Just a quick word before we get into the PhotoDevo. Mission trips and other life experiences provide unique opportunities to experience God. The Infinity in Focus Blog enables me to share some of those experiences with you through photo-based devotional thoughts. My computer took a shower and life threw me some pretty serious distractions, but I'm back!
With an air of great anticipation mixed with a bit of hesitation, it was time to leave CT and move to Pittsburgh.
One of the biggest stressors of the move was how to get my mom to Pittsburgh. Alzheimer’s dictated that an eight-hour car ride was out of the question, as was a commercial flight. The disease had progressed to the point that, though small in stature, she could get her mind set on something and there was no changing it.
Once she forgot who Darryl (my husband) was. i came home to find him hiding from my mother, crouching in the closet giving me the universal index finger over the lips shhhhhh signal. She had been demanding he (the stranger) leave her home. Another time, it took three men to carry her out of church because long after the sermon, appeal, and fellowship time, she decided that she didn’t want to leave. i still don’t have the words to explain what it feels like to experience someone you have known and loved all your life become someone you don’t know and who, most days, doesn’t know or recognize you. There was still breath in her body, but the woman i knew had, like Elvis (and Michael Jackson) left the building. As if Alzheimer’s hadn’t taken enough, she had a stroke that stripped away her ability to ambulate independently and talk.
So, i breathed a prayer aloud, God how do i get mom to Pittsburgh. i sat down at the computer and searched for organizations that might provide what we needed. Most were out of business or would require me to sell a body part or my first born to afford the service.
Frustrated and teary eyed i made one more call. God, i’m trying to honor my mom. This is so hard. Please….
Same story. “Sorry, I can’t help. Really wish I could.” His voice brightened as if he had an idea. He gave me a number and told me to ask for Bob. He told me,
“Bob will tell you he can’t help because they have pilots, but no plane. Tell Bob, they don’t have the plane YET, but they will get one soon.
Tell him to write down your information and to call you when the plane arrives.”
i’m not sure if it was faith, foolishness or sheer desperation, but i thanked the man, hung up the phone, breathed a prayer and called Bob. Sure enough, Bob said, “I have no clue why they told you to call me. I don’t have a plane that can accommodate a patient unable to walk onto the plane and sit in the seat.” With a smile in my voice, i told Bob that he would get such a plane soon and asked if he would at least take my name and number and call me back once the plane arrived. To say Bob was incredulous is an understatement, but he reluctantly agreed and took my number.
i don’t recall how long it took, but Bob called back.
He had a plane and a plan.
There was NO CHARGE. Mom had a flight to Pittsburgh!
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 1 John 5:14
Thank you God for hearing my prayer.