If you are reading this I beg that you will not just hear my words, but my heart that underlies the words I am using to describe this surprising, uplifting, and paradigm shifting experience that I had at a nursing home today with a group from the church.
First, a little background is in order. As I was growing up I only knew three grandparents, my two paternal grandparents and my maternal grandmother, and both my paternal grandparents spent their last years of of their lives in nursing homes. My grandfather was stricken with Alzheimer's disease around the time I was coming through middle school, and sadly after a couple years he lost the control of his faculties and my family was without alternative for his care but to put him in a nursing home. My grandmother fell to a couple of strokes and was put into a nursing home with control of her faculties just unable to fully take care of herself on her own and was placed in a nursing home until ultimately a massive stroke took her life.
Because of these experiences a nursing home is not the kind of place I enjoy going and to be honest with you I have a jaded perception of because of my history with them. My family basically visited my grandfather and saw with each visit a man further and further gone mentally, physically, and emotionally even though he sat just before us. Even to a lesser degree the manor that my grandmother went to while great and incredibly helpful was ultimately reduced in my mind to the place my "Buddie" went to ultimately die. This led to a more than apprehensive feeling toward leading worship services at the Magnolia Manor of Marion County as a part of Mount Carmel.
Today was the day for the Mount Carmel family to go the nursing home and for me to bring a sermonette for the residents who would come to the chapel service, it was also the first time I have been to a nursing home since my grandmother passed away several years ago. I've kicked around for weeks in my head what I might say, and prayed constantly for God to speak to me so that He might speak through me for these disabled men and women who in my opinion, however coarse, were just waiting to die.
Well as usual God provided right on time, He directed me to a wonderfully encouraging passage from Phillippians chapter four and laid wonderful music on the hearts of the teenagers and some of the others who went along to love on these people. This trip that I had been aprrehensive about at best and dreading at worst turned out to be one of the most uplifting worship experiences of my life. These folks whom I had prematurely written off as waiting to die were full of the life God has left them to live and were excited about people, especially young people coming to see them and even more excited about the ability to sing the praises of the Godd through whose hands passed their afflictions.
I know that God had this day marked out for me specifically for the purpose of reforming my hard heartedness toward these wonderful people who happen to be disabled. I had gone wondering how God would be able to use me, someone who honestly did not like nursing homes to bless those "stuck" in one, and came away completely uplifted by their joy even among physical problems and the loneliness that must be a part of their living conditions. While I went striving in spite of myself to be a blessing God used a group of people many, including myself, would have only have pity on, to bless me and the group from the church beyond anything I can ever remember.
I beg those of you reading this remember that the ways of God almighty are not our ways and are far better, those we mean to bless may very well be the ones who bless us mightily. Those whom you might not be able to see a purpose for may fulfill their purpose to have an enormous impact on your life, for God is perfect in His wisdom, and mercy, and love for us and works all things together for the good of those that love Him and are called according to His purposes even when we couldn't think of any way he could.
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