Isaiah 42:16 says, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”

As the journey with my mother is going down unfamiliar paths, I find God guiding us with His light. As He evens the rough places, He has not left her, my family or me. I find it difficult to walk this path in front of us. We have promised her when she forgets that we would not. For she is my mother and I her daughter and I do not want to fail her. Even though this is not what we would have chosen, we will always make sure we are there. So many are there for her and we are beyond blessed.

When the word Alzheimer’s is spoken, for some, it is as if people forget there is a real person there sometimes. They are amazing people that are still there. They are you and me just with a jacket of experience and age that can be trapped inside of their bodies. There are times they need someone to just sit and hold their hand. It reminds me of a story. 

There was a child whose friend had fallen and scraped her knee and was sitting in a mud puddle. The little child went and sat with her  little wounded friend in the mud puddle until help arrived. She could not do anything else but she knew she could just be there for her until someone could help her. When we don’t know what else to do, sometimes we just need to sit (even in a mud puddle) and be there for someone. 

When we sit around God’s table, there are times we can’t find the words. We may just sit there in silence. The darkness may try to encompass us but it can’t. His light pierces the darkest of darks. We need to remember  that the smallest of candles can pierce through the darkness. He will always be able to reach Mom even when we can’t. He can and always will be there to guide her and hold her. Just like the mashed potatoes she once made, He can make things that were rough smooth. 

Mom’s mashed potatoes were always smooth. They never had lumps and were ever so silky. When reading the verse from Isaiah, it speaks to my heart and gently reminds me that God is taking the rough places and smoothing them out. 

One day we will all be around His Table again and we will be whole. We will be at a great and wondrous feast. Until that day, He will never leave us. He will be sitting alongside us at The Table passing the mashed potatoes and lighting the way. 

Hugs ☀️