“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Romans 8:31

In March of 2008, my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease at the age of 56. My first instinct was denial. God wouldn’t subject one of His dedicated servants to this horrible disease. Why would God do this to me? To my family? I prayed and prayed more than I had ever prayed.

My family stepped up to this battle and joined with the Alzheimer’s Association to advocate for support and funding from our community and government. We made people in our community aware of the signs and symptoms of this disease and helped lead them to where they could get help.

Romans 8:31 tells us, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” At first I felt God was punishing me by allowing my good Christian father to get this horrible disease. But in time, I realized that God was not punishing me. He was using me to help others.

God was using my dad, someone who was respected in his community and in the church, to help others who were dealing with this same disease and other diseases. God used our lives to help others.

We took on the stance that we could conquer anything with God’s help. Nothing, even this deadly disease, was able to stand against God. Through Christ, there is nothing we can’t handle. God is for us. He wants our best. And he wants us to be a guiding light for others.

Heavenly Father, in a world where sometimes it may feel like everything is against us, thank you for standing for us, and for using the bad and hard things of this world to bring about good. Amen.

Contributed by Stephanie Richter with Ashley Barrientos