Answered Prayer #11768
For the last eight years of her life, my Mum suffered with dementia. Right from the start, my Dad was adamant that he would care for her and, being quite a proud and stubborn man, he did not wish to have help from anyone, other than visits from us, his family. As Mum’s condition progressed, I and my siblings became increasingly concerned for my Dad as he became exhausted. Every time we suggested him having a cleaner or help in caring for her or allowing one of us to care for her for a couple of days to give him a break, he refused. Being the man he was, there was no way we could impose any help on him. Not knowing what else to do, I prayed for God to make Dad see sense and allow us to arrange support for him. Instead, it seemed that the worst thing possible happened – he collapsed, was taken to hospital and now we had both him and Mum to look after. Certainly not an answer to prayer as far as I was concerned! But one thing I’ve come to understand is that God sees the big picture and doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way we want or expect….. So while I’m praying for Dad to stop being so stubborn, God knows that the only way my Dad is going to accept help is if my Dad himself asks for it – and he was a million miles away from doing that. To cut a long story short, my Dad stayed in hospital for a few days. The good news was that there wasn’t anything terribly wrong with him and it did give him a good rest. The even better news was that the first words he uttered to my brother and me when we brought him home were “I’ve been thinking while I’ve been in hospital……perhaps it’s not such a good thing for me to be so independent and perhaps I should get some help with your Mum”. Hallelujah! But the best news of all was that it was my Dad himself who came to that decision – it was not us who imposed it. So, God DID answer my prayer – but absolutely NOT in the way I expected!!