I used to do a craft once a week with the residents that live in the senior living center next door to my house. There was a couple living there that I would see each week. They didn’t like doing the crafts but they love to chat so I was able to get to know them. I went in one day and was told that the wife had a stroke and was not expected to make it much longer.
I saw her husband that day. He was devastated.
The worst part was that he has the first stages of dementia and forgets. The nurses and staff had to remind him a few times a day, and it broke his heart all over again. When I heard, I gave him a big hug and told him how sorry I was. His eyes started to well up and I just wanted to cry with him.
They were the sweetest couple. The last time I had been there he was pushing her wheelchair (while in his) back to their room. They were always together and their love for each other was clearly displayed.
My heart broke for him.
Before I started making visits to the home, I was praying that the Lord would put people in my life that I could influence for Him. All my friends and the people I spent time with were all Christians. I felt I didn’t have much opportunity to share the love of Christ with people who didn’t already know Him.
Then, a door opened for me to do crafts with the residents there. Everyone there was so incredibly sweet and they loved visits from my daughter and me. Most of them had dementia, some much worse than others. A lot of them didn’t remember me from week to week. Some only remembered for about 20 – 30 minutes.
I wondered, sometimes, how I could be an influence in the lives of these people when they didn’t remember the conversations and the times I shared with them.
The Lord used this experience to remind me that what matters is I’m there to love these people in these moments when they need it most. I need to trust that He can work beyond whatever barriers I perceive are in the way. Nothing is impossible for Him.
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” – Matthew 19:26
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