Stepping Into the Storm I Didn’t See Coming, With the God Who Did
Let me begin with this: I’ve been a caregiver for more than 42 years to my oldest daughter, who has Down Syndrome. Together — with my second husband, a blessing I never expected and a direct answer to prayer — we’ve walked through heart failure, pneumonia (more than once), yearly bouts of bronchitis, and COVID three times. One of those times, we truly feared the disease would win. But by God’s grace, and with so many prayers storming the Throne Room, she came home. She is doing well. All of that to say this: I thought I understood caregiving. I thought I knew the terrain. I’ve done well-ish, but, as the saying goes…"you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Three months ago, I received a call from a dear friend of my sister-in-law, a woman nearly in tears as she described the changes she’d been witnessing. There was no anger, no judgment, only love and deep concern for a lifelong friend. She believed the family needed to step in now. When I hung up, I prayed. I told God that if this was the r...