Turning the Impossible Into the Possible
Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away. That’s how I coped with my mother’s issues as
I was growing up and through my adulthood.
I didn’t label her. I never used
the words dementia or Alzheimer’s to explain her behavior. Yes, she had paranoid tendencies. She accused my dad of bizarre
indiscretions. She heard strangers talking
about her in the post office line. But
she wasn’t my problem. She had my father
to deal with her, so it was easier for me to ignore her symptoms.
Then Dad
died. Now she was my problem. Things were far worse than I had
realized. When I helped her pay the
bills she could barely sign her name on checks.
When I visited she had tied elaborate rope knots around her door knobs
to keep the neighbors out. I ran into
the same quandary as Dad had confided to me in the past. She needed professional help but convincing a
paranoid person that they need help is an impossible task.
A local
policeman called me. Apparently Mom had
been going to the police station several times a week to report that the
neighbors were stealing her underwear in the middle of the night. Something
needed to be done but what?
I could no
longer ignore it. It wasn’t going to go
away. But nothing I tried to do for her
helped. Finally as a last resort I
turned this impossible situation over to God in prayer. Things fell into place. A doctor was recommended by a friend. The proper medications were prescribed. Mom agreed to visit assisted living
facilities and chose one that she felt comfortable with. Her house was sold. She willingly gave up her car.
After
thirty years of ignoring my mother’s illness or hoping it would go away on its
own, I finally realized that God was just waiting for me to turn to him for
help. From now on, God would be my first
resort, not my last.
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