I can't go another post without saying this.
When we were a young married couple we were always active in things that were important to us. For us, having God in our lives was the utmost purpose of our being. Of course, we were young and the debth of our relationship was young too. We were "invincible" (or so we thought.) In our church, we taught preschool when our children were babies. We taught second grade Sunday School when our kids were in second grade, we worked with youth when our kids were teenagers and we led adult prayer time after our kids grew up and we actually began to attend adult Bible study.
Now, I promise we were NOT at the church every time the doors were open. We were NOT "holier than thou". We just led a very active and balanced life. Jerry was a work-aholic and I was a mom-aholic. Even so, no matter where we were in life, whether it was good or bad, we both knew that the spirit of God was with us and that we were not alone.
As Jerry's disease has progressed, we've dropped out of those activities. No longer are we married to busy-ness. We moved down to this little beach town, and started all over. Against the advise of our old friends, I still felt in my heart of hearts that we were suppose to be here and that God had prepared this place for us. As I look back over the last three years, I believe this has been a time of restoration in our souls. Alone with God, so to speak. We've met friends who, I believe have been "handpicked" by God. People, who we never knew, but have filled the needs that only God would have known. It's hard to explain.
No way, would we have imagined that we would be in this situation. We were always healthy. Neither one of us had ever experienced any illnesses or had ever been in a hospital (accept for delivering 3 babies.) This was the farthest thing in our minds. BUT, HERE WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF ALZHEIMER WORLD AND THERE'S NO GETTING OUT OF IT! We've had to let go of things that were. We've become the recipients of the time of others, instead of the ones who give of our time. That's been a hard adjustment, being on the recieving end of things and not being able to pay back.
But, it's ok. We've grown because of it and we've learned to accept help and kindness from others. It been said, "not to waste time worrying about things that may never happen" and as my new email friend from Australia says, "worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of it's strength." So, with that, I'll trust God for His provision. No matter where we've been and no matter where we are going on this journey called life, I know He is faithful. We are not alone.