Tuesday December 14, 2021
CHRISTMAS IN JULY
Scripture: So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Luke11:9
I am writing this in July, thinking of gifts. About a gift received in answer to a request to God for this gift. The answer was immediate and of course perfect.
A person in our family at the age of 92 has been placed, against his wishes, in an assisted living memory unit. His problems are both physical and mental. All conversations when they occur are filled with anger as you can imagine. After weeks of no phone contact, no information received, we did not know if it was his request or by someone else. We did not even know where he was living, or if he was living. We did not know if he was dead or alive. Over twenty calls to the nurses station at his last known (to us) location by various family members were not returned.
At bedtime I asked God that it not be this way. A lifetime of love ending in separation and isolation; a relationship severed by illness and circumstances and not healed before death. It should not end this way.
Next morning I woke at 5:30, thinking this cannot go on, there must be a solution. I started searching the website of the home where we thought he was, which would not give us any information, looking for someone to contact. At the bottom of one page was a link to family services. On that page at the bottom, I saw the name of a social worker who was not assigned to one problem or another, simply title of Assistant Director. I wrote her an e-mail explaining the situation. She answered the e-mail at eight that same morning, said that she would certainly intervene, and we spoke on the phone with our relative a few hours later. Not a good conversation, but a conversation. She referred me to a social worker in his facility; it turned out it was her first day on the job. She writes to me almost every day now and facilitates phone calls, suggests what we can send for his comfort, talks to the nurses about his needs. Now we are able to send him gifts and talk with him. The relationship of love has been restored. The nurses and aides on the floor are all helping.
God has brought healing to all of us. He has heard our cries for help and softened many hearts. Reading the scripture again: that is exactly what happened. We asked God to help, and he pointed the way: opening eyes, opening doors, opening hearts.
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
Prayer: Dearest Jesus, Lord and Savior, Brother and Friend. You are the One Who opens the doors to healing and forgiveness, to joy and peace. During this time of Advent, as we pray to understand the meaning of your entry into our world, we give thanks for Your
Love and care. Amen
Betty Witschard
