God is Still Good

I’ve been less than faithful to my blog lately. In recent weeks, I’ve only managed to blog once a week instead of the three I usually post. It’s been crazy busy around our house. And I know everyone is crazy busy, but this time, I had to give in to the pull of life outside my office.

I’m a full time caregiver for my grandmother with dementia. I was up until a week ago anyway. With the dementia progressing, my mother and I were no longer equipped to care for her at home. She had to be moved to a memory care facility. After giving up my full-time job five months ago to help her, I was now unemployed. We’ve spent the last week trying to clean out her house.

This week my father in law had knee replacement surgery. It went well, but he had a mild stroke before being released from the hospital. That was Tuesday night. Thursday morning I got a call from my mom. My grandmother fell and was taken to the ER. My job throughout the day was to keep everyone updated with information. We found out through the different tests they ran she also had a stroke.  

I say all this so when I write my next sentence, you know I do not take the sentiment lightly. I am thankful, and God is most definitely good.

When I left my full-time job five months ago, I had no back up plan for income. Losing my job right before Thanksgiving and Christmas was unexpected. But I did what I felt God was calling me to, and I believed He would provide for me now. I spoke to my old place of employment this week. They don’t need a full-time employee, but they can use me two days a week and as a fill-in. I’ll earn just enough to continue paying my son’s school bills. In addition to that financial burden being taken care of, God saw fit to limit my hours so I can give more time to the business and ministry of writing. It was my secret hope, but I didn’t believe it would happen.

My father in law has been a candidate for a stroke for a long time. His health and activity levels made him a candidate for it a long time ago. A stroke is not a good thing, but God is still good. He was in the hospital when the stroke happened. You can’t get quicker care than that. His stroke didn’t leave him disabled except for some mild issues with speech. We are hopeful that speech therapy will take care of that. Already we are seeing improvement. And he’s been given an early warning to adjust his habits in order to increase his chances of avoiding future health scares.

My grandmother’s stroke is another issue entirely. Without the ability to think clearly on a regular day, it’s hard to assess the actual damage caused by the stroke and subsequent fall. All signs point to a concussion or further strokes and stroke damage. There is concern that she has swelling that may cause her to have seizures. As of last night, she’d not eaten anything. Because of her age and health, further measures are not being taken. My mother and uncle brought her back to the nursing home with the understanding that she will either get better or get worse without any other course of action. But God is still good.

My grandmother’s fall was immediately noticed and attended to by a caring staff of nurses at the home. My uncle and mother are in agreement on tough decisions that have to be made. Hospice agreed to come in and provide the intensive care she needs while we see which direction things will go. Family members who haven’t seen my grandmother in ages blessed her brief moments of being awake by coming to see her. And I can say in all honesty, if God uses this to bring her into her heavenly home, He is good. She wants nothing more than to be released from the brokenness of her mind and body.

If He chooses to keep her here, the good won’t be as easy to find. Watching her decline isn’t easy for her or us. She’s expressed it many times in moments of clarity. But in the event of that outcome, I trust. I trust there is a reason. I trust good will come from it. I trust the nature and character of God. And I can say, though it hurts, God is still good.     

I think I’m going to leave it at that. Today was supposed to be a review of a book I recently read that goes along with this message, but I’ve taken enough of your time. I’m going to let the message of this one settle before going further. Thanks for taking the time to read this even though it ended up free of both books and writing.