Pastor John,
I talked to the case worker for Mama recently and found out she will be permanently placed in a home and will not be returning to either of her homes. They picked her up on her birthday while she was at a doctor’s appointment and took her to a place that deals with dementia and other issues. Now, when I first found out about this, my heart hurt. I wasn’t sure exactly why I was so sad about it. I know it’s the best thing for her, but I kept thinking about how she must be feeling. One thing that bothered me was that it was on her birthday when they picked her up. Oh, but Jesus! (I will come back to that part in a minute.)
The case worker told me that all of Mama’s property and assets will be sold to pay for her care. After hanging up, I felt sad that the last bit of my grandfather’s land will be sold to strangers. Then Jesus helped me see that it is my Mama’s stubbornness that has robbed us of our inheritance. At one time, my brother offered to help her and to be her appointed guardian, but she would not cooperate with him. She would not yield. Now the courts will make all of her decisions for her. All these years of people trying to help her, and she would not yield! While I was thinking on this, Jesus showed me that the spirit of slander walks hand-in-hand with a stubborn spirit.
Whenever you will not yield to what is right and good, and go your own way, you are really slandering what is right and good so that you can justify your choices. But then, as I sat in the car taking this all in, Jesus showed me more. He warned me that those two spirits stubbornness and slander – are not just “out there” in the world; they are at work in the body of Christ. The choice to be stubborn robs the children of God of our inheritance (each other), and slanders those who are not stubborn! And that is not much different from the loss I and my siblings will now suffer because of the lifetime of my Mama’s stubbornness!
Now I find that I am thankful that Jesus has done this for Mama. She has no more choices. She must live clean, and eat, and take her medicines. I see now that there is such mercy for her from Jesus in this. Mama could not get out from under the spirit of stubbornness, or she didn’t want to, so Jesus took her choices away. For her, it is a blessing, but for us in the body of Christ, it is a warning that God may take our choices away if we do not stay humble and listen to those who love us in Christ.
Any time a brother’s heart is hardened because of stubborn self-will and he is loses fellowship with the body, just look at the blessing, the precious gift that the body of Christ has lost! We lose a husband, or a dad, or an uncle, a brother, a son. We lose part of our inheritance from Jesus!
Pastor John, I and my siblings spent a whole lifetime making up excuses for and covering up for my Mama’s stubbornness and hoarding, and I am so relieved to finally see it for what it is. I am so relieved Jesus stepped in and took Mama’s choice away! My entire family has given in to her for as long as I can remember, and in doing that, we could not do what was right and good for Mama, or for any of us. Now, we have lost our inheritance.
The last thing I found out was that Mama did not have be picked up and taken away on her birthday. Previously, when the case worker tried to talk with Mama and take her at an earlier time, Mama would not open the door, and even held up a sign to the window saying, “I am not leaving this house until my Dr’s appointment on my birthday 4-18-17.” Mama did not mean that she would leave on that date to go to the facility she is in now; she was just refusing to leave the house until that date. So, to be taken to the facility on her birthday was actually HER choice. And now, my heart is at peace and I am thankful that Jesus did all of this and that he loved me enough to show it to me.
I pray to yield to his will, and not be stubborn. I pray to be willing to surrender or to keep whatever Jesus wants me to. I also pray if I am wrong, you will correct me so I can be what is right and good.
Beth
============
This sounds right and good to me, Beth. May God help us all to stay humble and to obey His Son. Jesus is our hope and our light. I do hope that now, at last, your mother will be taken good care of. She obviously could not, or would not take care of herself or her property.
Pastor John