Departed love ones use songs to connect with us and let us know they're still watching over us!

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  (Dad)
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My father suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and in February of 2015 he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on the right side of his body. I was once again devastated. We had no choice but to move him into a long-term care nursing home as we were unable to meet all of his physical needs. This broke our hearts!  It was around this time that I started hearing a song by Casting Crowns called “Just Be Held.”  The lyrics seemed to be shouting at me from the rooftops and reminding me that my world wasn’t falling apart but rather falling into place.  During the 9 months my dad was in the nursing home, this song was always playing just when I needed a reminder that God was with us during this transition in our lives.  My mother was disabled after a fall in 2001 and we had been caring for her daily from the time our father developed Alzheimer’s in 2010 and was no longer able to care for her himself.  We also cared for our special needs adult brother. Our family was faced with more heart wrenching decisions. The first of which was moving our mother to an assisted living home since we were no longer able to be home with her during the day. She had suffered another fall and was moved to rehab at the same Long Term Care facility as our father. It was then we had to tell her when she was released from rehab, she would be moving into an Assisted Living home.  We played the same song for her and explained that her life wasn’t falling apart, it was also falling into place. She would be having 3 meals a day with her sister-in-law and others that lived at the assisted living facility, she would have entertainment, crafts and she would be living life again instead of staring out the window and watching her family and neighbors go about their daily commitments.  Once the decision was made and we moved her into the assisted living facility in November, I truly believe our father’s soul knew it was now ok to go home.  Our family gathered around his bedside at the nursing home as his body was shutting down. We had a Christian radio station playing softly as we sat with him. At one point both my sister and I climbed into the bed with him and as he took his last breath, “Just Be Held” was playing on the radio.  You really can’t make this stuff up!