Many years ago, I went through a difficult time when my husband was diagnosed with dementia. That was the beginning of an interesting, sometimes traumatic, ten-year journey.

As the years passed by, I was not coping well with my situation and I felt overwhelmed as my husband’s only caregiver. I became desperate to get a word from God!

The Father graciously answered my plea and He gave me the words, “Love Never Fails.” I knew that was the voice of my heavenly Father and I knew that He loved me. So, I took those Words to heart and pondered them.

I was hoping God would say that He would heal my husband completely! My circumstances did not change and actually the situation grew worse for two more years.

Because of God’s Words, my thinking changed a little at a time. I realized that I was looking at the situation from my point of view. I was feeling sorry for myself to have to deal with the unnerving things that were happening in our home.

I began to ask for God’s Love to flow into me for strength and for His love to flow out of me toward my husband. I decided to start by being thankful. At my husband’s bedtime, I knelt by the bed in simple obedience to the Love Never Fails Word from God. At first I couldn’t think of anything about my husband to be thankful for!

Then, as I stayed quiet, I remembered the trips I got to take with my husband’s missions students. Wow, what an adventure for me to be in India, Africa and other countries! After that, I found other things to thank God for my husband. My negative thinking was being replaced more and more with loving and thankful thoughts and I was coping better. I wanted God to do a work in my heart and make me more like Him.

Decades ago, I invited Jesus into my heart as my Savior and Lord. He came in by His Holy Spirit. I realized the Spirit brought His Fruit with Him when He came to live in me. Therefore, I already had all of the Fruit of the Spirit, including Peace. When things got too crazy, I would pause and ask for the Fruit of Peace to be real to me. Experiencing God’s Peace helped me a lot during those years of dealing with the effects of dementia.

My husband went to be with Jesus in January, 2012. When my family and I watched his body be put into the hearse, I pictured my sweet, godly husband with the biggest smile on his face! He was truly free! Before the dementia, he served the Lord in ministry for decades. I thought that my husband would need a wheelbarrow in heaven to carry all of his crowns!!

The difficulties in this life are temporary. There is a final resting place for each one of us, either with God or without Him.

God was preparing me for what He had planned for my future. I was in God’s “Love School.” The lessons I learned then have benefitted me ever since! Actually, I will always be enrolled in The Father’s Love School, and that’s fine with me. It’s a wonderful journey with Father God, Who Loves each one of us with Big Loves!