Grandpa and God's Kingdom

As my husband's caregiver I saw my husband suffer many indignities as his disease progressed.  He became more and more disabled until at the end when he was totally dependent on others for everything.  On the surface that seems like such a waste of a beautiful man's life.  How was God's Kingdom advanced through all he suffered?  For that matter how was God's Kingdom advanced through his eventual death and lost to his family?  Would not God's Kingdom be better served by him still being alive as a healthy vibrant husband and grandpa?

I recently experienced similar questions in my mind when I had a major back pain flare-up, and my activities were significantly curtailed for a period of time.  Yet God often uses these very things for His Kingdom.  It personally reminds us our own weaknesses and makes us more aware of our need to be dependent on the Lord alone.  This in turn makes us more useful in His Kingdom.

About a week and a half ago I had one of my three sons' family in my home for a visit for a few days.  This family's home is in the UK.  Sometimes I lament the fact that I do not have more opportunities to have an influence, especially spiritually, on my grandchildren due to the distance they live from me.  Yet I had a couple beautiful interactions during the time this son's family was with me.

One of these interactions was with my nine year old granddaughter shortly before they left.  I own a few collector dolls.  Three of those dolls were smaller dolls, and they were on a shelf in the basement where the family was sleeping.  My granddaughter remarked how she liked my dolls.  Because I have done similar things for other grandchildren, I offered her the opportunity to choose between one of the three dolls to take home with her as her own.  She chose the doll with the color hair closest to her own.

What was also unique about this doll, however, is the fact that one of her legs was missing.  The other two dolls have all their limbs.  This lead to a discussion about how some people have disabilities and the fact that we all have weaknesses.  We also talked about how we are all special in God's eyes, if we love Him.  We further talked about how our weaknesses make us more dependent on the Lord.  Finally, we talked about how all disabilities will be eliminated some day when Jesus returns.

This granddaughter, although she says she remembers a smile her Grandpa gave her, would barely remember her Grandpa except through pictures.  Yet perhaps her Grandpa's influence on her life is much stronger because of the disability of his last years on earth.