Blind Devotion

I've had a number of friends share a new 10 minute video on Facebook lately, but it wasn't until this morning that I bothered to watch it. It really touched me, and I wanted to share it with you guys. It is a Jubilee Project short film, titled, Blind Devotion.





As I watched this, I was touched because I understood, to some degree, what both of them are going through. It was especially comforting (terrible though it sounds) to see another wife going through the pain of not being able to do the things that she had always done for her husband. The things that she felt showed him her love.

While this is a very painful position to be in, it is always nice to know that we are not alone. And even if we really are in a position where no one else could understand, our Savior does. He walked in our shoes, he knows our pain, and he has felt our sorrow. "All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy own good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7-8)

I also loved seeing the way that her sweet husband worked to help her, without taking her independence from her. He lifted and served her, while still allowing her to grow, and relearn the things that she could. He wished that he could just take her burdens, but he chose not to, for her sake. This gives me a great deal of hope, for two reasons. Firstly, I always feel terribly when my sweetie has to do so much for me. When I can't do it, and he has no choice but to step up and shoulder my responsibilities as well as his own. Sometimes I worry like the woman in the video that I am becoming his patient rather than his partner. But he always serves me with a smile, reminds me that he knew that I had a lot of health problems when he married me, and that he still chose me, and that he loves me and wishes to serve me. Watching this video helped me to maybe believe all of that a little bit more. You can see the earnest desire that this sweet husband has to help his wife, and that he does not see her as a burden, but the love of his life.

The other reason I find hope in this is because of the things that she learned to do. She found ways around her limitations, and so can I. There is a lot that I can still do for my husband, even when I have low energy, even when I can't do much. If nothing else, I can support and love him, and I can pray for him. I can do everything I can to work on our relationship, and not just on the state of the house, or whether his coworkers will know that I love him because his whites are white.

I think that is central. It is most important to remember the ways that I love, support, and care for my husband emotionally and spiritually. While I wish I could do more for him physically, in this temporal world, I need to accept when I can't make his lunches, or do his laundry, and focus on the things I can do for him.

How can I better lift and encourage my husband, even when I can't get up for the day? How can I trust in the Lord more, and remember that Jesus Christ understands me perfectly? How can I trust the Lord to teach me how to love my husband better?