Finding the silver lining

By Eldon Takeda

HappyNews Citizen Journalist

When I was in my 20's, my paternal grandmother had a stroke and needed help. I was asked by my relatives to help my aunt take care of grandmother. It was the toughest seven years of my life. I was going to college, working, and then I would have to go home and deal with the emotional and physical stress to taking care of grandmother. For awhile I had to get up two to four times per night to put her on the commode.

Then my elder brother was killed in an automobile accident nine days before Christmas. Strangely enough, it wasn't a bad Christmas, but it was the

most meaningful. Eventually, my relatives were divided on whether or not grandmother should be told about my brother's passing. Eventually the decision was that she should not be told. This added a great burden on my taking care of grandmother. As a Christian, I knew it was wrong to lie to grandmother about my brother. If she asked about him, I try to ignore her or say, "I don't want to talk about him."

I was bitter about taking care of grandmother and having to live with the relatives' decision. I even argued with my uncles about it. Finally, grandmother passed away, and I was relieved of having to take care of her.

Several years later I was involved with our church's drama ministry. We ministered the Gospel in many prisons. We did this for a few years. After the group ceased, I asked our church board what ministry I could help out in. Guess what their response was: convalescent ministry.

After taking care of grandmother for all those years, helping the elderly was the last thing I wanted to do. But you want to know something?

I have been in convalescent ministry on and off for 13 years, and it has been great. He took a tough situation and used it for good.

This story was produced by HappyNews Citizen Journalist, Eldon Takeda.

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