The Lord has been so gracious to provide 6 hours a day at Care Connexxus for Steve when I can get work done, for home or business, while he's taken care of. Hard to believe I had to call my friend Megan who works there and tell her tomorrow is his last day. We had a nice talk, and tomorrow I'll notify Special Trans that their bus no longer will be stopping here to pick up Steve. The people who minister to me and to other families of disabled folks by caring for our loved ones are a special breed--my love to them all! The joyful way they greet and say goodbye to Steve each day tells me that they love their charges and do the best job they can to keep them safe, happy, clean, fed, and occupied.
While looking in my office at the box of pictures I'm collecting for Steve's room, including a virtual album of our travels, a formal portrait taken on our cruise to Alaska, and a small album of miscellaneous family pictures, I noticed a collage frame that I almost gave away. The director had told me that families are allowed to use a hammer and nails to put up pictures in residents' rooms to lend a familiar feel. In just a few minutes, selecting pictures from the album and off the piano, this frame was filled. Happily, and all credit to the Lord the Holy Spirit, it contains pictures of all of my kids and grand kids, and spouses. There's even a friend and his son, too, on a camping trip to the Grand Canyon that Steve and Sean took in their small private jet. Steve will like it. Now that's the type of detail work I enjoy--fast and free!
Next came some boring stuff. But if it weren't for boring detail work, no advancements in health, safety and even comfort would ever have been made, so with Steve's health, safety and comfort foremost in my mind, I carried on! Do not lose the vision, no matter what!
After washing the spare bed's sheets and comforter, I searched the disorderly linen closet for full sheet sets, because Raincross requires extra sets for incontinence. I only found one sheet torn in half, probably for a paint drop cloth, or to cover seedlings on cold spring nights. Time to go online and see what Kohls had going on. I knew I'd need at least one extra set. Kohls always seem to have sales, and today was no exception. Thanks be to God, I was able to purchase a rust and cream-patterned microfiber full sheet set for 15.00 instead of the original $47.99. Their customer service even held three colors for me to choose from, so my shopping went even faster. And it wouldn't be me if I hadn't left the young lady who helped me an eyeshadow sample adhered to my business card!
Before I knew it, a caregiver arrived and it was time for me to give him instructions for Steve's dinner, change my clothes and head off to do a double facial. The two ladies didn't have the ability to purchase anything, but they thoroughly enjoyed the new skincare line. No money was made, but as I did with the free gift for the cashier at Kohls, I kept this verse in mind, Ecclesiastes 11:1:
Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.
Our Thursday night meeting was full of encouragement, and I received recognition for becoming a new Team Leader. As my Christian director Laurie said to me, in light of the sadness and loneliness I'm facing, "Let Mary Kay be your happy place." She also reminded me of the fact that our unit is a ministry for me, a place where I can mentor so many younger women. That has been my calling in womens' ministry at church for decades. Perhaps God's vision is much bigger.
Just let me get through tomorrow, Lord, then walk each day as You have planned for Steve and me.
I know that God uses little tasks and myriad competing demands on my time to train me, to give me appreciation for the way that each "piece of the puzzle" fits to make the large picture, just as the Apostle Paul describes the way each part of the body, both physically and in the church, make it possible for the whole body to function (I Corinthians 12:14-31). As I write this, members of the Body of Christ from various locations are coming together to help me move Steve, and to mend the sections of fence that somehow toppled over this afternoon. Conversely, the Lord put on my heart to organize meals for a member of our Thursday morning Bible study who has just returned from the hospital. And that's God's plan--sometimes we help, other times we are helped!
Amid all of it, God's vision for His people, and for me in particular, is not at all abated by distractions, tough chores, missteps, or even attacks from the enemy. God's instruction to Habakkuk, in Chapter 2, verses 2-3, which I quote often, comforts me:
Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an
appointed time;
But in the end it will speak, and it
will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
Thank You, Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment