Lately, I have been walking through a unique season in my life that has me thinking about the nuances of love we don’t often hear about. Yes. Love can be beautiful, fulfilling, and life-giving, but there are seasons when love is simply a challenge — when love is sacrificial love.
Last year, my husband and I decided that we would move his dad in with us to care for him. He lived over an hour away and had fallen a couple of times. It was clear he couldn’t live alone any longer. However, we had just become “empty nesters,” and truth-be-told, we were… loving it. My husband and I married young and began having our children almost immediately. The idea of being just the two of us in our early 50’s was something we had always longed for. Now, our current reality looks nothing like the vision we had for this season of our lives.
In an effort to bring more joy into our circumstances, I decided I was ready for another dog. An adorable, cuddly, loving girl that looks like a teddy bear. My very own therapy dog. Amazing, right? Well…yes, except for the potty-training messes, the nipping, and all of the work I seemed to have forgotten all about from my previous dog owner experience. Clearly, I underestimated what would be required of me. Perhaps I focused too much on the joys and not the sacrifices?
As I journey through these seasons, God has been gently reminding me that it is all about LOVE. Yes, the love of God towards us is beautiful. He does offer us His peace and draws us to His heart. He calls us by our name and even sings over us. He loves us at our ugliest. He sees our hearts despite our weaknesses and couldn’t love us any more than He already does. He loves us as we are. His perfect love for us is revealed on the cross –the most gruesome and painful image.
I pray as we navigate the different seasons of this life, we may embrace all of the love God has for us. May we recognize with clear vision the way He lavishes His love on us and how His love changes us for the better. When the seasons of challenging, sacrificial love come…and they will…I pray they always draw us even closer to the all-encompassing love of our Savior.
“We love each other because He loved us first” – 1 John 4:19
Claudia Guardado-Wittel
Director of Philanthropy & Advancement, STAR 101.5
P.S. [2025 update] God tells us that if we “love Him, we will obey Him” and I believe we did. Dad got very sick months after moving in with us. We thought we were going to lose him. My husband took 2 months off of work to help him recover. It made a great difference for Dad. Watching the sacrificial love my husband demonstrated towards his dad in that season deepened my love & respect for him. Caregiving is so challenging & rewarding. Although Dad was unable to continue living with us because he could not be alone.
The Lord provided immensely by opening the door for him at The Firemen’s Home in NJ. As a retired NJ firefighter, he was eligible to live there with the greatest, most honoring care we have witnessed. It’s a beautiful Mansion that had been donated and even houses a Firemen’s Museum on the first floor!
He was hesitant to go there & I remember telling him that if he was willing, I knew that God would use him there to be a bright light that would point his new friends to Jesus. God has absolutely been using him! My husband, who is a Pastor has become the unofficial Chaplain as far as Dad is concerned. Dad is always introducing guys from the Firemen’s home to ask him questions or to pray.
Because God provides “exceedingly and abundantly above what we ask or even imagine” – a few months after dad moved into the home, we received a letter informing us that the board of the firemen’s home had voted and decided they would no longer charge the retired firemen to live there! Only God.
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