t be together. Dr. Paauw writes, “This amazing story resonated with me as I came back day after day to my injured wife’s bedside. … For months, as I kissed my wife goodnight each evening, I would mutter the following words: ‘Owls mate for life.’”
Dr. Paauw refuses to cast himself as a hero in Liz’s story. Instead, he is painfully forthright about his own failings as a caregiver, honest about the ways he learned to express his emotions, aware of his growing empathy for people, including his own patients, and, mostly, deeply cognizant of God’s sovereignty, mercy, and provision.
(Credo House Publishers)
About the Author
Sonya VanderVeen Feddema is a freelance writer and a member of Covenant CRC in St. Catharines, Ontario.