I care less about what people have to say about me, although I do care a little bit about that to a point, I care more rather about what kind of legacy I will have left behind.
What kind of glory was God able to shine through me? Did my life point to God and His Son? Or something else?
I just recently started a new job on the weekends (although not every weekend). I get the privilidge of going and staying with a couple who are in the 90's and care for them friday afternoon through Sunday evening. I have to make sure that they have their medications and I make them food and such..
I took this job thinking "I could really use the extra money, and plus I can get a ton of homework done, because after all they are 90, they sit in chairs and snooze all day."
But it has ended up being SO much more than that! Little did I know how much God would teach me through them! They are both wonderful examples of Christ!
And you might be thinking, "wait you said they snooze all day, how can they be examples?"
Hopefully by the end of this note you will see just how much they reflect Christ!
I left last weekend, overwhelmed with the joy of being able to minister to them, and to spend time with them! To learn from them, and esp. to learn paitence with the Mrs!
You see I am learning paitence at the daycare (working with 12 1 1/2-2 year olds will have that affect!), and paitence is something that I will need in counseling because sanctification is a process not an event, and it takes time for people to change (which is what I will be calling them to do).
I count this new job a joy and privilidge, a true blessing from God!
The wife has alzheimers. Alzheimers affects the memory part of the brain, so that those who have it can no longer remember things. It starts out with small things, like where to put things, but as time progesses it gets worse and worse,I mean sometimes she can't even remember who her husband is!
Alzheimers also affects how we interact with people. You see we are sophisticated creatures and are able to cover up alot of what we are really like in our hearts. Yes, many things show through, but God says in His Word that our hearts are so wicked that we cannot even know our own hearts fully!
And with alzheimers paitents they often forget to put this barrier up, so often that barrier is broken and you begin to see more of the "Real them" then you would normally. And often some very serious sins are brought out in alzheimers paitents that no one even knew they had ( as seen in countless examples of men/women with alzheimers raging and lashing out, and other sins are brought out to the limelight. You see these sins were hidden well, but now are being brought to the surface, because their alzheimers makes them forget to cover that up.
A good book that you can read more about this is Edward Welches "blame it on the brain." Ironically I read this for a counseling class freshmaun year, and again this year, and how it is coming in handy! God knew that I would need it!
But this dear Lady is different! Who she appeared to be (a godly Christian lady) is pretty much who she still is! She spends most of her time reading her Bible, I mean take this morning for example, we finished breakfast at around eight, and she began reading and is still reading and it is nearly ten thirty! WOW! She never gets real angry, just sad when she cant remember things, and not really sad but more fearful. No fits of rage, no angry words, like some who have alzheimers do.
If I got alzheimers today, I fear what would show forth, and that is just to people! God can and does see my heart at ALL times, it does not take alzheimers to expose this to Him. I pray that He will begin to change my heart so that "Who I appear to be is who I really am." (Mark Twain). So that I,,like Edith will be who I appear to be!
That is how she is an example of Jesus Christ!
The dear Man is an example of what it means to love and cherish someone in sickness and in health! He will leave a legacy in caring for his dear wife in her sickness! He loses his paitence sometimes, yes, but even then I can still that he trully still loves and cares for her! I mean it has to be hard for him, to see his wife like this, and yet he does not send her away, but keeps her here with him.
And that is the exact way that God is and does to us!
Sometimes she has a bad spout where she even raises her voice, claiming that he is not her husband. And how much that must sting, to have lived with someone for a long time, to have given them your all, only to have them forget who you are and hear them deny you.
And how often I do that to God! Only I can't blame mine on a brain disease! She does that because she truly has forgotten! When I am turned aside to idols I do the same thing to God, I deny His care, His love and I choose to love another. It is like I say to Him "you are not my God!" (like this dear lady saying "you are not my husband.")
And I say this to my very Maker! The One who sent His only Son to die for me! WOW!
When we are turned from God, and aside to idols, the reason is not because of the idol itself (our car, that person, our personal control over a situation.) but rather because of what the idol has to offer. This is wrong in two ways:
First we are seeking the wrong God. We are looking for our “god” in a false one that ultimately will not deliver.
And secondly we are seeking the wrong thing of God. For it is NEVER about what God has to offer but rather WHO God is!
So this elderly couple were used by God to show me how I am easily turned aside to idols. They were a live picture of what it is like when I do that to God!
Which is exactly what God has been teaching me in my devos lately ( not a coincidence).
I have been reading in the Psalms for over a year now and was in psalm 106 this past week:
Psalm 106:13-14
But they soon forgot what he had done
and did not wait for his plan to unfold.
14 In the desert they gave in to their craving;
in the wilderness they put God to the test.
and did not wait for his plan to unfold.
14 In the desert they gave in to their craving;
in the wilderness they put God to the test.
Israel was quick to forget God setting them free from Egypt, and were easily turned aside to their own selfish desires! And I am no better! I too easily forget God setting me free from sin, and I too easily am turned toward idols of my heart and my own selfish desires!
Psalm 106:19-21
At Horeb they made a calf
and worshiped an idol cast from metal.
20 They exchanged their glorious God
for an image of a bull, which eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them,
who had done great things in Egypt,
And how easy it would be for me to say "Well I am better than Israel, I don't worship a golden image. Especially not of a cow!"
The Little mermaid is one of my favorite disney movies and it is a picture (if you will) of this. Because you see Ariel wanted something, and she did not even think to ask her father Triton, and we see that the Israelites did just that, they did not pray for food, prosperity, instead they sought after it from an idol. Instead she turned aside to Ursala the sea witch and at first it went well. Though she had to give up her voice, for it. But that is always how idol worship goes, well at first, but then trouble is quick to ensue! But idols never deliver! They promise much, deliver little! And it ends up that in the end Ariel recieves from Triton, without even asking what she had wanted all along.
and worshiped an idol cast from metal.
20 They exchanged their glorious God
for an image of a bull, which eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them,
who had done great things in Egypt,
And how easy it would be for me to say "Well I am better than Israel, I don't worship a golden image. Especially not of a cow!"
But you see the cow was one of the idols that Egypt worshipped, and remember we don't worship Idols because of what they are, but what they have to offer, and what the cow had to offer was prosperity.
And I am no better! The Israelites were a people set aside for God, to worship Him. I too am set aside because I am saved, but like them I too get caught up in culture and the idols they worship. No not many in our culture worship statues anymore (though we still have a few) that is not as popular. But what is? Worship of self and other people! Worship of matirial things. And why do we worship these things? Because of what they have to offer: success! A great standing in people's eyes (aka: status), peace, happiness, satisfaction. ect.)
You see the Israelites wanted food "NOW" and when they did not get it from God, they turned to a cow to get it! And how often I do that only in different, almost more sophisticated ways! It is not that they liked the cow for who or what it was but what it had to offer: prosperity.
The Little mermaid is one of my favorite disney movies and it is a picture (if you will) of this. Because you see Ariel wanted something, and she did not even think to ask her father Triton, and we see that the Israelites did just that, they did not pray for food, prosperity, instead they sought after it from an idol. Instead she turned aside to Ursala the sea witch and at first it went well. Though she had to give up her voice, for it. But that is always how idol worship goes, well at first, but then trouble is quick to ensue! But idols never deliver! They promise much, deliver little! And it ends up that in the end Ariel recieves from Triton, without even asking what she had wanted all along.
You see we worship Idols when we are turned aside from being totally consumed with God, to being totally consumed with what we want and we will do anything to get it (ariel gave up her voice) and we don't even think of asking God, Who really in the end gives us everything we will ever need, and Who gives real joy!
So what I have learned in all of this, and in working with this elderly couple, is that I need to be more focused on my heart, not just my behavior! I can pretend to be whatever I want, I can trick people to a point, but never the Almighty God who sees all! I think it is time for a heart check! A time to surrender the gods of my heart and embrace the One true God!
The first step in taking care of a problem is admitting that there is one!
How thankful I am to God for His faithfulness in teaching me! He is teaching you as well, the question is "are you missing it? Are you looking for it!"
Well I had better go and see if the dear Lady wants to play monopoly! I pray that this was of encouragement to you, it is a bit scattered, and random, my apologies!!
May I worship the One and True God today (and everyday) reveling in Who He is, not what He has to offer, for then will I be so easily turned aside to idols!
May I worship the One and True God today (and everyday) reveling in Who He is, not what He has to offer, for then will I be so easily turned aside to idols!
Worship is never to be about what is offered, but Who God is! I pray that I live this out, so that I can leave an honest legacy, not just a superficial outward one, but a genuine inward one, that who I appear to be will have been who I really was!
