Because Sometimes Life Is Hard

Sometimes life is filled with moments that bring great joy and happiness.  I experienced some of those moments earlier this week.  Moments like hearing "Happy Birthday" sung to me over the phone.  Or seeing it sung to me by one of my grandsons on a Facebook post.  Those are moments that fill me with joy.

But sometimes life is hard.  And I have also experienced that this week.  This was a difficult week around here.  Alzheimer's is a terrible disease.  It is really hard and frustrating and sad for the person who has the disease.  And it is really hard and frustrating and sad for the caregivers.  We experienced some of all of that this week.

And because sometimes life is really hard, this was the week that really hard decisions had to be made.  And really difficult choices.  And this was the week that my precious mother-in-law was moved to a memory care facility.

Touring the facilities was hard.  Narrowing down the list was not that difficult, because we were able to choose "favorites" pretty easily.  Things got harder when Al had to take his dad to visit the top picks and together they had to make a decision.  And it was really, really hard on the "moving day".  Really hard to pack her clothes and drop them off.  Really hard for everybody to come home and now be three instead of four.

Sometimes life is hard.  Sometimes circumstances are difficult.  Sometimes we have to make tough choices.  And it's just hard.

So right now we're trying to focus on the happy times, to remember the good times, to remember life before Alzheimer's.

Life can be full of happy, joyful moments.  And it can be hard.  And it can be somewhere in between. 

But through all those times, how thankful I am that "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son."             (Romans 8:28-29, emphasis mine.)

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  (Romans 8: 38-39).

How grateful I am for this truth.

Because sometimes life is hard.