July 28, 1999
FAMILY MATTERS: God will
help you adapt to your change
___I am 81 years old, and I am really struggling. I seem to have won the battle with cancer, but I cannot see myself living alone. But if I move into an assisted living center in a city where my daughter lives, I will have to leave not only my home but all of my friends and my church. The thought of leaving everything and everyone really scares me. My husband died two years ago, and I just feel lost.
___My heart goes out to you and so many others like you who face similar situations. You are dealing with one of life's greatest challenges--letting go. You are at a crossroads where you must turn loose of familiar people and places and embrace change, not knowing exactly what that change looks like.
___If you make the move you are considering, you do not know where you will live, who your friends will be or how you will adjust to your new life. You could easily believe you never will be happy again. You could dread the future, fearful of its change. You could, but you do not have to. You have a choice!
Mary Stedham
Family Counselor
Abilene
___The Apostle Paul wrote: "I have learned in whatever state I am, therein to be content." When life is comfortable, it is easy to say, "Amen!" to Paul's statement.
___When life holds big unknowns, though, it is harder to trust God. Such times require the kind of faith described by the writer of Hebrews, the kind that lets us believe in things before we can see them. We are called to believe in things we can't see and in a faithful God who walks "with us" in the dark, uncertain places of life.
___So believe for a moment that God could supply "all your needs." He could provide new friends as surely as he has provided victory over cancer. He could give you rest from the requirements of a big house and give you a less-demanding place to call home. He could give you a place where those around you are also adjusting and looking for friends. He could restore your joy!
___Then you could reach out and welcome new people into your life. You could find some who would gladly welcome your friendship. With your family nearby, you could be a blessing, not a burden, to them.
___By living fully every day, you could offer a powerful testimony to those around you, however long or short your "final chapter" proves to be. You could, as Paul did, choose not to live out of a "spirit of fear," but out of a spirit of "power, love and self control."
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