Trust the Lord to Work on Your Behalf

At my mother's nursing home I recently saw two couples sitting in the lobby, good and kind people that I've known for years. The wives have both recently been placed into nursing home care, the husbands visit daily. Both husbands were holding their wives' hands. I know enough of caregiving to understand that kind of love; it is formed of loyalty, duty, compassion, a commitment to stick together through difficult times, the culmination of a lifetime of sharing...and more. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. I am continually blessed to see how the Lord provides for those He loves during the best and worst of times, and all the seasons in between.

God's Role in Alzheimer's

In any crisis, we are safe to assume the Lord will be our compassionate healer, friend, advocate, and guide. We don't need to grapple with things we can't comprehend, such as why a loving God would allow us pain.

I have what I think may be an understanding in the right direction: pain entered the world because of sin; sin does not originate with God, and thus pain is not His idea for us even though in omnipotent power He is able to work all things for our good.  But that's just my "in a mirror but darkly," limited, understanding. The Almighty God doesn't need me to defend Him; He only asks for our love and obedience. 

A popular Christian song has the line "When you can't trace His hand, trust His heart."*  We don't need to understand in order to trust. 

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*Trust His Heart by Babbie Mason 

He is Sovereign, He is God

This is just an acknowledgement on this Sabbath day of the sovereignty of God; He is sovereign over everything that touches us, He is with us through the difficult times, and He always makes us a way through; blessed be His Name! The background of this meme is a painting by my mom, completed a few years prior to her Alzheimer's diagnosis.

Prayer for Difficult Days

Lord, we trust You, please increase our faith. Father, we praise You, thank You for Your love. Holy Spirit, we are grateful for Your abiding presence with us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hope for the Future

As my mother's only child, my life has been profoundly impacted by the turmoil and stresses of her Alzheimer's disease. 

A promise I received and have clung to regarding my mother's illness was given through an attorney who helped us find our way through our initial, panic-tinged decisions on Mom's behalf. This kind woman looked me in the eye and said, "Linda, there will be life for you after your mother's Alzheimer's disease."  

I received these words as truth, but during these later stages of my mother's disease I'm increasingly aware that if I'm to survive this 15-year-and-counting journey with enough strength to face a future of promised renewal, then I have some forgiving and releasing to do.  

Our Lord speaks of new wine for new wineskins, but also states that the old wine tastes sweeter (see Luke 5:36-39).  If the old wine is the memory of God's goodness to us in the past, our challenge is to find and focus upon the sweetness that has been provided us even in the midst of our trials. Apart from this change of focus from all the ways we've suffered to all the ways we've been blessed, we find ourselves unable to fit any new status quo into the old perspective of belief that we have been irreparably damaged by life events that have caused us pain.   

If my perspective is tainted by unforgiveness toward my mother or, worse, toward the Lord for the trials He has allowed, every memory of these past 15 years will be tinged with bitterness. The new wineskin is a willingness to release the past into God's hands and to receive the hope of blessings to come.

The strong memory of the sweetness of the Lord's abiding presence through all that we've faced is the old wine that is sweeter even than the new. This is the perspective that will allow us to move forward with gratitude of heart over all the ways God has richly blessed us in the past, and with hope for the future.  

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You tried to harm me, but God made it turn out for the best, so that he could save all these people, as he is now doing (Genesis 50:20 CEV).  

The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything (Deuteronomy 2:7 NIV).  

Favorite Matthew Henry Quote

"The Lord shall prevent the evil thou fearest, and sanctify, remove, or lighten the evil thou feelest. He will preserve thy soul, that it be not defiled by sin, and disturbed by affliction; he will preserve it from perishing eternally. He will keep thee in life and death; going out to thy labor in the morning of thy days, and coming home to thy rest when the evening of old age calls thee in, It is a protection for life." Matthew Henry