Surgery went well and her recovery began. A week or so after her surgery she was transferred to a nursing home in the nearby town of Peoria about ten miles from her home town. While there, she has gone through weeks of painful physical therapy as well as a drastic change of lifestyle that includes dependency on others for nearly all of her needs.
Over the weeks she has grown stronger and stronger and now, almost two months to the day she had the accident, she is ready to move back to her home town. That is remarkable in itself, but the most remarkable thing is how she arrived at her decision that it would be necessary for her to spend the rest of her life living in a nursing home. This is something that she has been steadfastly against for as long as I can remember.
My mother has never been a particularly religious person. At least she has seldom spoke of her relationship with God. I know she has one, but to what extent I had no idea. She told me on the phone that the other night as she lay in bed, she grew fearful of what was to become of her. She wanted to return to the assisted living facility that she has lived in for the last several years. But that was not possible given her accident and blindness from macular degeneration. She said she turned to God and said to Him, "I lay all my fear at your feet and ask you what to do."
This is an amazing statement from a woman who is not easily given over to her emotions. She is not one to wear her faith on her sleeve. Never has been. However, one of the things she has become involved in while in the nursing home is a Bible Study group in which the members not only study scripture but talk about how their faith effects their lives. She said that she has spoken up in this group about her faith in very personal ways like never before, certainly not to strangers.
God does, indeed, work in mysterious ways! During her stay at the nursing home He has obviously used this time to open her heart to His Word and the Spirit has guided her to learn from this experience. She said she had her answer in about 45 minutes when suddenly a sense of serenity came over her in a way that she had never felt.
Never, in my life, had I ever thought I would hear this kind of personal story from my mother. God's majestic ways happen in the most unlikely of places to some of the most unlikely people. And when He does act, His actions not only effect the person to whom He answers, but often to those around them.
My mother's story has touched me deeply. Her testimony to me came as a complete surprise. Her faith in God and trust in His will has set me to thinking about my own faith and trust in God. God, in His own unique way, has touched both our lives and we are the better for it!
