James says, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” The Psalmist proclaims, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book.”
Walking through this valley of the shadow of death with my mom has been difficult, emotional, and tiring. In my last post I spoke of how God’s word ministered to me during my mom’s possible stroke scare. She spent a week in the hospital and all tests came back without identifying a specific cause for her symptoms. The MRI did show degenerative changes and they have just diagnosed her with encephalopathy. This is the 3rd such attack of this nature she has had in the past year, but the difference being that she has not bounced back. From the hospital she went to rehab, but she only stayed four days as she demanded to come home.
She has been home since Tuesday, still confused and cannot remember conversations that we had only hours earlier. Other times she is sharp, she remembers and says things that surprise me, like answer questions on Jeopardy.
Yesterday morning we sat outside on the deck and the LORD allowed me to share scripture with my mom. We watched the birds and squirrels on the telephone wires when my mom commented that animals are amazing. The Holy Spirit led me to say, “Something else that is amazing is how the Jesus says the not even a single sparrow falls to the ground without the Him knowing about it.” Then we read the passage from Matthew 10; she also commented about why are there weeds? This led to a reading and a discussion of Jesus’ parable of the weeds in Matthew 13.
Today has not been a good day; my mom has struggled with gall bladder attacks that have lasted about 12 hours. After she had recovered from the last attach, she asked why do we have to get old and our bodies fail us this way. Again, I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to say that perhaps that carrying the weight of our failing bodies is like wearing a heavy winter coat when Spring is approaching; that we are more willing to shed the heavy coat of our physical failing bodies in this life to embrace the perfect glorified bodies in the next. Yes, this life is a mist, but I am confident that my mom knows the One who ordained her days and has written them in His book.
The Wallace Adventure! 