Yesterday was another trip to the care home to sing and pray with those residents who can make it down to the lounge, which is almost none of them, and those who the staff will bring down there, which is all those who'd like to come.
I went in earlier in the afternoon as we have a Rock Church picnic at lunchtime so I was in the vicinity and thought that the intervening time could be well spent there. Reading a couple of Psalms and chatting for an hour with the lady I've mentioned before (Down the nursing home) was tiring, but encouraging. She now not only recognises me and is pleased to see me, but she also seems to have recovered some of the conversational pleasantries that we take for granted when younger and she seems less depressed. Only once yesterday did she say she wanted to die. It could be the summer sun that's giving her a bit more life, but I hope it's also the effect of actually talking to someone who is interested in her. If only God would open her heart to receive Christ - she as yet does not believe, though she hears and partially understands, I think.
Then I had a chat to a younger (74!), frailer lady who I think is a believer (certainly very churched) who asked me to pray with her (what a privilege) and told me of her struggles with Parkinson's since her 20s. She was so candid - and what could I say? The energy and confidence of [relative] youth are not worth anything in those sorts of conversations, nor are any number of degrees from Cambridge University. But God is more than up to the task.
