Betrayal is one of the worse feelings in the world. It’s a painful rite of passage that’s more certain than death and taxes if you live long enough. Unfortunately, some people are haunted by betrayal. Abandonment is one of the worst forms of betrayal. Discarding children like trash immediately after birth, is particularly cruel. Elder family members left to die alone at home or in nursing facilities is equally horrendous. It is proven that those who are physically most vulnerable are most likely to be neglected and abused.
Abandonment of children and elders extorts a staggering price on the economy and souls of nations. People in care-giving professions witness abandonment often. When I was an intern at Presbyterian University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, I cared for a patient who had long been abandoned by everyone. I could see and smell that she had lived on the streets for quite some time. Short, thin, and frail, she didn’t engage in conversation. Looking back, I think her silence was a shroud of invisibility that kept her independent. The outcast who cries out interrupts the thoughts of busy passersby; an inconvenience that would soon have her put away in an insane asylum. Philly streets were kinder.
I was a hands-on kinda doc, so I started to get my patient ready for a bath. It was winter, so she had on thick pair of panty hose. As I started to remove them, I noticed that they weren’t coming off easily. I looked closer in the dim light, and was amazed to find that her hosiery was attached to her skin. That’s just how long she had worn the same garment. Any attempt to remove her hosiery the usual way, would remove her skin as well. There were areas that had already started to bleed. By this time, my resident and other house staff had been alerted to the situation. Our solution was to carefully cut the panty hose, and gently separate it from her skin. Basically, we dissected them off. This was my first bonafide experience with abandonment.
Believers have no need to be afraid even when they are abandoned by people they love and trust. We don’t have to be afraid because the promises of God are true. Psalm 27:10 King James Version (KJV) says:
When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.
So when friends and family members walk away from our pain and maybe walk away from us altogether, knowing that the Lord takes us up is the life vest that keeps us afloat until our feet securely planted in God’s love. We may never know the depths of abandonment like my patient did, but this is all the more reason to take the time to reach out and offer comfort and relief to someone who has been physically or emotionally abused, neglected, or abandoned.
Until next time, “Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might!”
Your friend in Christ,
Verneda
