Walking Lois Home: Living Out Our Christian Call to Love the Sick and Dying

Summary

As Christians, we are called to care for those who face the physical and spiritual struggles inherent in a dire diagnosis. Yet we often feel ill-equipped to minister to the sick and dying. Written by a doctor and a pastor who are also professional caregivers, Walking Lois Home tenderly teaches us the steps to the delicate dance of navigating serious illness and supporting those facing the end of their earthly lives with love, attention, grace, and understanding.

Walking through a serious illness can be a frightening and lonely prospect, even when we have people in our lives who care about us. Whether we are the patient or the caregiver, we may experience anger or fear as we hear diagnoses and prognoses, confusion as we consider complex medical decisions and treatment plans, or even despair when we confront the prospect of loss and death.

Drawing from both research-based insights and their real-life experience with Lois Meinhardt, a former professional ballroom dancer whom they brought into their home to care for when she was dying of cancer, Tracy and Michael Balboni describe medical, theological, and practical ways to heed Christ's call to love one another in tangible ways at the end of this life.