Becoming a parent was exhilarating but having to take on the roll of “parenting” your “parents” is quite a different story. That is a very new role for me in the Back 9. Thankfully, I have a mentor in my sister and a few friends who have walked this path before me. It is odd, very odd, to have to be firm with your “daddy!” Role reversal is something that is odd….almost foreign to me….when it comes to looking at my parents and somehow putting on the “authority hat!” Realizing that their capabilities and judgement and even reflexes, as they age, are just not what they used to be.
Recently, I had to watch my dad experience some pain with a health problem…not my idea of fun at all. I am sooo very thankful for modern medicine, doctors and nurses who work with patience and diligence to help the sick. I truly am “green” when it comes to knowing exactly what to do. I receive so much comfort from others who are qualified and gifted to help.
One surgeon was helping with my dad recently. While sitting with us at the hospital…his cell phone kept going off. The way he managed helping us with dad, plus answering other calls and multi-tasking was amazing! Truly, I marveled as I watched him for the 30 or so minutes he spent with us. He educated and equipped and even gave us his cell phone number. He shared a personal story about his own dad….and to sum it up…was just the “medicine” that we needed.
I don’t know about you but I look for the miracles in every day. God’s character is the same as it was 2000 years ago. He still performs miracles. We, so many times, just discount them, overlook them, or take them for granted. Just like in the Bible, God works through people to perform miracles too. Gifting someone with intelligence, desire, education and a heart to help others…is all in God’s control and authority.
Since becoming heavily involved in the decisions of my parents failing health, I have witnessed many miracles and answers to prayer….even when the answer was my mother’s death. It wasn’t the answer I was hoping for, which was her healing on earth, but there were such God moments along the way!
An encouragement, if you are in the role of caring for aging parents and becoming parents to your parents, God has plans there as well. He takes you to a new level of patience……and trust in Him for sure. Being healthy for most of my life, but having a child with a chronic illness and parents whose health has been failing, I have seen miracles of God through doctors, nurses, caregivers, medicine and technology.
God still performs miracles today–tiny ones and large ones. We just have to be keenly aware of His mighty “invisible” yet “visible” hand. I compare it to the night vision goggles soldiers use to see in the dark. We have to put on our “miracle goggles!”
Whatever you may be facing today–aging parents, your own health, the health of your kids–I pray that you know God is with you. God is the great Comforter who comforts His people.
Isaiah 49:13, “…For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.”
Isaiah 40:1, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God…”
Praying that you, the reader, start to see God’s miraculous hand in your daily life…He is there…and desires for all of us to have the “night vision” to see!