Inheritance Kept in Heaven

It is hard and tiring, this Dementia-caregiving journey. Perhaps the thing that seems the hardest is the sheer length of years and days. The first time I noticed that there was something amiss with John's ability to read, write and process words was two weeks after our wedding. That is almost twelve years ago!  Understanding and diagnoses have come very slowly over the years. Time has ticked on and I have faithfully walked this journey with him, but now I am feeling the weariness. 

Yesterday we went into the back yard to get things ready for the winter weather that is barrelling our way. It has been a glorious Autumn in Colorado, bursting with sunshine and glistening gold and red trees. Temperatures have been in high 70s and it has almost seemed like maybe the joy of being out in my garden might last forever! But it will all change this weekend, apparently, and we needed to do some preparations.

John was asking me for a light in the garden shed. I remembered that at one point, several years ago, he had strung a heavy extension cord from the shed to the back deck to power a lamp. The cord was still there and still plugged in, but the lamp was not working. He was adamantly insisting that there was no longer any electricity getting to the lamp.  In great frustration he acted out what he perceived to be the problem. He stood six-foot-tall under the doorway of the shed, his head nearly crunched by the roof, and he moved a step outside, saying, "Electricty!" and then a step back inside saying "No electricity!" He repeated this odd demonstration over and over and I stared, wide-eyed, trying to discern how I should respond.  

After a lot of drama over what should be done, as he searched through his tool shed for something that might fix the "no electricity" situation, I thought to take the bulb out of the lamp and replace it.  It worked! The lamp glowed brightly and John stood and stared at it, unable to comprehend how I had done this.  Sometimes the weariness is more heavy than usual and the future seems empty.

How faithfully God meets us where we are! This morning I picked up my old, worn Bible and asked the Spirit to guide my reading. He led me to 1 Peter and the words exploded off the page with power and refreshingly new encouragement!  "Praise be to the God and Father of our Messiah Yeshua! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Messiah Yeshua from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in this last time. In this you greatly rejoice - though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials."  I stopped there and pondered the phrase "though now for a little while." It hasn't seemed a little while to me - and yet, compared to this vast, eternal view of an inheritance that has been kept for me in heaven, it suddenly seems like a tiny blip on the radar! 

It is so good for us to get a fresh new revelation of time. Right now we feel like we are on a projectile that is hurtling toward days of destruction, famine and persecution. I even find myself wondering how, in the midst of such days, I will be able to care for my husband. But God has broken through all that this morning in His most faithful Word, to give me an eternal perspective, and an unexplainable inward joy! This word enveloped me in hope. The power of God really will shield me through all these hard-to-navigate days; and His power will keep each one of you who are suffering grief in all kinds of trials. Let us keep our minds and hearts focused on the inheritance that is kept in heaven for us. It cannot perish, spoil or fade. It is eternal.