After a while I began to feel bitterness and resentment toward her for my unwanted and untimely responsibility. Sometimes I’d think, If she’d only gone to the doctor when she knew there was something wrong, maybe she could have avoided having a stroke.

But when my father-in-law asked me to help, I couldn’t turn him down. Gail could no longer be left alone while Wade went to work. She’d fallen one too many times while he was away from home for him to feel she was safe by herself. Even though my husband and I prayed about it and knew it was what God wanted me to do, it was not an easy decision to make. I begged God to help me become more selfless. Eventually I began to understand that a life of sacrifice is a life flowing with God’s love.

Loving another person is not about what we can get from the relationship. Living a selfless life is about making conscious choices to do the right thing for others. After all, your life is not just about you. Maybe you’ve been in a position where you needed to make a life-altering sacrifice. Did you obey God, or did you tune out His voice and do what you wanted to do?

John 15:13 says, “No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.” Sometimes obeying the Lord is difficult, but God knows just what you’re capable of doing with His help.