Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Breathe (08/19/10)
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TITLE: The Privilege | Previous Challenge Entry
By Yvonne Leigh
08/25/10 -
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In the beginning, the neighbors provided her meals and solved her problems. Although she lived alone, against her character, she was dependent on others. She had built her own house, for cryin’ in a bucket, how could God have let her get so old and decrepit? Her final instructions included what to do when they found her lifeless body in her house. If someone found her nearly lifeless body, her directions demanded a quick release from her temple of clay. She even left funeral plans. Absolutely nothing in those directives involved long term care. Who plans for that? However, she was wise enough to name a Power of Attorney quickly, before she lost control of her life. God would have to watch over it and take care of her after that.
And that’s where I came in. Years before her diagnosis, I had met her in church. One Sunday night she came in there alone and I did what was my habit; I sat down by a woman who was alone. Because she was distressed and had a problem with her car, I followed her home. Once there, she invited me in, and, in the dim light of a small lamp on her kitchen table, we discussed eternity. That night we became friends, but not the kind who visited or shopped together, just friends with a mutual trust in Jesus and each other. She trusted me enough to ask me to be her Power of Attorney, and I trusted her enough to agree.
Tucked away among my papers, the Power of Attorney was dormant for seven years until it became obvious that it had to be activated. Of course, the first decision I had to make was which nursing home to choose. One call was all it took for me to decide to use her money for her, in her own house, as long as it held out. Without realizing it, I was being given the beautiful opportunity to serve God in answering a prayer. And I was headed for the mission field.
Five and a half years we were together. The last three and a half of those years she only spoke eye to eye and spirit to spirit. Now it was time; she was near the end; preparations had been made by the hospice nurse. Four of us were in the room; it was nighttime, and the lights were low. The security light outside the window, at the foot of her bed, gave a brighter illumination on the peaks of her sheets, our facial features, and hair. Unafraid, our precious charge lay on her back, in her hospital bed, breathing ever more slowly. I had been aggressive all those years to make sure nothing caused her to fear, and now, I was seeing the fruit of my efforts. Like labor pains, the nurse counted the seconds between her breaths. Finally she stopped inhaling; she slipped out of the womb of life, into the waiting arms of her heavenly eternity. With a small informative smile, the nurse nodded to me.
It was twelve minutes past midnight. Though traumatized by the last four hours, I could still rejoice that I was able to see her through to the end. I thanked God profusely, and still do, for this great privilege he had given me. By coming up to the challenge, it was me who was allowed to grant the desire of her heart to stay in her house until she died.
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