Darlene Franklin on Coping with Life in a Nursing Home

Author Darlene Franklin

Darlene, welcome to Overcoming With God. We appreciate your willingness to share your testimony of overcoming with our readers.

Would you tell us about the most difficult thing in your life you have had to overcome, with God’s help? Answer:

In an earlier visit, I talked about my daughter’s suicide. I hope that will always be the hardest thing I’ve had to overcome. But lately, I have been struggling with my health. I’ve been living in a nursing home for over two years, and have been hospitalized five times in the past three years.

In August I turned 60. I have enjoyed the benefits of physical therapy; I can move more easily. I’m also losing weight. Nevertheless, I can no longer write as much as I used to, and I get very frustrated.

I’m going to share a poem I wrote about that birthday. The prompt came from choosing an item on my bucket list.

LOVE’S THE WORD

I want love

My bucket list screams my need

Mix together one, five and six

Add two, three and nine

To be loved and to love others

Family and strangers

I might not make it

The doctor says ten years,

Fifteen if I’m lucky

Five if I’m not

I want more

I dream of outliving them all

Blow past seventy-eight to eighty

Whether my tombstone reads 2019 or 2034

Love fills the dash between life and death

What passages in the Bible have been most helpful to you in those times?

When I began therapy, I was afraid of the pain involved with therapy. The verse I clung to was “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) I decided not to let fear stop me. I couldn’t stop the pain, but I could ignore it, to a certain point.

Disability friendliness: Is this latest release available in audio format or do you have any other works available on audio? Do your e-books have audio capability? Do you have any in large print?

            I have two books in large print: Beacon of Love and more recently, Homefront Dreams.

In this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?

            I might recommend my book from earlier this year, Saving Felicity, about two families dealing aging family members dealing with dementia. An Apple for Christmas features twins and a child who is a problem student. The girls lost their mother. Several factors could foster discussion.

Question you’d like to ask readers:

Hmm. What are some of your favorite apple recipes? An Apple for Christmas should come with a warning label, this book will make you hungry.

I’d love to hear from twins. What is it like, good and bad?

Author bio:

Darlene Franklin’s greatest claim to fame is that she writes full-time from a nursing home. She lives in Oklahoma, near her son and his family, and continues her interests in playing the piano and singing, books, good fellowship, and reality TV in addition to writing. She is an active member of Oklahoma City Christian Fiction Writers, American Christian Fiction Writers, and the Christian Authors Network. Poetry is her newest passion. She has written over thirty novels as well as more than 250 devotionals. You can find Darlene online elsewhere at http://darlenehfranklinwrites.blogspot.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/Poet.Darlene.Franklin.

 

An Apple for Christmas by Darlene Franklin

Darlene’s books are available for sale at http://www.amazon.com/Darlene-Franklin/e/B001K8993A/

Giveaway: We're giving away three copies of An Apple for Christmas this week, celebrating Darlene's release of Book 4 in the Christmas Traditions Series.