Christian Living

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Mom loved to read. As a child, she hid a flashlight under the covers. This subterfuge failed to fool Mama. She walked into the room and said, “It’s time to go to bed.”

Mom collected many books that she planned to read when she retired. When her Papa died, Mama moved in with her. That left little time for reading.

Before Mama died, Dad’s health began failing from emphysema. Sometime later, she started caring for Dad, bathing him and taking care of his other needs.

By the time Dad died, macular degeneration had attacked Mom’s eyesight. She never lost her love of reading, but she gave away many books as she could not read them for herself.

Five or six years ago Mom began suffering a series of mini-strokes. Until 1998 when she suffered a medium stroke, she lived alone.

Then I knew it was time to move in with Mom. I became “her eyes,” dialing numbers on the telephone, answering calls, running her errands, and driving her to the doctor’s office. The main thing, however, was to spend time with her. Chatting became difficult as her memory was failing. We tried the “talking books,” but they became harder and harder for her to follow. Instead she enjoyed my reading to her. Mostly, we read some fun things and Christian novels together. When necessary, I filled in the threads.

My heart wanted to share the Bible with her. At times she was open to this, but at times she did not want to hear it.

Lorraine, one of the caregivers, became concerned about Mom. She cared about her health, her physical needs, but most of all for her soul.

Psalm 23 was Mom’s favorite Scripture. Before she retired for the night, we recited, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...”

The caregiver used this passage to point Mom to the Saviour. “The Lord is my Shepherd,” she quoted. “He’s not your Shepherd,” she said, “if you haven’t received Him as your Saviour.” She shared the gospel message with her. At ninety-seven Mom embraced this Saviour as her own. Now He was truly her Shepherd. Her attitudes changed. Now she thirsted for the Bible whenever I found time to read to her. When a few months later the Good Shepherd took her home, she was ready.

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