Perspective Blog for March 2, 2025
My husband and I went to visit his sister Anne in a nursing home. She had lost much mobility from Parkinson’s Disease. Speaking was not easy for her, but she had always been a reserved, quiet person. I could tell she wanted to say something to me, so I leaned in to hear. These were her precious words: “I give God love for helping me.”
Seven words that imprinted themselves on my heart. Anne wanted me to know that even in the details of her disability, her faith in God was still strong.
Little did either of us know then, that years later, I would also be diagnosed with the same disease. On January 13 of this year, we went to a neurologist who confirmed this. He did some manual and visual tests, listened to my symptoms, and gave me a prescription for LevaDopa.
PD is a cluster of symptoms. Along with reduced sense of smell and of voice volume, stiff torso muscles, poorer posture, and slowed walking pace, a few months ago my left leg and hand started to have a tremor. PD is noted to be different for each person, both in symptoms and speed of progression.
It is not fatal. I have so much for which to be grateful: loving friends and family, good medical care, no pain, and a right side that still functions. I can cook, and write and hug! And the other day, as I sat in a firm chair, I could hold a friend’s little baby grandson. He loved my bouncy left side. Perhaps I should rent myself out by the hour to tired mothers!
God never wastes our trials. “As for the righteous, when they are afflicted, God delivers them through the affliction itself, and uses the trial to open their ears to His voice.” (Job 36:15)
