I'll Be Okay
Lorraine Christman
Pepperell, Massachusetts
I was busy taking care of my mom who lived with me and was also
taking care of my mother-in-law who was in her nineties and living by
herself. My mother-in-law had lost all her children through the years,
so I was the only one left to care for her. She had a few health problems
like a colostomy and heart palpitations, so I went to her house every day
to check on her and to make sure she had taken her meds.
One cold winter day I got a call from a neighbor of hers saying that
my mother-in-law had been wandering around the streets wearing only
her bedroom slippers and a dress. They had called 911 and she was taken
to the hospital. When I got there, I found out that she thought it was 1905.
She was in that state of mind for three weeks, and the doctor told me that
she could no longer live alone.
I couldn't take her home with me because I had my mom to take care
of, so I was forced to put her in a nursing home. Well, she had always told
me not to ever put her in a home, and when she came out of her stupor
and her mind seemed clearer, she was really mad at me.
My mother-in-law called me every name under the sun every day, and
I went home crying after every visit. I prayed, but the weeks went by and
things got worse, not better. She was so angry that she told me she was
praying that God would get me for what I had done to her.
Once after I had gone to see her I did not sleep all night. I kept praying
the same thing over and over again, "Please Lord, make her understand
that this is her home now and she will be okay."
The next day I went to see her like usual and she had a big smile on
her face. She shocked me when she said the exact words that I had prayed
all night long. She said, "This is my home now and I'll be okay." She
lived to be one hundred and never talked about how she hated me and
what I had done to her again. I still get goose bumps when I talk about
it. The Lord had truly answered my prayers.