Anna's Story
I absolutely love my Grandma, she's my favourite person in the whole world. She's got this incredible light, like God's light through her. She has these beautiful blue eyes, like the ocean, and this beautiful smile. People are attracted to her like a magnet. She fears the Lord, and I think that she's been a massive role model in my life.
When I found out about Grandma's stroke, I was pretty shocked. I went into the hospital, and it was really horrible seeing her in that state. Something happened with her tongue that restricted her from being able to eat and talk. She had to start being tube-fed through the nose. That was really, really horrible. I can't even imagine what she was feeling or what she was going through.
She was diagnosed before that point with Dementia and Alzheimer's, but now she began to become a real priority in my life. I felt God putting me in the position to be that person that was going to care for her. I've been caring for her now for about four and a half months. That's a real honour, and a really incredible experience.
I never saw myself in this position, to be helping my grandmother, but I'm learning a lot about who I am, about what she's going through, and how I can encourage and help her through everything day-to-day. My Grandad cares for Grandma the rest of the time that I'm not there, because she needs hospital-level care. We feed her, we make her breakfast, help her with showering. It's really hard to see her in that position.
Through this experience, I've cried so many tears for my Grandma, and I've had to learn how to trust the Lord. I've learned how to put Him first and trust that He is working all things together for the good of those who love Him. Grandma, at times, experiences a lot of fear, and she's just all of a sudden really overcome by fear and she's scared. It's almost as if she doesn't know where she is. It's horrible to see someone you love so lost and distraught and scared. I just really feel deeply for her in that, so I feel a real responsibility to help her with reading the Bible, or bringing worship into the house or, helping her to still connect with Jesus.
One day, I'd just fed her lunch and then I went and put some soup on for myself. I came back to the lounge and I was sitting there eating my soup, and I looked over at her, and she was just so troubled. In my head I was screaming, "God help her! God help her! Where are you?" Her whole face showed that she was suffering. "God help her! I can't look at her suffering like this. There's nothing that I can do. You have the power. Help her." Then I put my soup down, and I sat forward and I was like, "Hey, listen." She looked over at me and I said, "Listen to the lyrics in this song." Earlier I had put worship music on, and the lyrics were saying, "Hold me close. Let your arms surround me."
The presence of God fell on both of us, and we both burst into tears. I put my soup down, crawled over and was holding her. She and I were both so in need of Him to show up, and He showed up. We cried it out and after we'd cried, everything just lifted, and there was complete peace in the house again.
Moments like that make you realise how far you've come, who you serve, and how His heart is to see us truly transformed into Christlikeness. I believe that through this experience that is sort of what He's causing to happen.