No matter how elderly or how sick our loved ones are, God is not finished with them until they breathe their last. I learned that lesson well when caring for my mother-in-law.
Shortly after Fairsee turned 100, she had a major heart attack. On hospice for the next three months, she was bedbound and very ill, and we had few visitors because covid threatened. But God still had plans for her.
Whenever family, friends, or hospice workers stopped by, Fairsee professed what Jesus had done in her life. He protected and provided for her after she lost her husband and was left to raise a seven-month-old baby (my husband) on her own. She chose not to remarry, and the Holy Spirit was her comfort and companion for seventy years. No matter where the conversation started, it ended with Jesus.
Fairsee never hit anyone over the head with a Bible. She just declared Jesus as naturally as she breathed. Some of her most beloved times in those last days were spent with the hospice chaplain and social worker standing by her bed singing hymns as she hummed along.
When Fairsee eventually did breathe her last, the chaplain said at her funeral, “I’m supposed to minister to the hospice patients I see, but Mrs. Crump ministered to me far more than I ever did to her.”
Even after she was gone, my mother-in-law was still professing her faith in Jesus.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Tracy Crump dispenses hope in her award-winning book, Health, Healing, and Wholeness: Devotions of Hope in the Midst of Illness (CrossLink Publishing, 2021). A former intensive care nurse, she cared for her parents and her mother-in-law and understands both the burdens and joys of caregiving. Her devotions have been featured in Guideposts books, The Upper Room, and many other publications, and she has contributed 22 stories to Chicken Soup for the Soul® books. She also conducts writing workshops, edits a newsletter for writers, and does freelance editing. But her most important job is Grandma to five completely unspoiled grandchildren.
What a difference one life can make. Thank you for sharing, Tracy.
So true, Diana. Praying we can all be that faithful.
Isn’t it wonderful to know Jesus never leaves the minds and hearts of our loved ones? Even my mom, with her advanced Alzheimer’s, shared Jesus with her doctors and nurses before she departed this world.
What a blessing!
What a lovely tribute.
Thank you, Linda. She was a special person.
What a beautiful life and a beautiful testimony! We need more Fairsees in the world.
Thank you, Lana. I pray we can all be so faithful!