The email came late that morning, and I didn’t even see it until after lunch.
It was an email from a nursing home saying they were trying to locate me. My dad had died the day before and they needed me to come to the funeral home that afternoon to help my mom make arrangements.
It was an answered prayer for my sister and I who had always asked God to please let us know if our parents were ever in a situation where they needed us. He is so amazing!
That was 10 months ago. 5 months ago we moved her into our home … a house my husband designed and had built, that we have lived in for 36 years.
It’s been a big adjustment for all of us, but it has also been a great experience.
There’s not one hint at bitterness or resentment from or towards anybody. She is a bit off with just dealing with her own grief and loss, of course, but she’s safe and being taken care of.
Mostly, my sister and I are so relieved, because she was in a very vulnerable situation ... she’s totally deaf, doesn’t drive and she had 9 cats! Our dad had been in a nursing home for over a year, leaving her totally isolated the whole time. When we first came, she would tell us of some people who would come and take her to the store and such, but we never met them and have no clue who they were or what their intentions were. It’s so much better knowing she’s safe with us now.
Mom and my husband are getting along just fine … I don’t know if she’s finally figured out that he’s not a monster, or maybe she just knows she’s kind of at his mercy! Of course, Bill and I do not think like that, but I’m just not sure what goes on in her head.
For the months she’s been here, I’ve felt like I was going to explode with happiness! I always come out of the gate bursting with emotion! Now my emotions are beginning to finally settle down, and I just ponder it all and talk to God about it. It fills me with hope …
In anybody’s life, there are areas and seasons where we do great, and other times where we royally screw up. We look at other people and sometimes the screw ups stand out much more than the great things. And we like to size them up and come to our own conclusions. But we’re not inside their skin and only God knows their heart.
Sometimes we look at ourselves, and see our own screw ups, and size ourselves up … we like to think that the great things we do will somehow compensate for all of the screw ups ... and they won’t, of course.
So He came to earth and made a way for us to get set right. That’s grace, giving us what we don’t deserve and didn’t earn. It’s a sin issue, and He took care of that on the cross. “Sin" and “grace” feel like such vague terms, until you begin considering them in the form of your own specific screw ups …
He gave me such grace … I hid in my room for 20 years until I moved out and got married. Not prime wife material, much less being capable of just basic, everyday maturity. He protected me and grew me up anyway!
Now He’s giving my mom grace … she isolated and shunned people until she had no one at all. Yet He had a place prepared and ready where she can be safe and cared for at a stage in life where she can’t do for herself. And not a safe place with strangers … a safe place with the children she raised!!
He is amazing.
And there’s purpose in it all … He’s not just working things out for us in this life, He’s preparing us for eternity.
The Bible says that the trials and sufferings we go through here, won’t even compare to the good things He has in store for those who love Him. That makes the hard choices worth making … the pain we have in this life is only temporary, and He’ll use it to help get us ready for what’s next.
When you stop being afraid of death and what’s next, that’s when you can really enjoy your life, no matter what you’re going through. He’s got this. And He sets the rules. We’re simply the lucky beneficiaries!
If you don’t know Him, I pray you’ll respond when He comes knocking on your heart’s door.
If you do know Him, never, never let go! Never stop talking to Him! Follow and abide in Him!
And have a Merry Christmas … I pray it will be your best ever!
Thank you and Merry Christmas.