Steady Footing

My wife has always been a very active individual.  She has always been a doer, I guess you could say!  Although she wasn’t involved much in sports in school, she was an athletic individual with good coordination, quick reflexes and steady on her feet.  I can’t really ever remember a time when she was not up to any physical challenge.  Although not much given to jogging she enjoyed daily walks, tossing a football or baseball, and strenuous hikes during our family vacations.  Our children have often reminisced how their Mom seemed to really sparkle and laugh and fall right into step when I would extemporaneously grab her in the kitchen while she was preparing dinner and waltz her around the room!

With that history in mind, it shook me when I noticed one day a few years ago that she didn’t seem to be as sure footed as she always had been.  It was little things like not being as flexible as before, occasionally tripping over small obstacles or the absence of that signature carefree hop in her step.  Isaiah 26:3 in the Message Bible declares that “People with their minds set on you, you keep completely whole, steady on their feet because they keep at it and don’t quit.”

Last night I had reached out to support Piper by quickly attempting to put one hand on her left elbow but missed and grabbed her upper arm instead.  She had flexed her arm a little and I was surprised to see and feel that she still had a firm muscle protruding from her arm.  So I laughed in a bit of amazement, commented on it to her and she simply smiled as if to say in her sassy manner, “What did you expect… I still got it!”

The interesting thing about Alzheimer’s is that it affects the workings of the brain.  The functions of the body don’t stop occurring because they can’t anymore, but because they don’t know to or how to function without the correct signals from the brain.  This is one reason that I believe the Lord told us to regularly speak Isaiah 58:8 over her.  This truth from the Lord says that “The light of Piper’s understanding has broken forth as the morning and her health is springing forth speedily.” (KJV – personalized)

Even though we have a transport chair that we use for walks around the neighborhood and when we go shopping, I still get her up and help her to walk around the house on multiple occasions throughout the day.  Her new Neurologist also recommended that I exercise her joints each day in order to keep things strong and flexible.  Last night I spoke out her name and she immediately turned her head and raised her eyebrows in recognition.  I literally giggled like a little kid and shouted out loud: “See Isaiah 58:8 is working in you as your understanding is returning!” 

I almost starting crying in glee yesterday afternoon while returning home from lunch at our daughter’s house.  Piper just seems to love having the top down on the car.  When I accelerated onto the main road, Piper’s hair began to blow all over the place and she sat up straight in her seat with her eyes on the road ahead, smiled and began to hum!

All of this positive activity reminds me of the goodness of the Lord toward those who keep their minds set on the Lord and don’t give up.  Piper was described by the wife of one of our former Pastors as having “bulldog faith!”  That once she grabbed onto something she never let go!  It is that kind of trust, faith and unshakable reliance on the Lord that is seeing her through the trial that she is now facing.  We have no doubt that she will once again be steady on her feet because of it.

And that determination to keep on keeping on in your stand of faith in the Lord is exactly what will propel you and I through the various tough situations and trials that we all face in our daily lives!  The God’s Word © translation of Isaiah 26:3 says “With perfect peace will you protect those whose minds cannot be changed…”  Does that describe you in your trust in God’s Word and His promises to His children?  Once you make the decision to trust in Him for a particular event in your life, does that decision become unchangeable no matter what other visible bits of information present themselves to you?

The next verse following Isaiah 26:3 removes any doubt that you and I might have.  It declares: “Depend on God and keep at it because in the Lord you have a sure thing.” (The Message)  I like sure things, don’t you?  So if your steps are a little unsteady today, don’t give up!  Keep your focus on Him, keep at it and you’ll see His faithfulness and His love come forth in your life.  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word and keep asking yourself… “What or Whom am I expecting TO STAY STEADY WITH today?”