I Could Have Danced All Night!

My wife had a very active night last night.  Let’s just say that when one situation was brought to a peaceful conclusion, another one popped up.  I also must admit that after a while these activities began to play with my emotions and my “sound mind” that the Apostle Paul instructed Believers to have in operation in their lives according to II Timothy 1:7.  In this verse of scripture the evangelist encourages his favorite student saying that “God hasn’t given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (NKJV)

The final straw came about four in the morning after I snuggled back under the covers for at least the fourth time in the last two hours and was just about to doze off when Piper started shifting around on her side of the bed.  It seemed like every time I started to fall asleep that she would suddenly move her legs into another position.  After a few minutes of this, I figured that I’d best check on her to make sure that part of her wasn’t hanging out of the bed.  (This has happened before and a couple of times she actually tumbled from the bed!)

So, I sat up in bed, felt for her legs and sure enough, they were dangling off the side.  I usually place a guard up against her side of the bed to inhibit this, but I had forgotten about it when we had originally gone to bed many hours before.  Well, that just about did it and I was not a happy camper at that moment as I flung off the covers, slid off the mattress and stepped on the dog who was stretched out on the floor right next to my side of the bed.  If I wasn’t upset it probably would have been quite funny as I sort of hopped away from her and almost fell head long into the door frame!

Self-control was not the first thing on my mind at that point!  But something instantly clicked inside of me and I grabbed the door frame and just stood there for a few moments until I calmed down.  And you know what was the first thing that came to my mind?  You guessed it… II Timothy 1:7.  In that brief passing of time I realized that something or someone was trying to drive my actions by the potential fear of my wife getting worse instead of better and by my tired anxiety over not getting enough sleep.

Eventually I made my way over to my wife’s side, moved her feet back into a comfortable place under the covers and then just stood there thinking for a few moments.  As I took a mental inventory of my feelings, the thought came to me that I might be angry with her!  That very idea came as a shock but immediately called my attention to the perpetrator of that reaction.  Right then and there I had to laugh for you remember that the Word tells us that “A merry heart does good like a medicine!” (Proverbs 17:22 MKJV)

And that dosage of laughter at 4:17 in the morning worked for me!  In the shadow of the moon peeking through our blinds, I recalled that love has been the driving force for everything I have tried to do for my wife.  From quitting my outside job so that I could be by her side 24/7, with all the research I have done concerning Alzheimer’s over the years since that time, all the visits, phone calls and emails to the countless doctors, investigating and retaining applicable benefits for her, phone calls and meetings with lawyers, taking the unwarranted accusations of some who have made false statements concerning my intents and character and shielding her from the negativism and abandonment of others.

Even though it was a very tough night, I was not going to give the enemy of our souls one inch!  In my way of biblical understanding, he is the one who is the cause of this disease.  She is the victim.  She is NOT the one to be upset with, he is!  In John 10:10 Jesus clearly tells us that the devil is a thief and that “the “thief does not come but to steal, and to kill and to destroy…” (MKJV)  Then the Savior spoke to my heart and whispered the secret conclusion of our faith in Him and His Word, as I stood in the moon-lit shadows by her bedside concluding that verse saying, “but I have come so that you two might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly!”

With that understanding, I straightened my shoulders, walked back around the bed, carefully tip-toed around the dog after taking a moment to pet her, and then returned to the warmth of the covers.  I stared at the ceiling for a moment and then dozed off into a deep, dreamy and uneventful continuance of the morning’s sleep.  The next thing I knew, it was almost 8:00 AM and it was time to get up!

Now as we sit here at the kitchen table looking out the living room windows to the bright but cold morning outside, I am reminded of Peter’s words in Acts 10:34 when he declared: “Truly I see that God is no respecter of persons.” (MKJV)  In my way of thinking, if Papa God can afford this kind of victory over a tumultuous night like I had last evening, He can and will do the same for you!  Are you facing or right smack in the middle of some tough times?  Well, look to Him and His Word for the abundant life and victory that He has for you! Then hang on tight and ride it though until you win!  Have a great weekend.  Stay actively in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What or Whose WORD am I expecting today?”