Living With A Complete God

Friday, March 8, 2013

Update:
The last couple of days have been so much better.  The symptoms and side effects of the meds seem to be settling down, lessening in frequency and intensity.  Praise You Lord! 
The evenings, for whatever reason, are still the challenge to get through.  I've observed something that I find interesting in all this...and if you have any thoughts on this, I'd be interested to hear them...

But First a Little Pig-Trail...
I had the distinct privilege of caring for one of the sweetest saints I've ever met.  Mrs. Edna Tucker, our family called her, Grandma-Edna.  She and my mom had become swift friends not to long after my dad went to be with the Lord, Grandma-Edna and mom were quite the pairing!  Mom was super dominating and always in control of whatever and whoever...now don't misinterpret that, she wasn't in any way maniacal, she was a very strong woman.  She loved strong, she played strong, she laughed loud and served Jesus strong and loud and pretty much required that everyone around her fall in step in that regard!

Edna, meek and mild...kind of like the pairing with a kitten and the Queen of the jungle...LOL  Edna would look after mom with the greatest of joy and attentiveness...always on the look-out for her.  In my head I can see the two of them in cartoon form...so picture this with me if you can...here's this fierce Lioness, walking around, head held high, strutting proudly (insert Disney music and a light breeze blowing through her perfectly quaffed mane, insert her turning her head side to side, eyes, half closed enjoying the wind on her face....sorry, squirrel)...so where was I, oh yes, strutting proudly, and this little kitten bouncing from side to side across the top of her back, giggling and chatting..."where's our adventure going to take us today Bernice?...Huh, where...where, aren't you just so excitin' about our adventure, today Bernice?? Well aren't ya??!!"  and there's mom proudly, looking around to see if anyone is looking and when the coast is clear...giggle she does a little jig and replies..."I'm SO excitin' about today...we're going to get into trouble, I can feel it...and won't it be fun!"

If ever I met a Biblical example of the relationship between Jonathan & David, it was the two of them.  They were fiercely loyal to each other, to their family, to their friends.  They watched out for one another, they laughed, cried, played, traveled, prayed and ministered together.  What a team...but once mom went home to heaven, Grandma Edna began to change.

In the beginning the changes were not obvious to those who weren't around her regularly, for those of us who were with her daily, it became very apparent, she had Alzheimer's.  This is where my entry today begins....

My son was engaged to marry one of the most precious young women in our church.  Jessica had grown up at Lindale, her parents then were our Children's Pastors at that time and you just couldn't have hoped or hand picked a more perfect partner for your child than Jessica was to Jon.  By the way, 6 years and 2 beautiful children later, they're still the perfect couple.  Anyway, it was going to be a very exciting and busy year with the wedding being that coming September, and things with Grandma had progressed to the point that she could no longer life alone, it was neither wisdom or safe for her.  So the Lord laid it on my heart that Jon and I were to move from our home and move into hers and be her live-in caregivers.  See she had taken care of mom right to the very last breath of her life (sound familiar, Jonathan & David?) so to care for her, till her last breath was neither an option or a question.  The only difficulty in that change was it would be my last year with my son at home...but the Lord never calls you to do something that He hasn't already made provision for...remember that.  I presented the situation to Jon and he didn't blink but said, we do we move?  We was totally on-board...when God is in something, you'll know it, and we just knew it. 

We made the transition and I'm not going to tell you it was like moving into a beautiful rose garden because it wasn't...many, many times it was like living in a brier patch, looking for signs of life in a new bud of hope, waiting, longing, searching for that beautiful vivid bloom to appear, that bloom that had been there for so long...but the color had been removed from that life.  But God was in it and He made something beautiful out of a situation, a disease, that had no beauty.  We were able to see those glimpses of Christs' personality and implanted love in Grandma's spirit which you can't put a price on, money can't buy and TV can't emulate.  When the outward man perishes, the Spirit of the Living God will still emerge like the champion He is.  When she didn't know who name or where she was...she always knew Jesus...when she couldn't speak, she could sing to Jesus...precious.

Alzheimer patients experience what they call "sun downers"...There is something that literally happens in our atmosphere regarding the earth's pressure and it only happens at sun down...this creates, in an Alzheimer patient...behaviors that are not only disturbing to the patient but also cause great distress on the caregiver.  See there's little to nothing you can do to either lessen the effect or ease the confusion it creates in the patient while  its happening...it'll last several hours and usually occurs each evening without fail.  Some  evenings are easier than others but for the most part, it's a dreaded time of day for all involved.  Sun downing causes the person to become antsy, pace back and forth, some will walk the house rubbing the counter surfaces, some will become very agitated and irritable, some will have fits of rage, some will become so nervous and unsettled, they'll just pace back and for as if they're locked in a cage and can't get out...it's awful! 

With the meds I'm on, I experience a sort of "sun downing" if you will...evening brings on great anxiety, pacing, a feeling as if my skin is just crawling of my bones...my head hurts, and the pain usually escalate around that time..it's a bizarre experience.  Everything is magnified during this time.  Some days I may have more episodes during a 2-3 hour period of time in the evenings than I'd had in the entire day.  ALL the above to tell you....those too are subsiding, lessening in intensity and number when they occur...Oh Thank You Jesus!!!

I love the scripture that says..."...being confident of this very thing, that He (Christ Jesus) who has begun a good work in you (in me) will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6.  Do you know what this tells me???  Check it out... ( or as my little grandson says.."Chech it Out CC!"  It tells me that until I arrive at my final destination, heaven, He, Christ Jesus, will continually be completing that good work that He begun in my life.  That completion is all inclusive!  It includes Everything!  
Every area, every need, every challenge, every situation....name it...
it includes absolutely EVERYTHING!  So this IS the confidence I have in my heart this morning, that in your life too...apply this personally to your life and the lives of your family or whoever you're praying for...EVERYTHING I'm going through at this moment or will go through in the upcoming moments, hours, weeks, days, months, years ahead...my God is already there and when I arrive at those places, He would have already completed that path for my life because He Was Already There!  WOW, what an assurance is that, that we never enter a moment or a nano-second (I love sounding so intelligent...nano-second...LOL) that He Hasn't Already Been!  BAM!

Today...Set Your Sails, knowing wherever this day takes you...Your God has already been, walk confidently, joyfully, hopeful, with great anticipation that you're never alone, He's with you and ahead of you ALWAYS!

P.S.  Grandma Edna received her heavenly reward, Sunday, January 20, 2013...She and mom are reunited and the cartoon picks back up...set the scene...Lioness and kitten, side by side, worshipping their Savior in perfect bliss for all eternity...end scene.